MARK McGhee was unveiled as the new Aberdeen manager today and vowed to build on the progress begun by his predecessor Jimmy Calderwood by bringing trophies back to Pittodrie.
McGhee, who enjoyed a hugely successful spell at the club as a player under Alex Ferguson, joins from Motherwell. His deputy at Motherwell, will move with McGhee.
The pair replace the management team of Jimmy Calderwood, Jimmy Nicholl and Sandy Clark, who left at the end of last season.
McGhee was careful not to be roped in to claiming he would offer the same challenge to the Old Firm duopoly which was shattered in 1980s when Aberdeen under Sir Alex Ferguson were at at their peak.
"We can certainly ruffle the Old Firm's feathers.
"Aberdeen are a club who are big enough and the budget as such is significant enough to expect to be challenging to win trophies and get to finals.
"But winning trophies is the next stage, we have to continue the progress that Jimmy Calderwood made over the last few seasons."
McGhee explained why he felt it was the right time to leave Fir Park.
"It was a difficult decision but I feel it was the right decision," he said.
"Things have moved on a little bit.
"Motherwell had lost two or three players and we looked like losing two or three more due to the circumstances in the Scottish game so it was becoming more and more difficult to maintain the performance and levels that we set over the last couple of years at Motherwell.
"I felt that the opportunity to go to Aberdeen, to a more stable environment would allow me to make more of a challenge over the next few year than it might be possible with Motherwell.
"It is a shame, I loved my time there."
Dons director of football Willie Miller is delighted to be reunited with his former Pittodrie team-mate.
"The board was unanimous in the choice of Mark for our new manager, as everyone knows, these situations can be extremely delicate and you have to allow for all eventualities," he told the club's official website.
"That said, we're delighted Mark and Scott have agreed to join us and with the return of European football next month, these are exciting times here at Pittodrie.
"Mark is well known to most Aberdeen supporters and of course, having been here as a player, he also knows what the club means to them and he's itching to get started."
Mark McGhee won the Cup Winner's Cup with Aberdeen in 1983
The new management team's first official day in charge will be Wednesday July 1 when the players report for pre-season training.
Dons vice-captain Zander Diamond is glad the Pittodrie club brought an end to a period of uncertainty by naming McGhee, the popular choice among the fans.
"It's great news for us, having a Gothenburg legend at the club," he told the club's official website.
"It is a bit of positive news coming out of the club from my point of view, having left three weeks ago uncertain about what was happening.
"I think the club will benefit from a new manager coming in.
"They are interesting times and exciting times and fans will give him time because he is a legend.
"Some fans were not behind previous managers but they will give the new manager their full backing."
The full article contains 565 words and appears in scotsman.com newspaper.
