Source: Team_Talk
McGhee showers Well pair with praise
Mark McGhee has revealed he recommended Craig Brown and Archie Knox to Motherwell chairman John Boyle before leaving Fir Park for Aberdeen.[LNB] The veteran management duo emulated McGhee by leading Motherwell into Europe at the end of their first season in charge and will bid to knock Aberdeen off third spot in the Scottish Premier League.[LNB]Brown took over from McGhee's immediate successor, Jim Gannon, at the turn of the year, but the Aberdeen boss claimed he had put their names forward earlier than that.[LNB]"He (Brown) has done brilliantly," said McGhee, who worked under Knox as a player at Pittodrie and took him to Millwall as his assistant manager.[LNB]"They are right behind us in the league breathing down our necks.[LNB]"Last year they qualified for Europe so he is doing a brilliant job.[LNB]"I know Archie Knox, his assistant, intimately. He has worked with me and he's a great coach and a great guy to have around the club.[LNB]"When I left the club one of the recommendations I made to John Boyle was to consider the likes of Archie and possibly Craig at that time.[LNB]"I have nothing but respect for them but we believe we can beat them."[LNB]McGhee is likely to have Andrius Velicka on the bench at Fir Park after the on-loan Rangers striker trained with his new team-mates for the first time.[LNB]Brown this week admitted he was envious of McGhee's striking options after Scott Vernon and Josh Magennis also signed for the Dons this summer.[LNB]But McGhee does not want his forwards to take too much notice of the former Scotland manager's praise.[LNB]"He is a tremendously experienced manager who has a very valid opinion," McGhee said.[LNB]"If he is saying anything positive about us we have got to thank him for that.[LNB]"But any signings we have made, regardless of how pleased we are with them or how they look, they still have to do it on the field, to prove they are good signings.[LNB]"They are not good singings just because Craig says so or I say so or anyone else says so.[LNB]"Scott Vernon has scored one, which is a great start. Chris Maguire is in great form for us and the international under-21 team so we do have some some options, but these options have to score goals."[LNB]Aberdeen have lost their last two games after leading the SPL following the first two.[LNB]But McGhee is not panicking and he vehemently stood by his insistence that the second and third goals in Dundee United's 3-1 win at Tannadice last weekend should not have stood.[LNB]He added: "The last couple of games have been about the 30 seconds just before the end of the Kilmarnock game and eight minutes near the beginning of the Dundee United game. That was all. The rest wasn't bad.[LNB]"In between times we have lost Sone Aluko, Peter Pawlett and Fraser Fyvie. That's disappointing because these are players that made a difference in those first two games.[LNB]"We are having to regroup but it's not straightforward."
