Source: FOOTYMAD
Leighton Glad To Be Back At Pittodrie
A glutton for punishment or a real Aberdeen fan? Only time will tell Jim Leighton is back at the club that made him famous. He is back at Pittodrie as goalkeeping coach after being approached by new manager Craig Brown. The new management team of Brown and Archie Knox wasted no time in recruiting the Dons' legendary keeper to oversee the key position. They need all the experienced help they can get as they sit ignominiously at the bottom of the SPL. Asked how long it took to accept Brown's offer, Leighton, who had two spells at Aberdeen as a player and who was on the backroom staff for nine years before being released last summer by former manager Mark McGhee, said: "I don't have anything that calculates it, it was that short. It's great with people that you respect, people like Craig and Archie, to come in and ask me to come back. I was delighted and I take that as a compliment that the two of them wanted me to come back so there wasn't a decision to make. I was delighted. I know how ambitious and enthusiastic the two of them are. Hopefully we can get the team back winning again and getting us back where we should be. I've always been on record saying that this is my team. Regardless of what happened to me it always will be my team and I didn't like to see where the team was going. Hopefully I can play some small part in the team going back to where everybody wants them to be." Leighton first played at Aberdeen in the 1980s when Knox was assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson and he performed for Scotland when Brown was national team manager. Unsurprisingly, Leighton waxed lyrical about the duo's respective attributes. The former Manchester United and Hibs keeper said: "You probably don't have enough time for me to go through the qualities that they bring. Everybody knows the CVs that the two of them have. Craig's been national team manager and what he did at Motherwell was nothing short of a miracle. He is probably coming in to a club at the moment that needs a wee bit of the Craig Brown touch that he had when he went into Motherwell. Archie is the best trainer I have ever had by a mile and I would have said that two weeks ago if you had asked me the same question. It's the enthusiasm, the knowledge and the organisation that they bring to the club. I don't think the club could have got a better management team anywhere. The experience that they have got and what they have actually achieved in the game speaks for its self. I hope that the supporters are as enthusiastic as everybody within the building that the club can get back on the right foot." Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net)This is Scottish-Fitba.Net
