Source: FOOTYMAD
Will There Be A Welcome In Lanarkshire For Brown?
A testing time for Craig Brown and Archie Knox as they return to Fir Park Aberdeen manager Craig Brown is not expecting a hostile reception when he returns to Fir park today with his new charges Aberdeen. He claimed it would be "churlish" for any Motherwell fan to begrudge him and assistant Archie Knox anything other than a reasonable welcome as they face their former team for the second time with Aberdeen. The pair enjoyed a peaceful but disappointing reunion when the Steelmen won 2-1 at Pittodrie in February as, understandably, very few fans wanted to head north on a wet and freezing Tuesday night. But Brown does not expect any antagonism from the home supporters of the club he left in December last year following a very public U-turn regarding who were to be their paymasters in 2011.. The ex-Scotland manager said: "No-one could fault us, I'm sure, for what we did there. We were successful in getting them into Europe. We won two rounds in Europe, we got them to the semi-finals of the Co-operative Insurance Cup. Anyone who feels anything to the contrary, I think, is a bit churlish. I have had a lot of great correspondence of thanks from Motherwell supporters and players, so I wouldn't expect any adverse attitude." Under new manager Stuart McCall, Motherwell have continued to impress and have joined Aberdeen in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup following an impressive 3-0 win over holders Dundee United on Wednesday night. Brown, who described a potential meeting with Motherwell in the final as a "fairytale", admits he was surprised by the margin of their win but not the outcome. And he tipped his former club to secure a top-six place despite being just six points behind with a game in hand. Brown went on: "I wasn't surprised they beat Dundee United. Before we left we did it twice in three days, we beat them in the league and the Co-operative Cup. So we have a good record against Dundee United. When I say 'we', I mean Motherwell. So it wasn't a surprise that Motherwell won. I think the ease with which they won would have been a great delight for Motherwell fans and Stuart McCall. It was a tremendous performance, therefore they will be up for this game. I don't think we need a warning because Motherwell are a good side. In my opinion they should be a top-six side and will be, I suspect, unless we can do something at the weekend and continue in good form in the remaining three matches we have to play before the split. But our objective was not the top six. We're still not mathematically clear of the main objective which was to ensure a comfortable place in the SPL. We're almost there but need a couple of points more." Meanwhile, Brown revealed there would be little update to the situation of imminently out-of-contract players such as Zander Diamond before the semi-final against Celtic on 17 April, with the Dons facing five games in 15 days. Sone Aluko and Chris Maguire were both offered new contracts last month but Brown revealed that was "efficient club management" as failure to do so before April 5 would reduce the training compensation payable should the young players move on in the summer.
