No More Mr Nice Guy

Craig Brown has to show that he can be Mr Angry to encourage his players to climb the table It takes a lot for Craig Brown to show anger and I am sure his public face to the media is replaced but something not so polite when he works with his players.Aberdeen are at the bottom of the SPL and the ex-Scotland manager admits he is facing the biggest challenge of his career to move away from that position. Last Saturday's 2-0 loss against Kilmarnock saw they replace Inverness at the wrong end of the table - 12 months after jis predecessor Mark McGhee was sacked after an identical scoreline at Rugby Park left the Dons second-bottom. However, the enthusiastic Mr Brown is adamant that he and assistant Archie Knox can perform another "resurrection". The experienced double act reminded fans of the impact they made when they initially took over, as he promised to improve the Reds fortunes again. He said: "It's a fairly daunting task but not one that gives me undue concern because I think we're more than capable of doing that. We took over a team a couple of years ago that had lost seven in a row and took them straight into Europe. We took over a team last year that had an indifferent start. We have had an indifferent start this season. For the third year in a row we have to turn things round. The portents are good looking at the previous two years - we managed to resurrect teams. This is the third challenge. It's a major one but not one we shirk. It's one we face. Straight in the eye we look at people and say we'll do our best. You see the games, there is no team that has given us a going over and we have been desperately unfortunate. But it's right to say we can't keep using that as an excuse." It may be the excitement he was trying to generate around the club but some of the stats used by Brown in his defence were not strictly true. Brown was referring to Motherwell when he talked of his first success, although he was not entirely accurate about the final days of Jim Gannon's reign, when the Steelmen lost four in a seven-game run without a win. He later claimed he and Knox had gathered enough points at both Motherwell and Aberdeen last season to finish in Europe. But their personal tally of 51 points, seven of which were gained in game in the bottom six finale, fell 10 short of Dundee United, who were the lowest-placed European qualifiers. Brown added: "I think a fair-minded person looking at our games would realise we have been desperately unlucky with injuries and suspensions and in the matches. We are hoping the breaks even themselves out. It's not an excuse. There are no excuses. Quite simply it's a situation we have got to get ourselves out of. It's easy to make excuses but these are mitigating circumstances. Every club has injuries and suspensions. We have had more than most, I think anyone would agree. And the amount of times we have hit the woodwork this season, all that combined is making it a difficult situation. But we have been there before. Archie and I got enough points to get Motherwell into Europe and last season if you add up the points of both clubs we would have been in Europe again. You don't suddenly become failures because of a little lean spell."

Source: FOOTYMAD