McGhee set for England scouting trip

Aberdeen boss Mark McGhee will spend his Easter weekend scouting in England as he seeks affordable talent to add to his squad this summer. And McGhee is expecting to bump into a few familiar faces south of the border.He said: "I'm sure Jimmy Calderwood, Jim Jefferies and all the other managers will be doing exactly the same thing this weekend."I wouldn't be surprised if I see them at the same games as we can basically all afford the same players."I'm studying DVDs of players from abroad at the moment and we are looking everywhere we can, including this weekend."However, McGhee believes his limited budget may mean he will have a difficult task persuading the players at the top of his shopping list to come to Pittodrie in the summer.He said: "I will have space in my squad because of the natural cull that is taking place with people leaving and therefore I will need a new squad for next season."Whether the players that come in will be exactly the players that I want, or whether I will have to compromise in some situations because of finances or because players aren't available remains to be seen."However, I'm confident we are giving ourselves the best possible chance of putting together a squad that is going to be competitive next season."The Dons boss said his players were in good spirits this week ahead of their trip to face Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Sunday, after finally ending a dismal 11-match winless run with a tense 2-1 victory over St Mirren at the weekend."I think the win has released a pressure valve, as much as we were talking the run down," he said."Embarrassing is almost the best word to describe the run we were on so to end it was great news for us all. The mood has definitely been a bit lighter this week."Meanwhile, McGhee said he was not surprised to learn that Leicester City boss Nigel Pearson is in the running to replace Tony Mowbray as the next Celtic manager.However, he believes the Hoops would struggle to persuade Pearson to come to the SPL if he successfully guides the Foxes to England's top division.He added: "I know Nigel quite well and I can't remember what job I was at but I actually spoke to him about the possibility of working with me as an assistant at one stage."He is very highly regarded within the FA and a very highly rated manager."I think if Leicester were to be promoted then it might be difficult for Celtic to persuade him out of the Premier League."

Source: Team_Talk