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Richard Gordon’s weekly column: Will generous Dave Cormack put up cash for Derek McInnes to ease Aberdeen’s striker headache?

Derek McInnes
Derek McInnes

The last week or so has been a terrible time for the north-east; the imposition of a partial lockdown, which will have major consequences for the local economy, followed by the horrifying train crash just south of Stonehaven that so shocked us all.

Real human tragedies put life into perspective and my thoughts are with everyone directly affected.

In such circumstances, football is a mere sideshow, but an important one nonetheless to fans who have been starved of action for much of the year.

A strong start for the Dons would have boosted morale across the community – sadly, it has been anything but, and the club is going through one of those spells where nothing seems to go right.

There was the pre-season injury for Mikey Devlin, quickly followed the news that both Sam Cosgrove and Curtis Main will be long-term absentees.

They lost at home to Rangers, there was the Soul Eight incident that brought shame on the club and contributed to the postponement of fixtures, and then on Wednesday of this week, part of Pittodrie was flooded, causing around £20,000 of damage.

Just when Derek McInnes thought things couldn’t get any worse, Ryan Edmondson ruptured his ankle and faces up to four months on the sidelines.

He naturally went back to parent club Leeds United, but Aberdeen will have to pay his wages during that time, as the injury occurred on their watch.

Ryan Edmondson holds off Rangers’ Ryan Jack.

Had the midweek game against Hamilton gone ahead, it is very likely that Lewis Ferguson would have played as centre-forward, and he may have to when the Dons return to action at McDiarmid Park next Thursday.

Four of those who had to self-isolate will be back for the trip to Perth – Cosgrove and Devlin would also be available had they been fit – so Derek will at least have a bigger squad to choose from, but he has a major concern about the striking position for the next few months.

If Hamilton pick up anything from St Mirren this afternoon, Aberdeen will be bottom of the Premiership and having immediately to play catch-up with some of our rivals for European places.

Dave Cormack has increased the playing budget and has invested a huge amount of money in the club generally.

The financial impact of Covid-19 has been well documented and the supporters have played their part in easing the burden, but the chairman now has a major decision to make.

Does he ask the manager to make do with what he has – Bruce Anderson, Michael Ruth and Niall McGinn are options as well as Lewis – or does he put in yet more money to allow Derek to bring in another frontman?

Dave has shown incredible generosity towards the club he loves, and it would be wrong for anyone to demand he parts with even more cash, but given the present situation, he might just be tempted to do so should the right deal come along.

Derek McInnes has a list of possible replacements for his injured forwards – he would just need the go-ahead to make such a move.

If that doesn’t happen, the next couple of months promise to be a serious test of his managerial abilities.