I was surprised and disappointed to hear Aberdeen could potentially sell Ross McCrorie to Bristol City for £2 million.
McCrorie is a Rolls Royce of a player. And if you want to buy a Rolls Royce, they do not come cheap.
A fee of £2 million, if reports are accurate, is nowhere near enough for a player of McCrorie’s quality, who still has three years left on his contract at Aberdeen.
Ideally McCrorie will stay at Pittodrie, because he is such a key player at the club.
However, if he is to exit Aberdeen, it must be for a lot more than the sum currently being floated.
If an outstanding offer comes in, then I could fully understand the club accepting it.
However, I don’t think £2m is an outstanding offer.
I would hope that level of offer wouldn’t be taken forward.
Why add McCrorie-shaped gap to summer shopping list?
McCrorie is a very important cog in the Aberdeen wheel.
When you look at the long term, if you lose McCrorie it also adds to what is already looking like a potentially significant summer rebuild.
Five first team regulars are, as things stand, set to not be at the club next season.
Captain Graeme Shinnie, midfielder Leighton Clarkson and defenders Mattie Pollock and Liam Scales all have loan deals set to expire at the end of the campaign.
The short-term deal for defender Angus MacDonald expires at the end of the campaign so his future is also up in the air.
With those five in the mix, there will be a bit of a job required ahead of next season and they don’t want to add replacing McCrorie to that – certainly not for the sake £2 million.
Aberdeen are in pole position to finish the season in third place, which could bring a cash boost of more than £3 million and European group stage football until December.
So I am surprised the Dons would even be contemplating allowing such an important player to leave for so little.
Loss of versatile McCrorie would be real mood-killer
You always want to see your good players staying and McCrorie is so influential at Aberdeen.
And McCrorie exiting would represent a huge negative in a very positive situation the club are currently in.
McCrorie brings so much to the Dons as he is so versatile.
He can play wing-back, centre-back and midfield if you need strength in there.
Since arriving at Pittodrie from Rangers in summer 2020 McCrorie has been an integral part of the Aberdeen first team.
He has played 113 times for the Dons over those three seasons.
Of those 113 games, he has started 112, with only one appearance as a substitute – and that was because he was being rested for a key European game.
That run of starts have come under three managers – Robson, Stephen Glass and Derek McInnes.
All three had faith in him, which underlines how important McCrorie is to the team.
McCrorie and Jonny Hayes have been very effective as wing-backs on both sides of the park recently.
He has strength, pace, height and can use the ball well.
In the absence captain Shinnie, due to a four-game ban, McCrorie came in to skipper the team.
He did a great job against Rangers and led by example to secure a very important win.
McCrorie is still young and is on a long-term contract until summer 2026.
He obviously feels staying at the club was a good decision for him, otherwise he wouldn’t have signed a one-year contract extension last February.
If you have a player on a long-term contract then usually that indicates the club wants him to stay for a long time.
Hopefully that is the case and McCrorie is at Aberdeen next season.
If he moves on though, surely it must be for a lot more than £2 million.
Players showing what it means to wear the Aberdeen jersey
Aberdeen players are now showing they understand what it means to wear the club’s jersey.
Manager Barry Robson has to be applauded for his role in that and for turning the club’s fortunes around.
He has taken a group of players and shaped them into a team that has spirit, determination, drive, organisation and a fair bit of skill.
When you put that together, with the winning run, the club is in a very good place at the moment.
The results have been fabulous and the league position of third in the Premiership table magnificent.
Aberdeen’s performance in the 2-0 defeat of Rangers was first class and adds to the continuation of the impressive recent form.
Everything about the winning run has been encouraging.
Aberdeen have strikers that are scoring, a creative midfield and a solid defence.
It is a mix that is exciting fans.
I am not going to put forward the case it is magnificent football I am watching.
It is good quality, but the real quality for me lies in the organisation and defensive solidity with the five at the back.
I am not in any way suggesting it is back-to-the-walls performances from Aberdeen against Rangers.
They have reason behind it as they keep it really tight early on.
If it needs to be a five at the back early on, whether at home or away, then Robson goes with that.
However, that doesn’t restrict the wing-backs from getting forward.
All the components required to get a winning team have been delivered by Robson and assistant Steve Agnew.
That is a real togetherness, organisation and solidity at the back.
Then there are the weapons up front with Duk and Bojan Miovski, who have both now scored 18 goals each this season.
Aberdeen now have to keep the momentum going in the post-split fixtures.
Another controversial red card in Premiership
I fear Scottish football is sliding towards banning tackles after recent controversial red cards.
Hibs midfielder Jimmy Jeggo was red carded at the weekend by referee Craig Napier after stretching to win a loose ball ahead of St Johnstone’s Connor McLennan.
The Jeggo tackle is along the same lines as Graeme Shinnie’s against Ross County, which landed the Dons captain a four-match ban.
The officials are talking about lunging in and studs up – it is just nonsense.
If you go in for a slide tackle your studs are going to be up, there is no way they can’t be.
Yet they don’t address that.
Now we see tackles which look to most commentators to be good tackles – but not to referees, ex-referees, officials and the SFA.
The authorities point to the laws of the game and believe their interpretation is right and those of pundits, players and managers is wrong.
There is a big disconnect there.
Hopefully some mediation can happen to bring everyone together for the benefit of the game.
Fans want to see tackles. And players want to go into tackles without fear of freeze-frame VAR coming into play and being sent off.
I don’t think it is doing our game any good that the attitude of ex referees, SFA and anyone on the officiating side of the game is to constantly wave away opinions from ex-players and pundits – as though we don’t know anything about the game.
We have only been involved in it for 30, 40 or 50 years.
My interpretation of the rules is different from the SFA and officials now and I stand by that.
The only way to bring clarity is by open and transparent discussions.
But I don’t think the SFA or officials are up for that.
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