Aberdeen Are In Serious Trouble And Celtic Should Be Ready To Take Advantage.

Some weeks back, I was astonished to hear that Aberdeen had made the decision to approach the veteran English boss Neil Warnock for their vacant manager’s position.

I thought it was a joke, somebody at the wind up, somebody having a laugh. It couldn’t possibly have been serious, could it? And yet it was. Not only were they considering it, they gave it to him.

The reaction from the media was even more astonishing than the decision itself.

They thought it was brilliant. Sensible people, capable of looking at the decision objectively, the way the media itself was supposed to, felt as shocked as I did myself.

Some of the coverage referred to him in blokey, matey language; it was as if these people forgot they are supposed to be offering a professional perspective, not covering one of their pals.

Too many folk in our media cannot help themselves at times. They don’t come across as serious people in a serious job but more like gushing fan boys. Aberdeen fans were, by and large, relying on these folk t o guide them right, They were lamentably served in this case, almost as badly as they were by their club, which is now paying a high price for that folly.

They are serious relegation candidates. It would not surprise me at all if they fell out of the top flight at the end of this season. It would be a depressing outcome, as I genuinely feel that our league needs Aberdeen in it and the stronger the better, which is why I lamented the decision to appoint Warnock. It was never going to end well and it might even be a disaster.

We should be ready if it’s a disaster. There are some decent players at that club, and Miovski the best amongst them, of course. If they go down they can forget the kind of crazy money they are talking about getting for him; they will need every penny they can get just to keep the lights on and no club south of the border is going to pay a premium fee.

Nor should we.

But an offer in line with the current record between Scottish clubs would be generous on our part, and it’s a price we should be willing to pay for a known quality who can score goals even in a poor team, and would certainly be a huge hit in this one.

Some people will accuse us of being predatory. So what?

This is not the forum for sentimentality; watch how the Ibrox club treats Hearts in the summer if they want Shankland, and watch how the media dutifully plays its part in helping them do it.

There will be no sentimentality there, they will be ruthless and so too must Celtic if the opportunity here presents itself.

Aberdeen might survive. I hope they do, and that shouldn’t be a barrier to us making a move for their best player anyway, but getting him would be much easier if they found themselves not playing in the top flight.

Honestly, I am not hoping for it, but even before considering this chance it’s fair to say I would have little sympathy for a club which made such a ludicrous appointment to save them from precisely that fate.