No more Mr Nice Guy

Dundee Utd 1 Aberdeen 1

THE football could become a sideshow for Aberdeen in the next few weeks. Their supporters descended on Tayside yesterday and came to praise Ebbe Skovdahl, not bury him. As he took the first step of the long walk out of Scotland the warmth and affection was smothering and he heard chants for him to stay, or at the very least give the fans a wave.

"It's not often you get something in your throat but I certainly did today," he said afterwards. "It meant a lot to me."

It was a distraction from the football, at least. Aberdeen fizzled out after going ahead and were fortunate to emerge unbeaten against a sprightly Dundee United. As a likeable figure who had his chance at Aberdeen, but with a record which could have done with improvement, Paul Hegarty might have empathised with Skovdahl yesterday.

More than 8000 supporters were in Tannadice and almost as many names have been dredged up in relation to the Pittodrie vacancy. Eric Black and Steve Paterson are the frontrunners, though Skovdahl keeps plugging his assistant, Gardner Spiers.

At 57 Skovdahl seems a father figure compared to any of them, but sees no problem in recommending a younger man as his replacement.

"A club should never be afraid to try a young manager with lots of new and good ideas. If you have been in the game as long as Eric Black or Gardner Spiers I don't think there will be a problem."

Tannadice was enveloped by the kind of dreich, grey weather which made you wonder whether the floodlights would have sufficient wattage to illuminate the pitch.

A more real danger was posed by the playing surface itself. After heavy rain the corner of the pitch near the tunnel was so wet United officials feared it may be unplayable and issued vouchers for stewards to distribute in the event of a postponement.

It never came to that, and when Skovdahl emerged to stride half the length of the pitch to his dug-out the Aberdeen support rose to him. Five years ago many of the same fans had been in the same stands when Roy Aitken endured his absurd final day in charge of the club. A 5-0 defeat and ridiculously inept performance meant Aitken was a dead man walking and the supporters - sensing it - had indulged in grim gallows humour throughout that match.

No-one had wanted Aitken to stay but the fans' attitude to Skovdahl has always been more complex. They swarmed south on Tannadice yesterday, outnumbering the United supporters and collectively regarding the match as an opportunity to make their declaration. There had been plenty of individual dissenters among the ranks when they had lost at Firhill last weekend but yesterday any critics were mute. When the team went ahead in the first half the chants were for Skovdahl, not Phil McGuire, the scorer.

Those grieving the manager's imminent departure haven't quite amassed enough real evidence to blame the board of directors for it, or the Glasgow press for that matter, so all they could do was articulate the belief that somehow their man had been wronged and was nudged towards resigning. Some tried to start a "sack the board" chant but the mood wasn't right and it didn't take hold.

Their team, at first, offered a satisfactory response on the field. Aberdeen began with a little more aggression and purpose than United and it was enough to ease them ahead.

Kevin Rutkiewicz's floated ball over the United defence found Scott Michie and Jim Lauchlan's tug was enough to bring him down.

McGuire tucked the penalty low to Paul Gallacher's left then wheeled away to reveal a T-shirt in honour of his new god-daughter.

The match had been crying out for incident to divert attention from Skovdahl. Mackie and McGuire converged on a half-cleared Eric Deloumeaux free-kick to fire a chance over the crossbar, but it was only after the goal that play opened up.

United's reaction to going behind was positive and they sustained it for the remainder of the match. Hamilton buried the rebound from a Charlie Miller shot but was offside.

He had only a few minutes to wait for a legitimate goal against his former club, though, after Russell Anderson pushed him in the box and conceded the game's second penalty. Hamilton rolled in his fourth goal in three matches.

The decision was harsh on Anderson but was characteristic of the skirmishes which were beginning to erupt around the place. Anderson and Thompson - Scotland squadmates in Iceland - had a wrestling match and Miller and Darren Young were in intermittent combat. Derek Young lasted only until the interval - 18-year-old Scott Muirhead earned his debut as his replacement - after landing awkwardly under a Miller challenge. Miller and Rutkiewicz had a running argument over it as they went in at half-time.

Skovdahl bridles at his image as a whispering, amiable old gentleman lacking the urgency to motivate his players. "There's probably no-one in the world more criticised than me for not being able to motivate. I don't accept that criticism.

"I know I'm not running up and down the touchline but Sven-Goran Eriksson's not doing that either. People do not see what happens in the dressing room."

Yesterday, though, Hegarty must have delivered the most effective half-time address. United camped in Aberdeen's half for the remainder of the match and only David Preece's athletic diving save denied Craig Easton a late winner.

For all the justified praise Aberdeen's youth system has had, the most impressive kid on display was United's assured 18-year-old right- back, Mark Wilson.

His immediate future appears more certain than Aberdeen's. Having taken them to fourth last season, Skovdahl's side is now ninth and drifting.

Aberdeen's Fergus Tiernan, left, attempts to fend off the attentions of Dundee United's Mark Wilson. Photograph: Paul Reid

Copyright 2002 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
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