There’s a popular GIF that many of you have used or earned on your phones, and it features a 1930s American child actor named Spanky McFarland.
In it, young Spanky is sitting, bored, drumming impatiently on a table.
This two-second black-and-white clip captures the existing temperament of Dons fans.
It’s been almost 3 weeks since the Neil Warnock fiasco ended, almost as the club released their ‘Football Review Update’ informing us that priority was being given to appointing a new manager and that interviews were about to begin with a shortlist of serious candidates.
Either this will be the most complete and rigorous managerial appointment the game has ever seen, or the club will have suffered a series of setbacks from those it knew were its main targets.
pic. twitter. com/NakRoWxYyX
— Tom’s good old days (@sigg20) October 2, 2022
In a way, I can’t blame Dave Cormack for taking his time; He knows, as we all do, that he can’t make mistakes, but I don’t understand why the club wanted to say something about studies in the first place.
This only has higher expectations, which were intensified last weekend with the suggestion that the new guy is about to be introduced.
As it turned out, there was no development; The wait continued.
No appointment to a leadership position carries inherent risks, as the President found out the hard way.
When it comes to appointing a new boss, I find that the most important thing is to minimize them, do your homework, find the guy you think gives you the greatest imaginable productive chance of success.
This is something that unfortunately the president has not been able to do so far, and that is why it is taking so long.
Obviously, Stephen Glass was a risky choice, Jim Goodwin wasn’t so risky, but the task was too big for him, and Barry Robson also came to this position with little to no control experience.
Warnock had a lot, but he obviously wasn’t cut out to be the boss of the Don, and his hiring will be considered one of the most reckless appointments the club has ever made.
I said last week that the next headline deserves to be someone who knows Scottish football inside out, someone who understands its ups and downs. I know others have a different opinion and are open to the concept of a continental coach, but, as I pointed out, last Saturday, there is no ancient evidence – at the highest point – that foreign coaches can cope with the demands of our game.
Other names have appeared, bookmakers have established a succession of favourites for the position, but there has been no official internal communication and, like most people, I have no idea who will end up getting the position.
On Thursday, Alan Burrows told Red TV that the search had entered its “final stages”, so finally, we may finally be almost there.
In the meantime, just like Spanky, we just have to get up and wait.
With Scotland enjoying their worst run of late run of effects since Steve Clarke’s appointment, the prospect of Euro 2024 this summer doesn’t look as exciting as it did just a few months ago.
In the first part of last year, the team played a fast-paced game, the players were full of power and confidence, as they won five games directly to secure our position in the final.
That has dissipated, the defence is fragile and vulnerable, and we look brutal in attack, as we failed to score in any of last week’s friendlies.
After the loss to Northern Ireland, the players, until recently national heroes, were booed on the Hampden pitch.
It was a sudden and unforeseen fall from grace, and the coach had only two outings, against Gibraltar and Finland, to turn things around before the European Championship opener against Germany. You’ll have a lot to think about over the next 3 months.