Jimmy Calderwood interview: Weathering the storm

ABERDEEN'S perennial cup failings have prompted anger from the fans but Moira Gordon finds Jimmy Calderwood remains confident

JIMMY CALDERWOOD may have taken advantage of the international break and escaped for sunnier climes this week but he is still having to weather a storm. And not for the first time. Another disappointingly-premature cup exit at the hands of lower-league opposition has stirred up the wrath of Aberdeen fans. It's not a new phenomenon. He has been here before. And survived. Two seasons ago Calderwood's side lost to Queens Park in the second round of the League Cup, then, in 2008, there was the shock of Queen of the South. The pain of that has never gone and results such as those against Dunfermline this month have simply
driven a bigger wedge between the gaffer and a section of the disgruntled support.

Reacting angrily, the AFC Trust sent an open letter to Aberdeen director of football Willie Miller earlier this week, appealing for the sacking of the management team.

"It's the nature of the beast," I suppose," sighed Calderwood. "If Gordon Strachan at Celtic and Walter Smith at Rangers are under pressure from their fans who say they should be doing better, then the rest of us have no chance! I won't pretend I like it and, obviously, I would rather this wasn't happening but the fans are very passionate about their club. I just don't think this helps anybody."

In the past, when fans have called for his head, he has responded to the slagging by guiding the team to its best run of finishes in the SPL, guided the club into Europe and safeguarded their participation at that level beyond Christmas for the first time in 21 years. Apparently that still isn't enough. It needs to be accompanied by some silverware.

Yet, of the nine cup finals contested during Calderwood's tenure, only twice has a cup been prised away from the Old Firm, by Hearts in 2006 and Hibs in 2007. Realistically, Calderwood, like the Aberdeen support, know that domestic cups offer the best chance of success but, being truly realistic, the odds are still stacked against them. Some suggest Calderwood has not done himself any favours by buying into the cup dream, talking of his desire for triumphant open-top bus tours through the city and heightening hope but failing to deliver.

He says the sombre journey north from Hampden after last season's thwarting by the First Division side trumps any of the verbal or written barbs coming his way at the moment.

"That was probably the lowest point of my managerial career. It was murder. We knew that it would have meant us getting into Europe again and we also knew that, with Rangers' fixtures piling up, we would have had a decent chance in the final so when we didn't do ourselves justice, the journey back up the road, at the front of that bus, felt like the longest journey ever. I understand why the fans were angry.

"I understand it's their club and that we are just passing through but we have been here four and a half years and, hopefully, will be here for another two and a half. If we put it all into context, it's three games that have done us in, that have really upset the fans, that's three games out of over 200."

In fact it has been 219 games and he has won 42% of them and drawn 26%. It is a record that is likely to secure his position despite the calls for his head to be delivered on a platter.

"This is not something I like," says the former Dunfermline gaffer. "I hate losing games as much as the fans do and I would love us to win them a cup but you also need a bit of luck. The annoying thing is that at times like this they don't remember, or don't want to remember, that we have done all right in the league when it has been about a whole season, not just one game. We have never finished outside the top six and, other than the Old Firm, no other club has got that record during our time here."

In the past when the battle lines have been drawn, Calderwood has tried to batten down the hatches and let results quell the commotion. He has shied away from a war of words and he doesn't want one now but he also rails against many of the criticisms and admits that he does feel hurt.

"Of course I do. I'm human and we all want people to like us but in football that's not realistic. Of course we don't like it but that seems to be the way football is going and sadly for us managers I don't see that changing."

At the beginning of the season it was John Hughes, Gus MacPherson and Craig Levein who were the subject of phone-ins and fans' forums. If people power had been influential enough, they would have been the first on the dole queue, followed soon after by Jim Jefferies, Mixu Paatelainen, Gordon Strachan, Walter Smith and, now, Calderwood. But only one manager has been fired, Craig Brewster. The others have had the backing of their board and thus far fended off the unseemly clamour for casualties.

Calderwood believes he will continue to do so. He has spoken to Miller about the open letter and says he is still planning for the remainder of the season and laying down plans for not just next term but the campaign after that. "Willie is brilliant. He is an absolute winner so he hates losing but he knows we still have a lot to play for this season. We can still finish third and get into Europe and we all know how much that meant to us all, including the fans, the last time. So Willie can still see the big picture and he's very astute."

At a club with one of the biggest budgets outwith the Old Firm, Calderwood points to the European run, as well as the sales of Russell Anderson, Michael Hart and Chris Clark as ways he has replenished the coffers.

It's more points he would like to have saved up by now, though. He says he had expected to have more than they do at the moment. When it came to finances and points, the AFC Trust came to their own conclusion. "The team is no longer improving and although it will be costly to move the entire management team, we must bite the bullet and do so."

Yet the reality is a fourth-place position, which should reap the reward of European football next term, and a points tally that is better than two of the previous four seasons. They are also two wins and a draw better off than at the same stage of the last campaign.

But it's all about opinions. Calderwood knows that. He says he could counter claims of tactical incompetence with the highs of a the European performance against Dnipro, which he considers "one of the best tactical performances I have seen from a Scottish team in Europe". Those games are also the ones which make him proudest. But he is long enough in the tooth to know that there is a section of the Aberdeen support he will never win over.

"I get letters and there are good, as well as bad, although maybe my secretary hides the worst ones from me. But I try to reply to them all and be as honest as I can. But you can't please everyone. That's the nature of football and football fans but in Scotland we are not slow to express opinions. We do it quite aggressively and we don't half expect a lot for a nation of five million people."

The AFC Trust say it is not a case of them having unrealistic expectations. But, then again, football is all about opinions.