Arnott – McGhee’s Fir Park departure was inevitable

Jun 10 2009 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

FORMER Motherwell striker Dougie Arnott believes it was inevitable Mark McGhee would leave Fir Park after Aberdeen were given permission to speak to the ’Well manager last weekend.

The 52-year-old is set to put pen to paper on a two-year deal with The Dons this week once compensation between the two clubs has been agreed.

Arnott, who recently returned to Motherwell FC to take up the position of Bars Manager, also feels McGhee will be hard to replace.

“It will be a blow for the club but at the end of the day everybody knows it was on the cards that he was going to be going,” Arnott told the Wishaw Press.

“Aberdeen is where he made his name and he is not going to turn that down.

“He has got to go with the club that he feels is right for him.”

McGhee was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s all-conquering Aberdeen team that beat Real Madrid in the 1983 European Cup-Winners’ Cup Final in Gothenburg.

During his six-year stint with The Dons, McGhee also won two league titles, three Scottish Cups and the European Super Cup scoring 100 goals in 263 games.

In his first season in charge as Motherwell boss, McGhee guided them to third place in the SPL and secured European football.

But he failed to match these achievements last season with the club finishing in seventh place.

Arnott said: “I had a lot of time for Mark and thought he did a great job getting us into Europe and playing some great football. If you ask the players his man-management qualities were great.

“Now we have just got to look to the future and see who we get.

“If we get someone as good as Mark then I will be delighted.”

McGhee’s departure has yet to be officially confirmed but the rumour mill has already linked Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall with the Fir Park hotseat.

But yesterday Motherwell reacted furiously to a story written in the Daily Record suggesting the club had approached McCall’s agent.

A spokesman for the club said: “No-one at Motherwell Football Club has contacted the agent of Ian McCall or has any intention of doing so. Indeed, Motherwell are not in discussions with anyone directly or indirectly regarding personnel changes at Fir Park.”

Angry chairman John Boyle added: “Motherwell have instructed their lawyers, Harper Macleod, to contact the Daily Record and Radio Clyde with a view to obtaining clarification on the story.”