The reason for their ire: McGhee has hinted in an interview that he may pick a weakened site to face Celtic as his team prepare for a crunch match against Raith Rovers on Tuesday.
McGhee is quoted as saying:
“We do not necessarily have to beat Celtic on Saturday to finish fourth in the SPL and make Europe. We do have to beat Raith in the Cup. We need our strongest squad to be fit for Tuesday so I will need to be careful who I pick. It might be I’ll make changes for Saturday to make sure the best team is clear to face Raith. It’s something I have to look at carefully.”
This is taken by some (Rangers and possibly Hibs) fans as being an open admittance that McGhee will roll-over for Celtic (possibly quite true), in effect sticking it up Rangers (also possibly quite true).
It could also be interpreted as a manager setting out his priorities, namely winning the one thing that ultimately cost his predecessor his job; Jimmy Calderwood, by any comparisons a successful Aberdeen manager delivered top-six finishes in each of his five years in charge, but for all that failed to win silverware, going out to some lower division sides in the process.
Although on close examination of his comments regarding the Celtic match McGhee does not specifically say he'll play a weakened side, but his comments have left him open for a lot of abuse and calls - mainly by enraged Rangers fans - for an SFA enquiry.
McGhee's recent media performances leave a lot to be desired. He's been swearing live on air at a reporter and giving out to his own fans for giving his team a hard time following such tremendous performances as the defeats to Falkirk and Motherwell, not to mention the 1-1 draw with Raith in the Scottish Cup. For a man normally so media-savvy he's really landed himself in it, and has put a lot of pressure on himself and his team in the process.
But you've got to look at this from his point of view.
The bitter pill Aberdeen fans need to swallow is that for Aberdeen, the season is over. At this point, the team find themselves equidistant between fourth and twelfth place (11 points separates them from both Dundee United and Falkirk) and, barring a miracle, look unlikely to qualify for Europe through league position alone.
The only other route open to the Dons is to qualify through one of the domestic Cups. Having already been knocked out of the League Cup by Dundee (ironically enough the team they'll face if they beat Raith Rovers on Tuesday), the Scottish Cup is the only realistic avenue open to them.
It's a well known fact even to casual readers of this site that I'm not a McGhee supporter, but should he play a weakened side tomorrow, I will support him in this decision. Sure, it'll make for uncomfortable viewing but I understand the rationale.
See, I can't see us beat Celtic on Saturday, even with the strongest squad, but I can see us beating Raith Rovers on Tuesday with our strongest side. Or, to put it another way: we have to beat Raith on Tuesday, because no other result will do. Failure against the team from Kircaldy will bring the curtains down on a poor season for the Dons before we even reach the league split.
So most Dons fans (myself included) would agree that as things stand right now, the Raith Rovers game is a bigger game than the one on Saturday against Celtic. It's our only route to some kind of glory this season, so I can understand why McGhee might want to rest some of his key players ahead of the game on Tuesday.
No doubt if we progress against Raith we'll play a weakened side in the game against Hamilton before we take on Dundee in the quarter-finals and possibly again when we play Kilmarnock ahead of the semi-finals on the 10th April.
And if the cost of making it to (and ultimately winning) the final is a number of angry Rangers fans, then so be it; I don't think McGhee or the Aberdeen fans will care that much.
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