The current season has not gone to plan, of that there is no doubt, but the story of any football club is one of reinvention and rebuilding. It isn't the first time that a new manager has come along and discovered that he is faced with a rebuilding task or that he has to take a bit of time to get his ideas across to his squad of players. New boss Mark McGhee clearly knows what he needs to do and that it will take some time to do it. For the benefit of any doubters, you need only take a look back at a couple of Aberdeen's greatest managers to see that it is well worth bearing with him as he begins to tackle the problems in hand.

Eddie Turnbull remains a popular man around the Northeast - he won us the Scottish Cup in 1970 and very nearly gained the championship in season 1970-71. Before that, although he also reached the Cup Final in 1967, he had to steer the Dons through a couple of difficult seasons as he rebuilt and reorganised the team. During that spell, Aberdeen dropped as low as fifteenth in the league of eighteen by the end of the 1968-69 season although they did compensate slightly by making it to the semi-final of the Cup, only to be hammered 6-1 by Rangers. Eventually, though, Eddie got his squad set up the way he wanted, finding the players who would do the shirt and the Club proud and we went into an exciting period. Sadly for Aberdeen, Mr Turnbull decided to move on to Easter Road and his beloved Hibs, but he left footballing foundations that would serve the Club well for years to come.

Seven years later, Alex Ferguson arrived to replace Billy McNeill who had pushed the team back to the edge of great success. With the quality of squad already in place, expectations were high in season 1978-79 but the new manager was striving to bring about changes that perhaps the players found hard to accept and performances slid back. Hard though it is to imagine now, there were many people who wanted to see Fergie fired in that season as the Dons toiled to string together results needed for a decent League run. Of course before too long the team was turned round again and took us on the most successful journey in Aberdeen FC's history.

We can't make claims for how good or otherwise the current manager may be, and it is certain that he faces a mountain to climb, but he has tremendous experience behind him and is having to build from a much lower starting point than Alex Ferguson did and he needs more than a few months to prove whether the McGhee way is the right way or otherwise. Let's learn from history and give him the working room he needs.