Next St Mirren Manager

[Drew]

When Calderwood was with Dunfermline & Aberdeen he was part of the spend, spend, spend culture, he wasn't alone and he did what he had to do to keep up with the pack - the point is his spells at these clubs are generally considered successful and the eventual fallout is not his fault

He was brought in to rescue Kilmarnock in 2010/11 and Ross County in 2011/12 when they were in precarious situations and both clubs avoided relegation, I don't recall him having vast sums of money to bring in new players at Kilmarnock and his appointment at County was after the transfer window closed - both of these spells would also have to be considered successful .

He wouldn't be my choice and I'd be disappointed to see him appointed on more than an end-of-the-season basis but he is probably the best option from the deadpool of ex-managers.

*********************

We're never going to attract a big-name manager and so the choice is generally going to be between going an old lag with a chequered record and an up-and-comer from a smaller club - I'd generally go with the latter.

Did Calderwood not get a reputation as a bit of a bully when he was a Killie? I seem to recall a story in one of the rags about one of their younger players being subjected to a bit of a hard time at his hands (behave....MATRON!).

Maybe we need someone who can come in and deliver a swift boot to the collective bawsacks in the dressing-room, but there is always a balance to be struck. I suspect Danny is in the soft-as-shite category, and doesn't command respect from some of the more 'experienced' pros, but I'm not sure that going to the other extreme of bringing in a rabid dug would be the best bet either. Quite where Tangoman sits on this scale is anyone's guess.

I'm increasingly buying into the notion that a short-term 'fixer' option might just work. Then again, it might just result in an all mighty car crash....

Edited March 19, 2014 by Drew

[Lord Pityme]

If Owen Coyle doesn't fancy it, and Calderwood needs help to put his slippers on these days then let me suggest another barely credible candidate for a position that is not vacant... AND..! he'll be available just when Danny's contract expires too..!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2503321/Chelsea-paying-Roberto-Di-Matteo-130-000-week.html

[Big Yards]

Why does calderwoods name always come up when talking about a new manager, I don't see the attraction in a guy that's just been mediocre if not worse in his managerial career

[Bud the Baker]

Why does calderwoods name always come up when talking about a new manager, I don't see the attraction in a guy that's just been mediocre if not worse in his managerial career

There is no perfect solution - if we end up in the play-offs (and that's the most likely scenario) then it's untenable that Lennon remain in charge. At this point with our situation next year uncertain could/would the BoD commit to a deal beyond the end of the season? This would mean an interim appointment to the end of the season and that'd have to be either from within the club ie. Thompson'n'Teale or someone from the deadpool of ex-managers and Tangoman is the logical choice having been there before with Killie & County.

[Lord Pityme]

There is no perfect solution - if we end up in the play-offs (and that's the most likely scenario) then it's untenable that Lennon remain in charge. At this point with our situation next year uncertain could/would the BoD commit to a deal beyond the end of the season? This would mean an interim appointment to the end of the season and that'd have to be either from within the club ie. Thompson'n'Teale or someone from the deadpool of ex-managers and Tangoman is the logical choice having been there before with Killie & County.

C'mon are you suggesting we should swap managers before a two headed tie to remain in the league?

Then again this chap is available and as feckin absurd as the other suggestions

http://youtu.be/1aFC8Qw7lVU

[Drew]

Why does calderwoods name always come up when talking about a new manager, I don't see the attraction in a guy that's just been mediocre if not worse in his managerial career

I seen Calderwood at the Killie match, and posted fas much from outside the ground.

Of course, this means nothing at all, but the forum is all about tittle-tattle, so it is to be expected that that his name will be thrown into the melting pot.

I can't say that any prospect of JC taking over as manager in any capacity fills me with joy. Far from it. He is, however, in circulation, and not otherwise employed as far as I'm aware, so it is far from an unrealistic notion.

[beyond our ken]

Great ideas here. a skint club (us) tries saving money by not renewing our manager's contract and not committing another regime to his salary/compensation package, is now being urged by a few malcontents to ditch the manager early (opening the door to compensation claims that will be cheaper to pay than defend) and to splurge cash on an experienced spendaholic old-school manager to come in and noise up the dressing room in the hope that he can keep us out of the play-offs purely by the force of his personality and by virtue of him being a rotten git to players

sound like a plan to me

Except,

1. a Calderwood type figure would be looking for 2-3 times the going rate for a short-term role with the caveat that he gets a 3 year mega-bucks package if he is successful, or an outrageous bonus as a pay-off if he keeps us up and then leaves (please dont kid yourselves that this would play out in any other way)

2. Danny lennon, contracted to the summer, would also expect some serious dosh, simply paying up his outstanding wages would not be an option. he could justifiably claim that if allowed to stay he had a plan to keep us up and maintain or even enhance his reputation and that he had committed himself to the club forsaking all others until the summer. as i said, with a good lawyer, cheaper to pay than defend

3. where the hell does the club find the calderwood-type money if he fails (better than 50% chance in my opinion) and we are relegated

Maybe it's me-maybe I am the fanciful one that says that it is already too late to change the manager and our best options are to look-inward and for the players to show some guts an some pride. many of them owe a lot to Danny and the best way to repay is to dig in, commit to the club and all who work there and grind out the 3 or 4 results we need to avoid a play-off

[Bud the Baker]

C'mon are you suggesting we should swap managers before a two headed tie to remain in the league?

Then again this chap is available and as feckin absurd as the other suggestions

http://youtu.be/1aFC8Qw7lVU

Yes, yes and thrice yes!

I'm not even going to open your link but I doubt it could be any more absurd than retaining Lennon in the circumstances envisaged - I note you make no attempt to suggest that we'll turn things around.

[beyond our ken]

There is no perfect solution

In other words, let's change for the sake of change - a bit of a cop-out

if we end up in the play-offs (and that's the most likely scenario) then it's untenable that Lennon remain in charge.

That last bit doesnt make any sense

At this point with our situation next year uncertain could/would the BoD commit to a deal beyond the end of the season? This would mean an interim appointment to the end of the season and that'd have to be either from within the club ie. Thompson'n'Teale

Again, interim-schminterim. These guys might just rescue things, but what a gamble? and anyway, they would have the dreaded success clause written into their contracts that would tie the club to big wages for untried and inexperienced coaches. How could an incoming manager follow them and tolerate the notion that they were suspected of undermining the previous guy but that they would be OK with him if they got bagged from the management gig but still had contracts as players? Who would be daft enough to uy that notion and still be clever enough to keep us up.

or someone from the deadpool of ex-managers and Tangoman is the logical choice having been there before with Killie & County.

I'm sorry, but I just don't buy your logic

[mearnssaint]

Great ideas here. a skint club (us) tries saving money by not renewing our manager's contract and not committing another regime to his salary/compensation package, is now being urged by a few malcontents to ditch the manager early (opening the door to compensation claims that will be cheaper to pay than defend) and to splurge cash on an experienced spendaholic old-school manager to come in and noise up the dressing room in the hope that he can keep us out of the play-offs purely by the force of his personality and by virtue of him being a rotten git to players

sound like a plan to me

Except,

1. a Calderwood type figure would be looking for 2-3 times the going rate for a short-term role with the caveat that he gets a 3 year mega-bucks package if he is successful, or an outrageous bonus as a pay-off if he keeps us up and then leaves (please dont kid yourselves that this would play out in any other way)

2. Danny lennon, contracted to the summer, would also expect some serious dosh, simply paying up his outstanding wages would not be an option. he could justifiably claim that if allowed to stay he had a plan to keep us up and maintain or even enhance his reputation and that he had committed himself to the club forsaking all others until the summer. as i said, with a good lawyer, cheaper to pay than defend

3. where the hell does the club find the calderwood-type money if he fails (better than 50% chance in my opinion) and we are relegated

Maybe it's me-maybe I am the fanciful one that says that it is already too late to change the manager and our best options are to look-inward and for the players to show some guts an some pride. many of them owe a lot to Danny and the best way to repay is to dig in, commit to the club and all who work there and grind out the 3 or 4 results we need to avoid a play-off

So true when you put like that. All we really need is 4 wins. But then you look historically and the odds on us doing that are unlikely at best. I think the fact of the matter is we will be in the play off and need to prepare ourselves for that. As I've said so many times before playing staff wise we are top 6, but something happens when we mix them all together and chuck in the DL/TC factor. Basically we're using steak mince and organic veg to make spaghetti bolgnaise and it consistently comes out tasting like shit.

[beyond our ken]

maybe someone is shitting in the pot once the chefs have put the luxury ingredients on the boil. will changing the manager solve that?

[Bud the Baker]

Great ideas here. a skint club (us) tries saving money by not renewing our manager's contract and not committing another regime to his salary/compensation package, is now being urged by a few malcontents to ditch the manager early (opening the door to compensation claims that will be cheaper to pay than defend) and to splurge cash on an experienced spendaholic old-school manager to come in and noise up the dressing room in the hope that he can keep us out of the play-offs purely by the force of his personality and by virtue of him being a rotten git to players

sound like a plan to me

Like I said if we finish 11^th Lennon's position will be untenable - given that we're currently 11^th and have the worst form of the bottom six clubs since the transfer window opened in January it's far and away the most likely scenario.

Except,

1. a Calderwood type figure would be looking for 2-3 times the going rate for a short-term role with the caveat that he gets a 3 year mega-bucks package if he is successful, or an outrageous bonus as a pay-off if he keeps us up and then leaves (please dont kid yourselves that this would play out in any other way)

Calderwood has accepted short term contract in twice within the last 5 years. Next you have no idea of what terms he would accept - you're just making it up as you go along.

2. Danny lennon, contracted to the summer, would also expect some serious dosh, simply paying up his outstanding wages would not be an option. he could justifiably claim that if allowed to stay he had a plan to keep us up and maintain or even enhance his reputation and that he had committed himself to the club forsaking all others until the summer. as i said, with a good lawyer, cheaper to pay than defend

More Fantasy!

3. where the hell does the club find the calderwood-type money if he fails (better than 50% chance in my opinion) and we are relegated

That's the risk the BoD will have to take, you may be right and they might stick with Lennon - except we know you're not!

Maybe it's me-maybe I am the fanciful one that says that it is already too late to change the manager and our best options are to look-inward and for the players to show some guts an some pride. many of them owe a lot to Danny and the best way to repay is to dig in, commit to the club and all who work there and grind out the 3 or 4 results we need to avoid a play-off

Danny asked the BoD publicly to back him with a new contract back in December - results since then make it unlikely this will happen he's gone beyond being a lame duck he's dead in the water!

We are on course for finishing 11^th and the play-offs, unless a drastic change of form occurs, assuming it won't there will be no easy answers - it'll be up to the BoD to make a decision.

if we end up in the play-offs (and that's the most likely scenario) then it's untenable that Lennon remain in charge.

Give me some reasons why this doesn't make sense - just because it's different from your opinion doesn't count!

Edited March 19, 2014 by Bud the Baker

[Dibbles old paperboy]

So true when you put like that. All we really need is 4 wins. But then you look historically and the odds on us doing that are unlikely at best. I think the fact of the matter is we will be in the play off and need to prepare ourselves for that. As I've said so many times before playing staff wise we are top 6, but something happens when we mix them all together and chuck in the DL/TC factor. Basically we're using steak mince and organic veg to make spaghetti bolgnaise and it consistently comes out tasting like shit.

Playing staff wise we are top 6 in a 5-a-side league at best! Kello could play for a top 6 club, possibly McGregor, McGinn and McLean would be in moxt top 6 squads, and Thompson might get a game with some top 6 teams... others are unlikely to be dropping Stevie May, Billy McKay, John Sutton or Adam Rooney to make way for the Hawk.

Now lets look at the rest of the squad and ask what top 6 teams would currently play Naismith, Kelly, DVZ, McAusland, Goodwin, McGowan, Newton, Djembe Djembe, Wylde, Magennis, Bahoken, Reilly and Campbell - i.e. the majority of our squad. I don't see any of them as being first picks at any top 6 club apart from possibly McGowan.

If we only have 5 players that might get a regular game in a top 6 side is it not utterly ridiculous to bang on that we have a 'top 6 squad' and all that is stopping us being there is our manager's tactics and man management skills (oh and his post match press conference performances too)?

We have one of the worst defences in the league - fact! Few squads with bad defences in comparison with the rest of their own league make the top 6. Our attacking options are also pretty thin on the ground too - heavily reliant on one star ageing striker. Hardly the making of a top 6 squad with strength in depth in defence or attack. The only departments where we look pretty strong are goalkeeper and midfield.

If we genuinely had a top 6 squad we wouldn't be goosed as soon as two from the following list are out due to injury or suspension: Teale, McLean, McGinn, Goodwin, McGowan.If 3 from that list are ruled out we are more like 1st division standard than top 6 material. We are heavily reliant on our handful of top 6 quality players being fit, available for selection, and on form.

[Lord Pityme]

Yes, yes and thrice yes!

I'm not even going to open your link but I doubt it could be any more absurd than retaining Lennon in the circumstances envisaged - I note you make no attempt to suggest that we'll turn things around.

So with no time to assess his squad a manager should come in for the play-offs (if thats where we end up) and somehow be able to make a group of players who took us there miraculously transform and win those two games..?

If thats such a dead cert why not employ him for the last two post-split games to prevent us even entering the play-offs..?

Or employ him after say a cup quarter final win to guarantee lifting the trophy..?

The squad of players available are more than capable of avoiding the play offs with Jimmy Krankie managing them. Danny's fate appears to be sealed come season end. Those players either want to remain Premiership players or are content to have a play-off/relegation on their cv's...

[Dibbles old paperboy]

When Calderwood was with Dunfermline & Aberdeen he was part of the spend, spend, spend culture, he wasn't alone and he did what he had to do to keep up with the pack - the point is his spells at these clubs are generally considered successful and the eventual fallout is not his fault

He was brought in to rescue Kilmarnock in 2010/11 and Ross County in 2011/12 when they were in precarious situations and both clubs avoided relegation, I don't recall him having vast sums of money to bring in new players at Kilmarnock and his appointment at County was after the transfer window closed - both of these spells would also have to be considered successful .

He wouldn't be my choice and I'd be disappointed to see him appointed on more than an end-of-the-season basis but he is probably the best option from the deadpool of ex-managers.

*********************

We're never going to attract a big-name manager and so the choice is generally going to be between going an old lag with a chequered record and an up-and-comer from a smaller club - I'd generally go with the latter.

Calderwood won nothing in 10 years of spend, spend, spend with Dunfermline and Aberdeen. At Aberdeen he would have had the 4th highest budget behind Celtic, Rangers, and Hearts and he got them into top 6 and a few games in Europe on a decent budget. Killie and Ross County didn't fancy giving him their jobs on a permanent basis after he helped them avoid relegation, so out of those 4 clubs he left one on his own terms and the rest got rid of him.

[mearnssaint]

I'm clutching at straws to be positive basically. if the question is really put to me, are they good enough - IMO - Kello, yes; Naismith/DVZ, no and God no; Kelly, no; McAusland, no; McGregor, yes I can sort of see plenty there; Goodwin, not a chance; McGowan, yes; Newton, no; McGinn, best player by a country mile; Thommo, not really anymore; McLean, I suppose so on his day but struggle to understand the early season talk of £1m+ from Chico Young; Teale, still rate him but not had a chance this season; Djembax2, don't be silly; Wylde, a premadonna poser who is rank rotten; Campbell/Bahoken/Magennis...???!! eh?!

So put on the spot, I suppose you're right - we're not top 6. We have based on above 4 players who do/could cut it.

Oh dear...

[Dibbles old paperboy]

I'm clutching at straws to be positive basically. if the question is really put to me, are they good enough - IMO - Kello, yes; Naismith/DVZ, no and God no; Kelly, no; McAusland, no; McGregor, yes I can sort of see plenty there; Goodwin, not a chance; McGowan, yes; Newton, no; McGinn, best player by a country mile; Thommo, not really anymore; McLean, I suppose so on his day but struggle to understand the early season talk of £1m+ from Chico Young; Teale, still rate him but not had a chance this season; Djembax2, don't be silly; Wylde, a premadonna poser who is rank rotten; Campbell/Bahoken/Magennis...???!! eh?!

So put on the spot, I suppose you're right - we're not top 6. We have based on above 4 players who do/could cut it.

Oh dear...

Right, so we don't have a top 6 budget, we don't have a top 6 squad, our manager hasn't been head hunted by a top 6 squad, so why the outrage that we are 7 points behind Hibs with a game in hand? Hibs have a top 6 budget and a top 6 manager and we'll probably finish fairly close to them points-wise by the end of the season.

[Drew]

Great ideas here. a skint club (us) tries saving money by not renewing our manager's contract and not committing another regime to his salary/compensation package, is now being urged by a few malcontents to ditch the manager early (opening the door to compensation claims that will be cheaper to pay than defend) and to splurge cash on an experienced spendaholic old-school manager to come in and noise up the dressing room in the hope that he can keep us out of the play-offs purely by the force of his personality and by virtue of him being a rotten git to players

sound like a plan to me

Except,

1. a Calderwood type figure would be looking for 2-3 times the going rate for a short-term role with the caveat that he gets a 3 year mega-bucks package if he is successful, or an outrageous bonus as a pay-off if he keeps us up and then leaves (please dont kid yourselves that this would play out in any other way)

2. Danny lennon, contracted to the summer, would also expect some serious dosh, simply paying up his outstanding wages would not be an option. he could justifiably claim that if allowed to stay he had a plan to keep us up and maintain or even enhance his reputation and that he had committed himself to the club forsaking all others until the summer. as i said, with a good lawyer, cheaper to pay than defend

3. where the hell does the club find the calderwood-type money if he fails (better than 50% chance in my opinion) and we are relegated

Maybe it's me-maybe I am the fanciful one that says that it is already too late to change the manager and our best options are to look-inward and for the players to show some guts an some pride. many of them owe a lot to Danny and the best way to repay is to dig in, commit to the club and all who work there and grind out the 3 or 4 results we need to avoid a play-off

I think many would agree that now is not the best time to make a change. Ideally, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, but the club are at a critical fork in the road.

Sticking it out is most certainly an option, and might just be enough. I suppose there is one advantage to the situation that we find ourselves in, and that lies in the fact that we onlly have one matter to concern ourselves with - survival. All other things being equal, that should allow for 100% focus on the job in hand. No distractions of cup runs, breaking into the top 6, or possible European spots. Danny shouldn't struggle to motivate the players and get the best out of them. Let's face it, their livelihoods and/or reputations are at stake to some degree. Again, all other things being equal, Danny should have what it takes to galvanise the squad and players should respond in kind.

But....

It hardly needs to be stated that all other things aren't equal, and this is why the BoD have a critically important decision to make in terms of which road to take. Even taking the rumours of dressing-room mutiny and other tittle-tattle out of the equation, consideration of the bare facts doesn't auger well for a positive outcome if there isn't a radical re-think.

The only thing consistent about our performances is inconsistency. More worrying than that, though, is that I am not confident that the current squad have a great deal of resilience. We don't do grinding results out like we used to, it seems to me. We don't have much in the way of Broadfoot, Murray, and Steven Thomson characters, who you can rely on to get the head down and battle when the chips are down.

Whether a new manager (interim or otherwise) could come in and make an impact is moot, but it is an option that the BoD should surely be considering. Our current set-up is failing, and failing badly. We can't make wholesale changes to the playing squad in an attempt to save the season, but the manager's position is one that could be looked at, and looked at right now.

I genuinely believed that Danny would be away this week. It might still happen, but looks increasingly unlikely. If the BoD have opted to take the road that means sticking with what we have, all we can do is watch through our fingers and hope that it is enough.

[Bud the Baker]

So with no time to assess his squad a manager should come in for the play-offs (if thats where we end up) and somehow be able to make a group of players who took us there miraculously transform and win those two games..?

If thats such a dead cert why not employ him for the last two post-split games to prevent us even entering the play-offs..?

Or employ him after say a cup quarter final win to guarantee lifting the trophy..?

The squad of players available are more than capable of avoiding the play offs with Jimmy Krankie managing them. Danny's fate appears to be sealed come season end. Those players either want to remain Premiership players or are content to have a play-off/relegation on their cv's...

Lennon should be given the opportunity to dig himself out of the hole he's gotten himself into - in the event of 11^th place becoming a certainty his position will be untenable and Calderwood may be the best of a poor set of options. Personally I'd go for T'n'T but regarding Calderwood what I said was he'd probably be the best option from the deadpool of ex-managers.

Calderwood won nothing in 10 years of spend, spend, spend with Dunfermline and Aberdeen. At Aberdeen he would have had the 4th highest budget behind Celtic, Rangers, and Hearts and he got them into top 6 and a few games in Europe on a decent budget. Killie and Ross County didn't fancy giving him their jobs on a permanent basis after he helped them avoid relegation, so out of those 4 clubs he left one on his own terms and the rest got rid of him.

He got Dunfermline to a cup final and fourth in the league - their best in 30-odd years, at Aberdeen his team finished 4^th 6^th, 3^rd 4^th & 4^th about par (sic) for the course given that you reckon they had the 4^th biggest budget, they also reached the last 32 of the UEFA Cup/League - he might have been a big spender (Hey!) but those were the times and even if he left by mutual consent he did better than his immediate predecessor and successors. It's taken the collapse of Rangers & Hearts for Aberdeen to win their first trophy since 1996!

Contrary to what you say he was offered a contract by Kilmarnock after keeping them up but couldn't agree terms with MJ the Killie chairman. Who knows why Derek Adams got the Ross County gig where his father is director of football?

**************************

I remember Stewart Gilmour saying Tom Hendrie had the safest job in Scottish football 'cos we couldn't afford to sack him yet less than a month later we did, albeit in messy circumstances, the point being that sometimes sacking a manager becomes the least bad option.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Bud the Baker

[Bud the Baker]

Playing staff wise we are top 6 in a 5-a-side league at best! Kello could play for a top 6 club, possibly McGregor, McGinn and McLean would be in moxt top 6 squads, and Thompson might get a game with some top 6 teams... others are unlikely to be dropping Stevie May, Billy McKay, John Sutton or Adam Rooney to make way for the Hawk.

Now lets look at the rest of the squad and ask what top 6 teams would currently play Naismith, Kelly, DVZ, McAusland, Goodwin, McGowan, Newton, Djembe Djembe, Wylde, Magennis, Bahoken, Reilly and Campbell - i.e. the majority of our squad. I don't see any of them as being first picks at any top 6 club apart from possibly McGowan.

If we only have 5 players that might get a regular game in a top 6 side is it not utterly ridiculous to bang on that we have a 'top 6 squad' and all that is stopping us being there is our manager's tactics and man management skills (oh and his post match press conference performances too)?

We have one of the worst defences in the league - fact! Few squads with bad defences in comparison with the rest of their own league make the top 6. Our attacking options are also pretty thin on the ground too - heavily reliant on one star ageing striker. Hardly the making of a top 6 squad with strength in depth in defence or attack. The only departments where we look pretty strong are goalkeeper and midfield.

If we genuinely had a top 6 squad we wouldn't be goosed as soon as two from the following list are out due to injury or suspension: Teale, McLean, McGinn, Goodwin, McGowan.If 3 from that list are ruled out we are more like 1st division standard than top 6 material. We are heavily reliant on our handful of top 6 quality players being fit, available for selection, and on form.

This is one of the few areas in which we seem to agree - I never reckoned we had a Top Six squad and after the mismanagement of the last two windows, for which Lennon is responsible, I reckon it's just about the weakest in the division.

[mearnssaint]

Right, so we don't have a top 6 budget, we don't have a top 6 squad, our manager hasn't been head hunted by a top 6 squad, so why the outrage that we are 7 points behind Hibs with a game in hand? Hibs have a top 6 budget and a top 6 manager and we'll probably finish fairly close to them points-wise by the end of the season.

No, no don't get me wrong, I'm delighted with how things are going.

[beyond our ken]

We are on course for finishing 11^th and the play-offs, unless a drastic change of form occurs, assuming it won't there will be no easy answers - it'll be up to the BoD to make a decision.

Give me some reasons why this doesn't make sense - just because it's different from your opinion doesn't count!

Simple reason is that it carries no guarantees and huge risk to change a manager just for the play-offs and it's not just me that it doesnt make sense to, if the BOD were dropping Danny early- he would be gone by now

[Bud the Baker]

Simple reason is that it carries no guarantees and huge risk to change a manager just for the play-offs and it's not just me that it doesnt make sense to, if the BOD were dropping Danny early- he would be gone by now

Well opinions are clearly split and we'll just have to wait and see how events unfold.

[Dibbles old paperboy]

Lennon should be given the opportunity to dig himself out of the hole he's gotten himself into - in the event of 11^th place becoming a certainty his position will be untenable and Calderwood may be the best of a poor set of options. Personally I'd go for T'n'T but regarding Calderwood what I said was he'd probably be the best option from the deadpool of ex-managers.

He got Dunfermline to a cup final and fourth in the league - their best in 30-odd years, at Aberdeen his team finished 4^th 6^th, 3^rd 4^th & 4^th about par (sic) for the course given that you reckon they had the 4^th biggest budget, they also reached the last 32 of the UEFA Cup/League - he might have been a big spender (Hey!) but those were the times and even if he left by mutual consent he did better than his immediate predecessor and successors. It's taken the collapse of Rangers & Hearts for Aberdeen to win their first trophy since 1996!

Contrary to what you say he was offered a contract by Kilmarnock after keeping them up but couldn't agree terms with MJ the Killie chairman. Who knows why Derek Adams got the Ross County gig where his father is director of football?

**************************

I remember Stewart Gilmour saying Tom Hendrie had the safest job in Scottish football 'cos we couldn't afford to sack him yet less than a month later we did, albeit in messy circumstances, the point being that sometimes sacking a manager becomes the least bad option.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/k/kilmarnock/8673379.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/k/kilmarnock/8714271.stm

MJ wasn't in touch with Calderwood at the end of the season to renew his contract and when 3 weeks later JC announced he would be continuing his career elsewhere he said it down to Killie's budget for coaching staff and players. It has now been almost 4 years since he managed an SPL team, and in that time Hibs, Dundee United, Dundee, St Johnstone have all decided against hiring him after he told the media he was interested in those posts.

Its now almost 3 years since he managed a 1st division club and no other clubs at that level who have changed managers have felt tempted to take him on.

[Bud the Baker]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/k/kilmarnock/8673379.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/k/kilmarnock/8714271.stm

MJ wasn't in touch with Calderwood at the end of the season to renew his contract and when 3 weeks later JC announced he would be continuing his career elsewhere he said it down to Killie's budget for coaching staff and players. It has now been almost 4 years since he managed an SPL team, and in that time Hibs, Dundee United, Dundee, St Johnstone have all decided against hiring him after he told the media he was interested in those posts.

Its now almost 3 years since he managed a 1st division club and no other clubs at that level who have changed managers have felt tempted to take him on.

Well there are differing accounts, here's a couple..............

http://www.scotzine.com/2011/02/1833/

Calderwood led Killie to safety but rejected an offer of a new contract to take charge of Killie permanently.

http://www.killiefc.com/Web%20Pages/Manager%20History.htm

Calderwood confirmed on May 31st 2010 he would not be returning to manage the club for the forthcoming season..... "I couldn't fulfil my ambitions under those financial limitations, To be honest, it was more to do with the budget and Sandy (Clark) leaving, To have a fighting chance of making the top half of the table, the budget wasn't enough. It would have made it very difficult to do that and take it on to another level."

Even the second BBC article you quote confirms this

Jimmy Calderwood has told BBC Scotland he will not be returning to Kilmarnock to manage the club.

The ex-Aberdeen boss was unhappy at the playing budget for next season and at the prospect of parting with assistant Sandy Clark to cut operating costs.

"I couldn't fulfil my ambitions under those financial limitations," he said.

It's a grey area and it looks like no formal offer was made but it's pretty clear that there must have been some discussion between MJ & Calderwood regarding him continuing as manager so like I said it's a case of not being able to agree terms rather than a straight rejection by Kilmarnock. As to other clubs rejecting him so what..........................

Regarding his subsequent career yeah it's chequered and if Lennon can keep us away from the play-offs it won't be an issue................