Aitken all over

Coming from over the road, as it were, Roy Aitken was always on a bit of a hiding to nothing.

The former V***a assistant was the sort of character who would dish it back out to critical fans as well, as happened on a couple of occasions at St Andrew's.

So he never quite had the love, but he did a better job that he was given credit for as one of Alex McLeish's lieutenants.

He had the respect of the players at Wast Hills. James McFadden bought him three carrot cakes as send-off present - although I'm not quite sure of the signficance of that - and apparently there were emotional scenes when he said his goodbyes on the training field to the squad.

Aitken, a Celtic legend, was always up-beat and liked to challenge players to improve.

He was not afraid to take a counter stance to McLeish's either when it came to tactics or players, which was healthy.

More obviously in your face on a match day than Watson whenever you looked to the technical areas, he exuded passion.

People have varying views on his decision to go off into the desert and assist David O'Leary at Dubai-based Al Ahli.

For the money? Sure, at his time of life - and having beaten cancer four years ago - financial security will have come into it.

He has worked out in the UAE before and felt that he was not leaving Blues in the lurch, but with the club on a high.

Had he agreed a new contract, which was being talked about for some time, he might have remained.

The fact that negotiations dragged on meant it was easier for Al Ahli to pay the year's compensation for his services. He was 'gettable' to them and O'Leary.

Because Aitken quit just a day or two into pre-season, coming on the back of Tim Williamson's return to Celtic, naturally questions have been raised.

Throw in McLeish's contract wrangles too, the lack of recent tangible transfer activity, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that the wheels were coming off.

Not quite. McLeish is hoping to secure a replacement for Aitken in time for the Hong Kong and China tour - he has targeted Ricky Sbragia - and new physio George Cooper is on his way in Friday.

It's worth remembering, too, that Aitken was a recent addition to McLeish's backroom. He joined up with him when he was coach of Scotland. Watson has been McLeish's long-term assistant since he started out in management.

Aitken was always very protective and defensive of the work McLeish, the coaches and players did.

He would often privately take a dim view of comments from the board as, being schooled in the traditional football ways, the team mattered most. He felt directors shouldn't be spouting off so much.

He picked me up a few times on things I wrote which he felt were negative and didn't help the management or players' cause. I would argue my case, and he would listen. We might have agreed to disagree, but he never held a grudge.

As you might expect, he was knowledgeable about football and had common sense views. The way Aitken, McLeish and Watson dovetailed seemed to work well.

Now, rather like Steve Bruce did after the fall out with Mark Bowen, McLeish has to find another coach. Bruce did very well in recruiting Eric Black, I wouldn't put it past McLeish doing the same, with Sbragia certainly highly regarded in football.

These things do happen. Frank Barlow was a big loss to Trevor Francis, but he moved on with Ian Bowyer and Mick Mills, then Jim Barron.

And sometimes a fresh pair of eyes and a different approach is no bad thing to keep people on their toes, including the manager himself.