Willie Losing Patience

Sometimes you can tell what a player's personality is like by looking at the ease or difficulty they find when negotiating transfers, and the agent they use in those negotiations. Many will look at the talks that ended up taking Lee Miller to Bristol last year, which seemed to last an eternity with every side being played like a game of Jenga in a theme pub by Miller and his team. In the current stalemate with Miller, there are already huge echoes of that saga, and that of the attempts at negotiating with John Viola that led to Robbie Winters leaving the club and AFC refusing to sign any more Viola-contracted players. It is clear that Lee Miller and his agent have a very high opinion of the player, who has only been contracted to lower-league outfits in Scotland and England in his career, and does not yet have a Scotland cap to his name. Contrast this to twice-capped Barry Nicholson, with several years experience of top-flight and European football, whose negotiations have been much smoother, which will please Aberdeen's backroom staff and fans alike.

Willie Miller, Aberdeen legend and executive director of football, continues to talk to the Miller's agent, but told the Press & Journal: "The longer things go on the more doubtful I become about completing a deal. I am not in the business of setting deadlines and I am not overly concerned, because I am only interested in signing players who really want to come to Aberdeen. If there is any doubt, I would sooner any player would say so and we could move to other people we are interested in. It is important we get the right people into the club."

The Dons chief hopes for a happier conclusion to his club's courtship of Dunfermline midfielder Barry Nicholson. Aberdeen have had an offer of around £220,000 accepted for the former hun and contract talks are progressing well. Miller said: "I expect the Barry Nicholson deal to go through in the early part of the week. We are still talking, but all the indications are that there is a willingness to conclude the transfer."

There are, as Willie has said, many irons still in the fire, with cash-strapped Killie and Dundee looking increasingly nervous that Aberdeen will not return to the negotiating table for strikers Kris Boyd and Steven Lovell and talks currently being held with out-of-contract ex-Celt Jamie Smith. Therefore, Aberdeen will surely not hang about much longer while Lee Miller timewastes like Hearts on the final day of the season.