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    Football - Brown: Announcement won't affect players

    Aberdeen manager Craig Brown does not believe his retirement announcement will have any impact on his players during their final attempts to make the top six of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

    Brown revealed on Thursday that he would step down as Dons manager at the end of the season but there remain eight games left in the SPL with the next three crucial.

    Aberdeen travel to Celtic Park on Saturday in ninth place in the SPL with games against Hearts and Dundee United to follow.

    But Brown does not feel the certainty regarding his situation will have any effect.

    "I don't think it will make the slightest difference," he said.

    "Players are very resilient. Obviously they want to play for a manager they are pleased to play for.

    "But it's their job to play football and if there's no manager or if (Jose) Mourinho came in or if Sir Alex (Ferguson) came back, they would hopefully be as enthusiastic for us as they would be for them.

    "Over the years I'm not going to deny Sir Alex might make a difference, I'm sure he would. But in the immediate term there will be no difference in attitude."

    Left-back Gary Naysmith agreed with Brown, although he hopes the announcement that his former Scotland manager and assistant Archie Knox are leaving might give the players something of an extra edge.

    "As a player your job is to win games," he said. "I wouldn't say it will fire us up any more but it's maybe something in the back of your mind, an extra incentive to make sure the two of them leave Aberdeen in as high a position as possible."

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