Aberdeen: Past, Present and Future?

By: TheNorthernLight | October 14th, 2008

They say those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, so let us begin with a quick recap of last season.

Aberdeen’s season 2007/08 was another mixed bag: a relatively mediocre performance in the league that never saw the Dons higher than fourth place all season was offset by an exciting European campaign that didn’t see them lose a single game at home, instead incurring the obligatory heavy defeats away to Panathinaikos and Athletico Madrid. Realistically, nobody expected the Dons to go through from what was a tough group, but the 4-0 demolition of Copenhagen at Pittodrie, together with some fortunate results elsewhere, the Dons qualified for the next round, where they met Bayern Munich. Many flashbacks to A creditable 2-2 draw at home (with on-loan players Josh Walker and Sone Aluko scoring) looked promising, but the Germans turned on the style in Munich and ran out comfortable 5-1 winners on the night, and ended Aberdeen’s first European campaign since 2003.

With that out of the way, the Dons could concentrate on the domestic season: they got through to the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup, where a rampant Dundee United proved too strong against a 10-man Aberdeen, while in the Scottish Cup they overcame Falkirk, Hamilton and Celtic to reach the semi-final, eventually coming unstuck against First Division Queen of the South. You’d have bet the family silver that the Dons would get through to the final, but football is a funny game: the Dumfries side came out on top 4-3 to reach the final, where they’d eventually lose to Rangers (but pick up a potentially lucrative Uefa Cup spot)

The 2007-08 season rumbled on and Aberdeen made the league split, crawling over the line in 6th place, just ahead Hearts. On the final day of the season, the Dons where still in 6th place and facing a home game against Rangers. We had the chance to deny Rangers the title if we won, giving the game (already one of Scotland’s most ferocious encounters) an extra edge. And just to really push it over the edge, if the results went our way, the Dons would end the season in fourth place. In other words, there was much to play for.

The game was a typical Aberdeen-Rangers affair: tough, end-to-end stuff. Rangers pushed forward, piling on the pressure to get the goals they needed to pip Celtic to the title. The score remained goalless until the 63rd minute when Aberdeen went ahead when Lee Miller headed home from an inch-perfect Barry Nicholson free-kick. Darren Mackie added a second after 76 minutes to record a great and well deserved victory over the Ibrox side. With Celtic getting a win at Tannadice, the 2007-08 title went to the green half of Celtic, with Rangers finishing the season in second, Motherwell in third and Aberdeen (thanks to Dundee United and Hibs both losing on the final day) in fourth place. Fourth place meant no European football next season, but at least that win against Rangers would keep the Dons fans smiling through the summer.

As soon as the final whistle had sounded and the terraces had emptied, it was time for manager Jimmy Calderwood to begin rebuilding his team for next season. Out went veteran defender Jackie McNamara, Irish left back Richie Byrne, Dutch defender David Bus (who failed to impress in his three appearances for the club), goalkeeper Derek Soutar, and strikers Jonathan Smith and Steve Lovell. Barry Nicholson, in a protracted transfer saga that saw the Pittodrie midfielder decline a contract extension over the summer, finally left for Preston North End. Also lost during the summer was popular (but injury prone) Dutch defender Karim Touzani who returned home to Holland and Sparta Rotterdam, and right back Alan Maybury, who joined the Dons on loan from January to the end of the season. The Irish international was offered, but refused a permanent deal to remain in Aberdeen.

Coming through the double-doors into the club have been the versatile Stuart Duff (generally a right midfielder, but he can play in defence if needed) and central midfielder Mark Kerr. Both Duff and Kerr signed from New Firm rivals Dundee United. Other new additions included midfielder Gary McDonald (Oldham), goalkeeper Bertrand Bossu (Walsall) and young midfielder Sammy Stewart from Northern Ireland outfit Glenavon.

By the end of the transfer window, Charlie Mulgrew arrived from Wolves to give cover at left back (to replace Richie Byrne) and Sone Aluko, so impressive for Aberdeen while on loan during last season, who decided to join full-time from Birmingham. Completing the line up are Tommy Wright, a fiery ‘in amongst them’ forward was signed from Darlington to provide a bit of ‘bite’ up front that the Dons lacked last season, and Jared Hodgkiss, the 21 year-old West Brom player to provide cover in an area that has been an issue for Aberdeen of late, right back. He signed a loan deal that’ll keep him at Pittodrie until January 2009.

And so on August 9th, manager Jimmy Calderwood started his fourth season in charge at Pittodrie. Things have been gradually improving during his tenure, so expectations where high in the north-east. Most fans accept they won’t win the league, but they’d be looking to improve on 4th spot and secure another European run. Given the Dons reached two domestic cup semi-finals, a place in the final in at least one of those two competitions should be considered a realistic target; anything else would be considered another failure of a season.

Tomorrow, and in the days to follow, we’ll take a look at the season so far and walk our way through the team.