Aberdeen Football Historian 

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We have the most comprehensive archive of Aberdeen FC material and records to hand. If you have a question on the Dons then e-mail us and we will do our best to help. We do like a challenge! 

THE ABERDEEN FOOTBALL HISTORIAN BLOG

AFH BLOG 11th MARCH 2014

HISTORY BECKONS FOR ABERDEEN

Aberdeen will face their biggest game in years when they will turn out in front of 40,000 Red Army supporters at Parkred in the League Cup Final. It will give the present team the chance to forger their own piece of Aberdeen FC history. Aberdeen players from the past 20 years have looked at the great AFC teams of the past all through the corridors of Pittodrie with a weight of expectation on their shoulders. Now is the time for the new Aberdeen team to be history makers. We at AFH wish them well...

AFH BLOG 16th JAN 2014

WILL THE DONS FINALLY END THEIR TROPHY FAMINE?

Ever since Aberdeen progressed through to the semi finals of the League Cup, there has been the growing expectations that this could finally be Aberdeen's year. It is a great disappointment that we are now in the longest post war period in club history without a major trophy. Ever since Aberdeen won the Scottish Cup in 1947 they have enjoyed success within a reasonable time frame, notwithstanding the remarkable trophy-laiden spell in the 1980's. After 1947 the Dons won the championship in 1955 then a 15-year spell before the Scottish Cup was won again. After the Dons prolonged success in the 1980's the last trophy was of course the League Cup in 1995. The game was very different then, Aberdeen were shelling out £1m for the likes of Paul Bernard and big money signings before him included the likes of Ilian Kiriakov, Tzanko Tzvetanov, Toni Koumbouare and their like. The folly of such spending has been well documented in recent years and the club has paid a heavy price ever since. In tandem with that has been moderate and often mediocre football at Pittodrie. Years of cutting costs have been painful but are we now to see a change in fortunes? You only have to look at the madness that surrounds Rangers and the impending demise of Hearts to see that Aberdeen did get their house in order and perhaps now they are in pole position to find success. Under Derek McInnes the club has improved remarkably. It is an indication that not many Aberdeen fans will be losing sleep over the departure of Gregg Wylde, who could not get a sniff of first team action this season. Arguably a year ago he would have been a stick on for a starting place in the side. Such is the depth in quality at Pittodrie now that the Dons are in perfect position to conclude a fine season. That can only happen if Aberdeen actually win the likes of the League Cup at the very least. Talk of getting to a final is fine but nobody remembers a loser. In 20-30 years time the historians will remember the Porto side that won the UEFA Cup in 2003 and not the bold Celtic who were runners up. Likewise Dundee Utd in 1987 and Rangers in 2007, finalists in Europe is a worthy effort, but they were losers and the history books only admire a winner.     

AFH BLOG 30.9.2013

LEAGUE CUP QUARTER FINALS 

What a refreshing change it was to see the recent draw for the League Cup with not an Old Firm side included. Not since Aberdeen had trams did such an occasion happen with eight provisional sides all having a realistic chance of lifting what still is a national trophy. All of a sudden the competition has become interesting and it is important that the likes of Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian from the bigger cities are still involved. If you thrown in Dundee Utd, Motherwell and the likes of a difficult Inverness team then it makes for a great conclusion to a tournament that has been much maligned and tampered with through the years. It was former Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson and his old adversory at Arsenal that began playing weakened starting sides in the League Cup down south. Fergie never really did that during his Aberdeen career as looking back at his team selections from the Dons League Cup ties there was very rarely the wholesale changes that he instigated in his time with Manchester United. In 1985 it was exactly the opposite as Ferguson openly declared that the League Cup was a major target for his side as he had never won it with the Dons and wanted that put right. His team responded by winning the cup in style and not even conceding a single goal in all five ties including a comprehensive 3-0 win over Hibernian in the Hampden final. 

We were pleased to see current Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes treat the competition with respect by fielding as strong a line up as possible. Previous Aberdeen managers have not been so respectful and ultimately paid the price. For Aberdeen with a great cup tradition it is vital that the two most realistic chances of silverware; the League Cup and Scottish Cup must be afforded the utmost importance, even more so now as it has been so long since Aberdeen have won a major title. Seven Aberdeen managers since Roy Aitken last guided the Dons to a League Cup success in 1995 have all failed to end the drought. Not one of them knows what it is like to lead his team down Union Street in a victory parade after a cup success. Former Aberdeen boss and Celtic legend Billy McNeill touched on that during his spell with the club in 1978; "I was always envious of that as a player. Aberdeen could return to the city the next day and be welcomed by the entire city as a one club city. We could never do that at Celtic with the finals being played at Hampden and the unsafe nature any procession would bring. I was always envious of Aberdeen being able to do that."

Hopefully Derek McInnes will know exactly what it is like when this city celebrates a cup win and that his faith in the League Cup will be duly rewarded.