A Light In The North - Aberdeen FC

[Klippybo]

SCOTLAND

Friendly

v

​​Scotland 1 (Turnbull 9)
Sweden 1 (Claesson 61)

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks (Paterson), McKenna (Cooper), Souttar, Tierney, Ferguson (McGregor), Turnbull*, McLennan (Forrest), Armstrong (Christie), Fraser (Ritchie), Gibson

We battered Sweden here but didn't take our chances. Zander Clark and Craig Gibson made their international debuts.

--

Friendly
​​

v

​​Scotland 1 (Armstrong 5)
Israel 2 (Dabbur 26, 81)

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks (Paterson), McKenna (Devlin), Souttar (Cooper), Tierney, Ferguson, Turnbull, McLennan, Armstrong (Christie), Fraser (Ritchie), Gibson (Griffiths)

A shocking result and a poor performance. I am now very worried for the upcoming tournament as this was meant to be a comfortable win to boost confidence.

--

​​
SQUAD FOR EURO 2020

Goalkeepers
[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME[/TD]
[TD]CLUB[/TD]
[TD]AGE[/TD]
[TD]VALUE[/TD]
[TD]CAPS[/TD]
[TD]GOALS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jordan ARCHER[/TD]
[TD]Montreal Impact[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]£2m[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Zander CLARK[/TD]
[TD]Aberdeen[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]£375,000[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]David MARSHALL[/TD]
[TD]Hull City[/TD]
[TD]35[/TD]
[TD]£800,000[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


Defenders
[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME[/TD]
[TD]CLUB[/TD]
[TD]AGE[/TD]
[TD]VALUE[/TD]
[TD]POS[/TD]
[TD]CAPS[/TD]
[TD]GOALS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Liam COOPER[/TD]
[TD]Leeds United[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]£9.25m[/TD]
[TD]DC[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Michael DEVLIN[/TD]
[TD]Aberdeen[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]£11.75m[/TD]
[TD]DC[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ryan FREDERICKS[/TD]
[TD]West Ham United[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]£9.75m[/TD]
[TD]DR[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scott MCKENNA[/TD]
[TD]Aberdeen[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]£16.25m[/TD]
[TD]DC[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Callum PATERSON[/TD]
[TD]Cardiff City[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]£4.6m[/TD]
[TD]DR[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Andrew ROBERTSON[/TD]
[TD]Liverpool[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]£45m[/TD]
[TD]DL[/TD]
[TD]39[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]John SOUTTAR[/TD]
[TD]Celtic[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]£5.75m[/TD]
[TD]DC[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Kieran TIERNEY[/TD]
[TD]Manchester City[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]£33m[/TD]
[TD]DLC[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


Midfielders
[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME[/TD]
[TD]CLUB[/TD]
[TD]AGE[/TD]
[TD]VALUE[/TD]
[TD]POS[/TD]
[TD]CAPS[/TD]
[TD]GOALS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Stuart ARMSTRONG[/TD]
[TD]Southampton[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]£13.75m[/TD]
[TD]AMC[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ryan CHRISTIE[/TD]
[TD]Aberdeen[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]£13.25m[/TD]
[TD]AMRLC[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lewis FERGUSON[/TD]
[TD]Aberdeen[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]£17.5m[/TD]
[TD]MC[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]James FORREST[/TD]
[TD]Celtic[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]£10.25m[/TD]
[TD]AMR[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ryan FRASER[/TD]
[TD]Bournemouth[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]£23m[/TD]
[TD]AMRL[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]John MCGINN[/TD]
[TD]Aston Villa[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]£15.75m[/TD]
[TD]MC[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Callum MCGREGOR[/TD]
[TD]Celtic[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]£12m[/TD]
[TD]MC[/TD]
[TD]18[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Connor MCLENNAN[/TD]
[TD]Aberdeen[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]£16.5m[/TD]
[TD]AMR[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Matt RITCHIE[/TD]
[TD]Newcastle United[/TD]
[TD]30[/TD]
[TD]£18.75m[/TD]
[TD]AMRL[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]David TURNBULL[/TD]
[TD]Aberdeen[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]£13.25m[/TD]
[TD]MC[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


Forwards
[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]NAME[/TD]
[TD]CLUB[/TD]
[TD]AGE[/TD]
[TD]VALUE[/TD]
[TD]POS[/TD]
[TD]CAPS[/TD]
[TD]GOALS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Craig GIBSON[/TD]
[TD]Aberdeen[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]£7.75m[/TD]
[TD]ST[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Leigh GRIFFITHS[/TD]
[TD]Celtic[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]£9.25m[/TD]
[TD]ST[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Players sent home form the provisional squad - Stephen O'Donnell & Jack Hendry (Aberdeen), Scott McTominay (Manchester United), John Fleck (Sheffield United), Karlan Grant (Huddersfield Town), Oliver McBurnie (Swansea City), Oliver Burke (West Bromwich Albion)
​

 

[Klippybo]

2020 UEFA European Championships

Group D

v

Scotland 1 (Fraser 29)
England 1 (Rashford 34)

Lineup - Clark*, Fredericks, McKenna, Souttar, Tierney (Robertson), Ferguson, Turnbull, McLennan, Armstrong (Christie), Fraser, Gibson (Griffiths)

A great point but a deserved point. Zander Clark made a few good saves and McLennan missed a great chance near the end to win it for us. Craig Gibson became the European Championships youngest ever player here.

--

v

Serbia 1 (Mitrovic 18)
Scotland 4 (Armstrong 11, Souttar 45, Fraser 48, Ritchie 61)

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks, McKenna, Souttar, Tierney*, McGregor (Paterson), McGinn, McLennan (Ritchie), Armstrong (Christie), Fraser, Gibson

WOW!!!!

Normally I don't play players who are below 90% condition but I made an exception here but my two CMs were at 86% so I had to drop Ferguson and Turnbull but we didn't miss them. The game was actually pretty even and they had a goal disallowed at 1-0 but our goals minutes just before and after half-time changed the match.

Elsewhere Kosovo beat Israel 4-0 to show how bad our friendly result was!

--

v

France 3 (Griezmann 52, 80, Martial 90)
Scotland 3 (Christie 20, McGregor 41, Griffiths 65)

Lineup - Clark, Paterson, Cooper, Devlin, Robertson, McGregor, McGinn (Turnbull), Forrest (Fraser), Christie, Ritchie, Gibson (Griffiths)

HEARTBREAK!!

A magnificent result even though I am naturally disappointed that we threw away a 2-0 and 3-1 lead. Callum McGregor's goal was a thing of beauty as he volleyed in from distance and this result means we finish top of the group. To almost beat France with my backup team is some achievement.

--

2nd Round

v

Scotland 3 (Ritchie 4, Gibson 73, 120)
Wales 3 (Vokes 3, James 61, Bale 102)
(AET - Scotland win 5-4 on penalties)

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks, Cooper (Griffiths), Devlin (McKenna), Robertson, McGregor, McGinn (Turnbull), McLennan, Christie (Armstrong), Ritchie, Gibson*

What a thriller this was!!! From exchanging two goals in the first 4min to sharing 6 goals thanks to Craig Gibson's last minute leveller in extra-time with his first goals for his country and it was he who scored the winning penalty after Clark saved a penalty to send us through.

Italy 2-0 Romania
Belgium 0-2 Ukraine
Denmark 4-1 Kosovo
Austria 1-1(P) Poland
Sweden 3-2 France
Germany 1-1 (P) Czech Republic
Spain 2-1 England

--

Quarter-Final

v

Poland 0
Scotland 1 (Christie 78)

Lineup -Clark, Paterson , McKenna, Souttar, Tierney, Ferguson(McGinn), Turnbull, Forrest (Christie*), Armstrong, Fraser, Gibson (Griffiths)

Our run in the competition continues as we edge out Poland thanks to supersub Christie.

Italy 5-0 Denmark
Ukraine 3-2 Czech Republic
Sweden 0-3 Spain

--

Semi-Final

v

Spain 1 (Diego Costa 47)
Scotland 4 (Gibson 2, 31, Armstrong 74, McLennan 86)

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks, Devlin, Souttar (Cooper), Robertson, McGregor, McGinn (Christie), McLennan, Armstrong, Ritchie, Gibson*

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!!!!

This was one of those games where everything went right. Gibson put us in front and then a horrendous defensive mixup gifted him a 2nd. They pulled a goal back but then Stuart Armstrong struck from distance to all but seal it and then Connor McLennan popped up with an incredulous 4th.

Italy 2-0 Ukraine

--

Final

v

Italy 2 (Belotti 46, Immobile 97)
Scotland 2 (Armstrong 73, Christie 106)
(AET - Scotland win 5-3 on penalties)

Lineup - Clark, Paterson, McKenna, Cooper, Tierney (Robertson), Ferguson (Turnbull), McGinn, Forrest (Christie), Armstrong, Fraser (Ritchie), Gibson

WE WIN THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!

I am thinking this is too much but then I remember Greece winning the same competition and Leicester winning the Premiership so maybe its not too unrealistic. This was an even game and fair play to Italy they countered my tactic quite well but despite falling behind twice we managed to peg them back and take them to penalties.

Zander Clark (my reserve keeper for Aberdeen remember) saved their first penalty and we converted all of ours and it was Craig Gibson who converted the winning penalty.

--

SUMMARY

A truly incredible tournament and this save gets better and better and more ridiculous than ever as I lead Scotland to the European Championships. I was just hoping to maybe get through the group stages in 3rd place but draws with England and France and a 4-1 thumping of Serbia saw us top the group.

Then we went into the knockout stages and we got incredibly lucky all the way through apart from the semis. We got a kind draw but faced a similar side in Wales and after a 3-3 draw we edged it on penalties. Poland were up next and a Christie goal saw them off and then came Spain.

To beat Spain 4-1 in a semi-final is one of my greatest results in this game as Craig Gibson banged in a couple of goals as he really took to the tournament with 4 goals and then we reached the final where despite falling behind twice to Italy we managed to beat them on penalties to lift the cup.

Winning the group was key as our route to the semis was very kind but most of the big countries fell to shock defeats which really benefitted us. The Czechs beat the Germans, Sweden beat France and Ukraine beat Belgium all in the first knockout stage so it really opened up the competition.
​

 

[Klippybo]

PRE-SEASON

Naturally I was a bit busy managing Scotland to the Euros so with the first game of the season upon us I still have a bit of business to do. That being said I have managed to bring in a few players and sold or loaned out shitloads lol.

At one point my transfer budget was £30m but I have continually given new contracts to my key players so I keep going over my wage budget so I therefore have to reduce my transfer budget.

Here are the players who I have sold so far.....

--

PLAYERS OUT

Ryan Hedges joined Basel for an initial £5.5m (£6.75m). He scored 18 goals in 74 matches for me and he did really well but I felt he wasn't developing much so decided to let him go. Sam Cosgrove also moved on for a decent fee as he joined Krasnodar for an initial £4.8m rising to £6m. Cosgrove was my top scorer in the first season and scored the winner in the Betfred Cup final and in total played 73 games and scored 36 goals which is really impressive but he was wasted as my 3rd choice striker so I chose to cash in.

Paul Coutts went to Hibs in a swap deal. Hibs got the better deal tbh but at 32 he was blocking the route for my young CMsand despite being valued at £5m nobody bid for him all summer or at any time last season so I just let him go. Andrew Considine also joined Hibs and they paid £925,000 for him which is decent money for a 33y/o.

Shay Logan joined Bristol City for £1.7m. The right back was 32 so I felt I needed to sell him on and bring in a younger player. Logan played 101 times for me and scored 3 goals.

I then loaned out 11 players and I will be keeping an eye on Ryan Welsh at Motherwell, Marko Bulat at Dinamo Zagreb and Greg Stewart at Ayr. Stevie May has joined St. Johnstone on loan after nobody wanted to buy him and he will leave for free in the summer now.

--

PLAYERS IN

I spent the summer searching for a RB and after Moussa Wague rejected us to join Sevilla I went with my Director of Football when he bid for Ryan Nyambe from Blackburn Rovers and we paid a club record £7.5m to bring him to Pittodrie. I haven't had Nyambe before but he looks a player and hopefully will impress.

Matias Pellegrini came in from Estudiantes (LP) for £3m and will be my new left winger. I think at 20y/o he could become a top class player and hopefully he will rip the SPL to shreds. Again I have never managed him before in other saves.

Ferran Torres joined from Valencia for £1.7m which is a bargain and he will be my backup RW behind McLennan. He is very quick and technically good so I hope he can progress and again he is only 20y/o so I am expecting big things.

Tiago Serrao joined from Braga for £500,000 and he looks to be a huge prospect at RB. The 17y/o regen is on a decent wage and I will be looking to give him some game time during the season.

In exchange for Paul Coutts I took Jason Kerr off Hibs. I tried to sign Kerr in my very first transfer window but I couldn't do the deal so I have got him now and he will be my 4th choice CB so I am not expecting miracles lol.

Other than that I brought in 2 Scottish regens. Allan Scott from Dundee United for £60,000 and Dylan Gibson from Ross County for £40,000.

--

SQUAD

Nyambe will be my RB and Pellegrini will be my LW but other than that there will be no changes although Christie is pushing Djerlek at AMC. I have called up 16y/o Ryan Donaldson up to the senior squad and he will get some game time this season and will also play for the reserves.

I only have 2 strikers so unless I can find a suitable 3rd choice striker I may call up Bruce Anderson who should be good enough. I still have £14m to spend but I cant envisage me spending all of that and certainly not on a 3rd choice striker!!!


​

 

[Klippybo]

Jimmy Smith
1922-31
Winger
336 apps, 64 goals

Smith was the son of a famous Scottish player - Nick Smith - who played for Rangers and Scotland. Like his father he played for Rangers before joining Aberdeen where he had the best spell of his career.

--

AUGUST

v

​​Celtic 1 (Krovinovic 54)
Aberdeen 1 (Pellegrini 4)

Lineup - Clark, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson (Cochrane), Campbell, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek, Pellegrini, Gibson (Anderson)

We started last season with a draw against Celtic and we repeat that this season. We deserved to win in truth and Pellegrini put us in front with his debut goal. They had a late goal disallowed.

Fruchtl was away on international duty so Zander Clark was in goal while David Turnbull was also missing.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 4 (Gibson 29pen, McLennan 49, Djerlek 62, McKenna 90)
Ayr United 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor (Leigh), Ferguson (Cochrane), Campbell, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek*, Pellegrini, Gibson

Ayr are newly promoted and having looked at their squad I fear for them as their best player is a 16y/o striker on loan from us!!!

--

Betfred Cup 2nd Round
v

Dunfermline Athletic 0
Aberdeen 3 (Weah 13, 49, Torres 63)

Lineup - Fruchtl, O'Donnell (Serrao), Kerr, Hendry, Leigh, Cochrane, Campbell (Donaldson), Torres, Christie (E.Ross), Morgan, Weah*

I went with my backups here and they won easily. Serrao and Kerr made their debuts while Timothy Weah returned from being the 2nd top scorer in the Olympics to score twice here.

--

v

​​Heart of Midlothian 0
Aberdeen 5 (Pellegrini 11, 14, Gibson 20, 34, Ferguson 44)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull, McLennan, Djerlek, Pellegrini*, Gibson

We blew Hearts away here in the first half as we raced into a 5 goal lead but frustratingly we didn't add to our tally in the 2nd half. A great team performance though.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 1 (Djerlek 42)
Livingston 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor (Leigh), Ferguson, Turnbull (Campbell), McLennan, Djerlek*, Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

Having won the last 2 games with an aggregate score of 9-0 you would think a 1-0 win here would be a struggle but not so - we had 38 shots on goal and could easily have scored 5 or 6.

--

SUMMARY

We have kicked off the season in fine form as we have won all of our games apart from our opening day draw against Celtic. Pellegrini has settled in well and helped himself to 3 goals while Craig Gibson also got 3 so I hope he gets 20 plus for the season.

Our Champions League draw was ok as we were drawn alongside Benfica, Spurs and Olympiakos.

There were more transfer dealings. I loaned out several more players and also sold Zander Clark on deadline day to Hibs for an initial £550,000 (£725k). Clark was sold mainly for him to get regular first team football and to benefit the national team.

In his place I brought in Gavin Bazunu on loan from Manchester City. He is an excellent young keeper but hopefully he wont be needed.

Also I brought in my new 3rd choice striker. At 6ft 8" Afonso is a huge specimen and the 18y/o was signed from Rio Ave for £2.5m. I have high hopes for him.

Also I brought in a young Paraguayan midfielder, Fabio Fernandez, from Cerro Porteno for £500,000. He had been on my shortlist for ages so I thought half a million was cheap as chips although paying him £11k a week isn't!!!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ARMIN DJERLEK

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
​​

Here are the SPL transfers - Celtic sold a few decent players while Rangers aren't spending anything it seems although Hibs are!

​

 

[Klippybo]

Jamie Langfield
2005-15
Goalkeeper
336 apps

"Clangers" had a 10 year spell at Aberdeen having joined from Dunfermline and he was the keeper when Aberdeen won the League Cup in 2013. He was called up to the Scotland squad several times but only ever won a B cap.

--

SEPTEMBER

v

​​Dundee United 0
Aberdeen 9 (McLennan 1, 21, 85pen, 90, Djerlek 27, Ferguson 41, 44, 74, 81)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, Hendry, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson*, Turnbull (Campbell), McLennan, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

Never have I had 2 players score 4 goals in the same match as we smash Dundee United for 9 and give Ayr United some hope lol. I reluctantly subbed Djerlek as he was unfit but he was odds on for MOM but once he went off both McLennan and Ferguson scored 2 each.

With Djerlek's form I actually offered him a contract mid game lol. He will jump up from £3,800 a week to £40,000 a week.

--

UEFA Champions League Group F

v
​​Aberdeen 2 (Ferguson 13, Gibson 84)
Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Dier 78, Alli 83)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor (Leigh), Ferguson, Turnbull, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson*

A decent point as Lewis Ferguson's fine scoring run continues.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 2 (Gibson 38, 83)
Motherwell 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyembe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull (Campbell), McLennan (Torres), Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson*

I am delighted with this win as despite having Lewis Ferguson sent-off early on we won the game and even more impressively we denied Motherwell a single shot on goal.

--

Betfred Cup Quarter-Final
​​v

Kilmarnock 1 (Williams 56)
Aberdeen 2 (Christie 11, Pellegrini 32)

Lineup - Fruchtl, O'Donnell, McKenna, Hendry, Leigh (Taylor), Campbell (Donaldson), Cochrane, Torres, Christie*, Pellegrini, Weah (Afonso)

Through we go as I rested a couple of players here and Afonso made his debut.

--

v

Rangers 0
Aberdeen 2 (Nyambe 76, McLennan 82)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor (Leigh), Campbell, Turnbull, McLennan*, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

Always nice to beat our rivals. We had to wait a while for our opener though but Nyembe took his goal superbly and McLennan wrapped things up.

--

UEFA Champions League Group F
​​v

Benfica 0
Aberdeen 1 (Turnbull 39pen)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyembe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Campbell, Turnbull*, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek, Pellegrini (Christie), Gibson (Weah)

David Turnbull's first goal of the season gives us a massive away win over Benfica and sets us up well for the group. The extra £2.4m will come in handy too!

--

SUMMARY

Another very good month as we won every match with the highlight being the 9-0 thrashing of Dundee United. I have never had 2 of my players score 4 in a game before and cant remember the last time a normal CM scored 4 without any penalties so that was some achievement. Beating Rangers 2-0 away was nice too.

With 7 games gone we are already 5pts clear and have a goal difference of +23 - the rest of the league should be very afraid.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
CONNOR MCLENNAN
​​

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
​​

--

SCOTLAND

UEFA Nations League Division C Group 1

v

​​Scotland 2 (Gibson 33, Forrest 70)
Georgia 1 (Qazaishvili 1)

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks, McKenna, Souttar, Tierney (Robertson), Ferguson, McGinn, Forrest*, Armstrong (Christie), Fraser (Ritchie), Gibson

So here we are - the European Champions - and we are languishing in the 3rd tier of the Nations League lol. We struggled here against Georgia and it was a player who I didn't mean to play, James Forrest, who was the MOM and who scored the winner.

--

Friendly

v

​​Scotland 2 (McLennan 81, Griffiths 85)
Turkey 0

Lineup - Clark, Paterson, McKenna, Souttar*, Robertson (Bryan), Ferguson (McGregor), McGinn, Forrest (McLennan), Armstrong (Christie), Fraser (Ritchie), Gibson (Griffiths)

A win but we struggled to break down Turkey who had a man sent-off early on. My substitutes made the difference here as 2 scored and Bryan got an assist.

​

 

[Klippybo]

Up above shows that I do my posts game by game lol. I accidentally posted it in the excitement of hitting Dundee United for 9.

How I do it is set my fixtures up etc with logos, colours etc and do it game by game so now you see my fixtures for the month and I have to play a few of them.

 

[Smoggypedro]

Congrats Klippy,

Another trophy in the bag. How far do you think you can go?

Do you find you have to change striker roles when playing? Gibson doesn't strike me as a comfortable target man.

Also how do you get all these great regen players, no matter what league I play in I seem to get done in by work permits?

Anyway keep it up, big fan, helps me get through the boring work days

 

[Klippybo]

Stuart Kennedy
1976-83
Defender
333 apps, 9 goals

Kennedy was a left back who was signed from Falkirk for £30,000 and ended up winning all 3 domestic trophies while at Aberdeen. He was capped 8 times for Scotland but an injury in the run to the Cup-Winners Cup final ended his career but he was named as sub so he could get a medal.

--

OCTOBER

v

Hibernian 0
Aberdeen 4 (Ferguson 6, Pellegrini 26, 76, Hendry 44)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, Hendry, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Cochrane (Donaldson), McLennan (Morgan), Christie, Pellegrini*, Gibson (Weah)

Matias Pellegrini scored 2 stunning goals here as we comfortably beat Hibs. He has been immense so far and has scored some fantastic volleys already.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 3 (Christie 7, Turnbull 14, 17pen)
Hamilton Academical 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull*, McLennan (Torres), Christie (Campbell), Pellegrini, Gibson (Afonso)

A bog standard win but Turnbull got 2 goals which is nice - I wonder if his 20 goal haul last term was a one off?

--

UEFA Champions League Group F
v

​​Olympiakos 0
Aberdeen 1 (Pellegrini 10)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull (Campbell), McLennan (Torres), Djerlek, Pellegrini*, Gibson

--

Betfred Cup Semi-Final

v
​​Aberdeen 5 (McLennan 5, 21, Devlin 28, Weah 45, Afonso 80)
Heart of Midlothian 2 (Ikpeazu 61, Main 74)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, Hendry, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson (Campbell), Turnbull, McLennan*, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Weah (Afonso)

We sail into the final with a fine victory. Connor McLennan with 2 goals was the star while Afonso got his 1st goal for the club and Weah had a goal disallowed.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 1 (Weah 81)
Ross County 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor*, Ferguson, Campbell (Cochrane), McLennan, Djerlek, Morgan (Torres), Gibson (Weah)

We got away with that here. Despite having over 20 shots and them having none and they also had a man sent-off but we had to rely on Timothy Weah's late goal to get us the win.

--

v

Kilmarnock 0
Aberdeen 3 (Turnbull 13, Ferguson 26, 74)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson*, Turnbull, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek, Pellegrini (Christie), Gibson (Weah)

Kilmarnock won their last game 6-1 against Dundee United so I feared a bit going into this one but I needn't have worried. We have kept 10 clean sheets in a row now in the league.

--

SUMMARY

We keep playing games and winning games as we seem to steam roller just about every side in Scotland although things are a bit closer in foreign fields. We have a 7pt lead at the top of the table and are almost through in the Champions League so everything is tickety-boo.

Our defence has been nigh on impregnable as we have kept 10 clean sheets in a row in the league and haven't conceded since the opening day in the league.

Next month we have the Betfred Cup final against Rangers and a matchup against Celtic.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MATIAS PELLEGRINI
​​

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
​​

--

SCOTLAND

UEFA Nations League Division C Group 1

v

Estonia 0
Scotland 4 (Turnbull 10pen, Ritchie 44, McLennan 63, 85)

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks, McKenna, Souttar, Tierney, McGinn (McGregor), Turnbull, McLennan*, Armstrong (Cairney), Ritchie, Gibson (Griffiths)

An easy victory and it was Connor McLennan who was the star of the show with his 2 goals. Estonia had a man sent-off in the 2nd half which helped.

--

UEFA Nations League Division C Group 1

v

​​Georgia 0
Scotland 0

Lineup - Clark, Paterson, McKenna (Cooper), Devlin*, Tierney (Robertson), McGinn, McGregor, Forrest, Armstrong (Cairney), Ritchie, Griffiths

Disappointing but we should win the group anyway.
​

 

[Klippybo]

Congrats Klippy,

Another trophy in the bag. How far do you think you can go?

Do you find you have to change striker roles when playing? Gibson doesn't strike me as a comfortable target man.

Also how do you get all these great regen players, no matter what league I play in I seem to get done in by work permits?

Anyway keep it up, big fan, helps me get through the boring work days

I play him as a pressing forward - always play my players in their favourite roles etc.

I haven't had any problems with regens so far. A couple of appeals have went in but they both came out with them getting accepted.

 

[johnstrac]

Loving the story, especially the old player details but Kennedy was a right back.

 

[Football Fanatic]

KlippyBo how do you get your images on the Posts? I just get a URL or Some writing.

Also Kudos on the Awesome story

 

[Klippybo]

Brian Grant
1984-97
Midfielder
332 apps, 32 goals

Signed from Stirling Albion, Grant was part of the double cup winning side of 1989-90. He was later sold to Hibs for £75,000 and he ended up at Dundee.

--

NOVEMBER

UEFA Champions League Group F
​​

v
​​Aberdeen 4 (Leigh 20, Weah 31, Torres 68, Fernandez 75)
Olympiakos 2 (Camara 63, Soldano 90)

Lineup - Fruchtl, O'Donnell, Kerr, Hendry, Leigh*, Campbell, Cochrane, Torres (Fernandez), Christie, (E.Ross) Morgan, Weah (Afonso)

I fielded a backup side here and they got the win to secure qualification to the knockout stages. Fernandez got a debut goal which was nice.

--

v

​​Aberdeen 2 (Pellegrini 28, Turnbull 49)
Celtic 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, Hendry (Kerr), Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull*, McLennan, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

We go 10pts clear here and almost more importantly we kept another clean sheet to keep the run going although they did have a goal disallowed.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 2 (Torres 31, Pellegrini 90)
Heart of Midlothian 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson (Cochrane), Campbell, Torres, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini*, Gibson (Afonso)

Ferran Torres has impressed me quite a bit since his arrival and he got on the scoresheet again here. Just a pity he has Connor McLennan ahead of him.

--

UEFA Champions League Group F
​​v

Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Eriksen 43, Son Heung-Min 55)
Aberdeen 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, O'Donnell, Hendry, Kerr, Leigh (Taylor), Campbell, Cochrane (Donaldson), Torres, Christie, Morgan, Weah (Afonso)

I played my reserves here knowing that if we got beat we would lose our advantage at the top of the group but I thought the upcoming cup final would be more important so I suppose I have to accept it.

--

Betfred Cup Final
​​

v
​​Aberdeen 0
Rangers 0
(AET - Aberdeen win 4-3 on penalties)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyembe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson (Campbell), Turnbull, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

We win the Betfred Cup for the 3rd time in a row. We absolutely battered Rangers here and had 28 shots to their 3 but somehow they held on. We even missed the first penalty in the shoot-out but fortunately Fruchtl saved a couple of penalties to win us the cup.

--

SUMMARY

We go into January in fine spirits having won the Betfred Cup for the 3rd time in succession. How Rangers managed to take it to penalties is beyond me but fortunately we came out on top in the shootout. We only had a couple of league wins which we naturally won and also kept the clean sheet run going and it currently stands at 12 in a row (same as wins).

We have 9 matches scheduled for December so as ever it will be a very busy month. I cant see our clean sheet run extending into January!!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MATIAS PELLEGRINI
​​

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
​​

Hibs sack David Moyes

--

SCOTLAND

Friendly
​​

v

​​Scotland 2 (Robertson 52, Gibson 60pen)
Czech Republic 0

Lineup - Clark, Paterson (Fredericks), McKenna (Cooper), Devlin, Robertson*, McGinn, Armstrong, Ritchie, Cairney (McGregor), Fraser, Gibson

Very nice. Gibson gets another goal - his goal have dried up for me at Aberdeen though!

--

UEFA Nations League Division C Group 1
​​

v

​​Scotland 7 (Turnbull 2, 6, 31pen, McLennan 18, 22, Fraser 20, 48)
Estonia 0

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks, McKenna, Souttar, Robertson, Ferguson, Turnbull*, McLennan, Armstrong, Fraser, Gibson

We humiliated Estonia here and Armstrong even had a 1st half goal disallowed. Ryan Fraser scored a screamer from 30 yards while Turnbull (who is wanted by Man Utd) got a hat-trick.
​

 

[Klippybo]

KlippyBo how do you get your images on the Posts? I just get a URL or Some writing.

Also Kudos on the Awesome story

For the player pics I have found a website that works for Aberdeen players but usually I just go to google images but never select the first couple of rows as they never seem to work.

 

[Klippybo]

John McMaster
1974-87
Midfielder
315 apps, 33 goals

McMaster was a classy midfield player who was a key part of the side of the early 80s that dominated Scottish football. Once given the kiss of life on the pitch having been stamped on the neck by a dirty Rangers player McMaster was inducted to the clubs hall of fame a few years ago.

--

DECEMBER

v

Livingston 0
Aberdeen 2 (Djerlek 8, Weah 85)

Lineup - Fruchtl, O'Donnell, Hendry, Devlin (Kerr), Taylor, Ferguson (Cochrane), Campbell, McLennan, Djerlek*, Morgan, Gibson (Weah)

That's 8 games in a row now that Gibson has failed to score in the league. I really am at a loss to why he is not scoring.

--

v

Motherwell 0
Aberdeen 3 (Turnbull 10pen, Christie 22, Gibson 50)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull, McLennan (Campbell), Christie*, Pellegrini (Morgan), Gibson

Gibson finally scores!!! He also had a goal disallowed which was a pity. Motherwell had a man sent-off just before Gibson scored the 3rd goal.

--

UEFA Champions League Group F

v
​​Aberdeen 8 (Gibson 17, 19, 59, 71, Djerlek 31, Nyambe 38, McLennan 41, Turnbull 45)
Benfica 1 (Arango 20)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull, McLennan, Djerlek, Pellegrini, Gibson*

WOW!!!!

Our first half display was a joy to behold as we hit Benfica for 6 and had 31 shots on goal. In the end we ended up with 8 goals and 43 shots and Gibson helped himself to 4 goals!!

--

v
​​Aberdeen 4 (Ferguson 18, McLennan 34, 36, Gibson 69)
Dundee United 1 (Gallagher 29pen)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor (Leigh), Ferguson, Campbell (Cochrane), McLennan*, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson

Our run of clean sheets in the league comes to an end at 14 as the team we beat 9-0 earlier in the season finally scores against us. Connor McLennan missed a penalty to deny him a 5min hat-trick.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 2 (Turnbull 23, 44)
Rangers 1 (Jones 33)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe (O'Donnell), Hendry, Kerr, Taylor, Campbell, Turnbull*, Torres, Djerlek, Pellegrini (Morgan), Gibson (Weah)

I am pleased with this win as we were without a few players. Turnbull has scored in each of his last 5 league appearances - scoring 7 in the process.

--

v

Hamilton Academical 0
Aberdeen 4 (Gibson 11, 49, 64, McKenna 90)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Leigh, Ferguson, Campbell (Cochrane), McLennan (Torres), Christie, Pellegrini (Morgan), Gibson*

Craig Gibson is in fine form now as he scored a hat-trick here and takes him to 9 goals for the month so far.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 4 (Turnbull 22, Djerlek 45, McLennan 61, Weah 81)
Hibernian 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson (Campbell), Turnbull, McLennan*, Djerlek, Morgan, Gibson (Weah)

McLennan may have got the MOM award for this match but special praise should go to Lewis Morgan who got 3 assists.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 1 (Gibson 41pen)
Kilmarnock 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor*, Ferguson, Campbell, McLennan (Torres), Christie, Pellegrini (Morgan), Gibson (Weah)

We weren't quite at it here despite the 35 shots on goal and had to rely on a Craig Gibson penalty to get the 3pts.

--

v

Ross County 0
Aberdeen 2 (Turnbull 40pen, Nyambe 60)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe*, Kerr, Hendry, Leigh, Ferguson (Cochrane), Turnbull, McLennan, Djerlek, Pellegrini (Morgan), Gibson (Weah)

20 wins in a row now and Fruchtl is starting another clean sheet run as he has got 4 in a row. Turnbull has scored in his last 7 league games but in that 7 he has also missed 7 matches!

--

SUMMARY

2020 comes to an end with us miles ahead at the top of the table as we are 17pts clear with a game in hand which is quite incredible considering we are just heading into January. My team is performing very well and even when some players miss out the ones that come in are playing just as good.

The highlight of the month was our incredible 8-1 win over Benfica in the Champions League but unfortunately we still didn't win the group and have been drawn against Bayern Munich in the next round - Aberdeen and Bayern have had some famous battles in the past!

Finally the qualifying groups for the World Cup were drawn and my Scotland team will be up against Denmark, Northern Ireland, Finland, Gibraltar and Azerbaijan.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
CRAIG GIBSON
​​

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
​​

Hibs appoint Steve McClaren as their new manager
​

 

[Klippybo]

Neil Simpson
1978-90
Midfielder
310 apps, 31 goals

Simpson was a tough midfielder and one of the youngsters that Ferguson brought into the side that dominated the early 1980s as he won several trophies. He won 5 caps for Scotland and apparently did a bad tackle on a Rangers player in the late 80s lol.

--

JANUARY

Scottish Cup 4th Round
​​v

St. Mirren 2 (Crossan 27, Erhahon 86)
Aberdeen 2 (Weah 14, Donaldson 61)

Lineup - Fruchtl, O'Donnell (Serrao), Hendry, Kerr, Leigh, Campbell, Donaldson, Torres (Fernandez), Christie, Morgan, Weah (Afonso)

Well its safe to say that we didn't see this result coming as my backups fail to beat the Championship side. Still at least they will get a chance to make amends in the replay.

Donaldson's goal means he beats Fraser Fyvie's record as being the clubs youngest ever goalscorer.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 3 (Campbell 19, Devlin 32, McKenna 56)
Ayr United 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna*, Devlin, Taylor, Campbell, Turnbull (Donaldson), McLennan, Djerlek, Pellegrini (Christie), Gibson (Weah)

Not the usual goalscorers here and Scott McKenna had a 2nd goal disallowed too.

--

v

Heart of Midlothian 2 (Dembele 42, Main 83)
Aberdeen 4 (Turnbull 19pen, Pellegrini 45, 66, Christie 81)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Leigh, Ferguson (Campbell), Turnbull, McLennan (Torres), Christie, Pellegrini*, Gibson (Weah)

2 goals conceded in a game in the league!! That's us conceded 5 goals in the league now - shocking lol.

--

Scottish Cup 4th Round Replay

v
​​Aberdeen 2 (Weah 66pen, O'Donnell 88)
St. Mirren 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, O'Donnell*, Hendry, Kerr, Leigh, Campbell, Cochrane (Donaldson), Torres (Fernandez), Christie, Morgan, Weah (Afonso)

Despite St.Mirren not having a shot on goal here they proved to be tough opponents however we still came through on top. St. Johnstone lie in wait in the next round so my backups will get another opportunity.

--

v
Aberdeen 4 (Ferguson 19, Turnbull 54, 76, McLennan 59)
Livingston 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull*, McLennan, Djerlek, Pellegrini (Christie), Gibson (Weah)

Turnbull, Ferguson and McLennan are all battling it out to be our top scorer this season and trying to overtake leading scorer Gibson and while Turnbull scored twice it was McLennan's long range strike that stole the show.

--

SUMMARY

We had a bit of the shock this month as we returned from the winter break and drew with St. Mirren in the cup although we did beat them in the replay. Other than that it was business as usual.

Regarding the transfer window I did bring in 3 players while 2 left. Bruce Anderson joined Falkirk for £525,000 and I used Stevie May as part of a swap deal with Motherwell as his contract was due to run out and with May I gave Motherwell £575,000 to bring in this regen.

Marc McLaughlin wont pull up any trees and whether he will feature in the 1st team I am not sure but he is a decent young player and will help my reserves.

So will my other signing - Mohamed Farouk - who came from Egyptian football for £550,000. He may well force himself into the side in the future and surely we will make a profit on him.

Celtic bid £1m for my 16y/o midfielder Ryan Donaldson while Man City bid up to £25m for David Turnbull and naturally I rejected all approaches. Turnbull isn't happy while Donaldson just wanted a new deal.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DAVID TURNBULL
​​

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

Meanwhile the transfer window in Scotland looked like this...…

​

 

[Klippybo]

Jock Hume
1907-20
Defender
305 apps, 3 goals

Hume was one half of the Colman-Hume backline in Aberdeen's early years. He spent almost all of his career with Aberdeen and even came back to referee an Aberdeen game in his retirement after he went to America.

--

FEBRUARY

v

Dundee United 0
Aberdeen 4 (Gibson 12, 53, Devlin 21, Turnbull 32pen)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull, McLennan, Djerlek, Pellegrini, Gibson*

We were helped here when former Aberdeen player Cammy Smith got sent-off after 14min but still we managed to total an incredible 51 shots during the game.

--

Scottish Cup 5th Round
​​v

St. Johnstone 0
Aberdeen 4 (Cochrane 17, Weah 29, 51, Torres 49)

Lineup - Fruchtl, O'Donnell (Serrao), Hendry, Kerr, Leigh, Campbell (Javier), Cochrane, Torres, Christie (Donaldson), Morgan, Weah*

Timothy Weah certainly likes the domestic cups as he has 7 goals in them now and 4 in 3 Scottish Cup games.

--

v

Ayr United 0
Aberdeen 4 (Ferguson 1, 54, McLennan 45, 60)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson*, Turnbull (Campbell), McLennan, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson

In each of our last 4 league games we have scored 4 goals now. 25 wins in a row now in the league.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 2 (Turnbull 6pen, Donacien 30og)
Motherwell 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna*, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson (Campbell), Turnbull, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

I thought about resting my first XI for the Bayern Munich game but didn't and paid the price as Lewis Ferguson got injured and will be out for 6 weeks.

--

UEFA Champions League 1st Round 1st Leg

v
​​Aberdeen 0
Bayern Munich 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor (Leigh), Campbell, Turnbull, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek, Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

I am happy with this result especially as we kept a clean sheet but I cant help but think that we should have won as they had a man sent-off midway through the 2nd half and we were the better team.

--

v

Rangers 1 (Morelos 54)
Aberdeen 1 (Weah 64)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Campbell, Turnbull, McLennan, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini (Torres), Gibson (Weah)

Our run of 26 wins in a row in the league comes to an end here as we draw against Rangers. It was an awful match and I have to admit that their goal was a belter.

--

v

Celtic 1 (Krovinovic 39)
Aberdeen 1 (Pellegrini 49)

Lineup - Bazunu, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor (Leigh), Campbell, Turnbull, McLennan, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

2 league games in a row without a win and 3 in total - what is going on? lol. Fruchtl had a knock so Gavin Bazunu made his debut in goal.

--

Scottish Cup Quarter-Final

v
​​Aberdeen 1 (Cochrane 37)
Rangers 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Campbell, Cochrane* (Donaldson), Torres, Djerlek, Pellegrini (Morgan), Gibson (Weah)

Into the semis we go as Harry Cochrane's 2nd goal of the season sees us progress. He then got injured so that's 2 of my 4 CMs out injured.

--

SUMMARY

This was a very tough match as we had some horrendous fixtures with us playing Bayern Munich, Rangers twice and Celtic but we came out relatively unscathed so I am happy with that. We have all but won the Championship and have progressed to the semis of the Scottish Cup where we will play Celtic so all is well domestically.

It was our 0-0 draw with Bayern that both pleased and frustrated me and I fear our chances may be gone but I wouldn't put it past us to get a shock result like in the first season.

Youth intake next month!!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
HARRY COCHRANE

​​
--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

Celtic sack Prandelli and appoint Marcelo Bielsa

​

 

[Klippybo]

Billy Little
1957-69
Midfielder/Forward
303 apps, 97 goals

Little started off as an inside right before he moved to centre forward and that's when he started scoring goals more regularly. He went on to become a manager of the likes of Falkirk and East Stirling.

--

MARCH

v
Aberdeen 8 (Turnbull 2pen, 20, 88, McKenna 24, 36, McLennan 32, 42, 74)
Hamilton Academical 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Campbell (Donaldson), Turnbull*, McLennan, Djerlek, Morgan, Gibson

A fine performance although having scored 6 at half-time I am disappointed at how many we ended up with although I shouldn't complain about an 8-0 win lol. Gibson is on one of his non goalscoring runs but he got 3 assists here so I will late him off.

--

UEFA Champions League 1st Round 2nd Leg
v

​​Bayern Munich 3 (Sanches 36, McLennan 55og, Goretzka 74)
Aberdeen 0
(Agg: 3-0)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor (Leigh), Campbell, Donaldson, McLennan (Fernandez), Christie (Torres), Morgan, Gibson

I am disappointed naturally but we never really stood a chance as we were without Turnbull, Ferguson, Cochrane, Djerlek, and Pellegrini while Donaldson had to play despite being unfit so there were mitigating circumstances.

--

v

Hibernian 1 (Mallan 89)
Aberdeen 3 (Christie 18, 62, Campbell 25)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, Hendry, Kerr, Taylor, Campbell, Javier (Farouk), McLennan (Torres), Djerlek, Christie*, Gibson (Afonso)

Our CM crisis continued here as I had 4 of them out but Javier is a good prospect and did well. Farouk made his debut while Dean Campbell scored a stunning volley from outside the area.

--

v

Kilmarnock 1 (Murray 90)
Aberdeen 3 (Turnbull 13, Gibson 26, Christie 72)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson (Campbell), Turnbull*, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek (Christie), Morgan, Gibson

CHAMPIONS!!!

We head into the split knowing the title is secured (we still have another regular season game lol) albeit we had it won in September. Craig Gibson finally got on the scoresheet again.

--

SUMMARY

A mixed month as although domestically we won the title and scored 8 past Hamilton in the Champions League we were eliminated by Bayern Munich which was a blow but not embarrassing as injuries caught up with us.

This season my reserves manager Gary Holt left to manage somebody and this month one of my U18 coaches left to manage Edinburgh City. I then went to review my backroom staff and managed to appoint my predecessor in the Scotland job, Steve Clarke, as a coach!!!

The youth intake wasn't anything special with this lad being the best.....

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DAVID TURNBULL
​​

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
​​

Dundee United appoint Paul Heckingbottom as their new manager

--

SCOTLAND

FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 2

v

Denmark 2 (Dolberg 18, 60)
Scotland 1 (McLennan 63)

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks (Paterson), McKenna, Devlin, Tierney, Ferguson (Campbell), Turnbull, McLennan, Armstrong, Fraser (Ritchie), Gibson

Not the best way to kick off the campaign but this was always going to be our toughest fixture. Dean Campbell made his debut here.

--

FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 2

v

​​Scotland 8 (Ferguson 13, Armstrong 16, Cooper 18, Fraser 30, 67, Forrest 32, 52, Ritchie 81)
Azerbaijan 0

Lineup - Clark, Fredericks, Cooper, McCrorie, Robertson, Ferguson, Campbell, Forrest (Ritchie), Armstrong, Fraser*, Gibson

Ross McCrorie made his Scotland debut here. His brother - goalkeeper Robbie McCrorie - has been in my squads as the 3rd choice keeper.

​

 

[Klippybo]

Ally Shewan
1961-69
Defender
300 apps, 9 goals

Shewan was a left back who was inducted to Aberdeen's hall of fame in 2004. Including unofficial games he once made a staggering 313 consecutive appearances for the club.

--

APRIL

Scottish Cup Semi-Final
​​

v
​​Aberdeen 2 (Gibson 57, Christie 89)
Celtic 1 (Bayo 33)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Campbell (Donaldson), McLennan, Djerlek (Christie*), Morgan (Pellegrini), Gibson

We make the final thanks to a late goal from Ryan Christie who continued his fine run of form despite only being a substitute.

--

v
​​Aberdeen 1 (Turnbull 75pen)
Ross County 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, Hendry, Kerr*, Taylor, Ferguson (Donaldson), Turnbull, Torres, Djerlek, Pellegrini (Morgan), Gibson (Weah)

We may have won but the performance was not good enough and we had to rely on a penalty to get us the win.

--

v
Aberdeen 3 (Gibson 18, McLennan 22, Turnbull 47pen)
Motherwell 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Hendry, Taylor, Ferguson (Campbell), Turnbull*, McLennan, Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson

--

v

​​Rangers 1 (Gray 34)
Aberdeen 2 (Gibson 25, 69)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor (Leigh), Ferguson, Turnbull, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson*

We are 3 games away from completing an unbeaten league campaign and if we win the Scottish Cup final we will have an entire domestic campaign unbeaten.

--

SUMMARY

We go into the final month all geared up for the Scottish Cup final. I may play my backups some games but I don't know tbh as I want to complete the league season unbeaten and Craig Gibson has played every league game so far so it would be a shame for him to miss out on one.

Kilmarnock will be our opponents in the Scottish Cup final.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
CRAIG GIBSON
​​

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
​​

​

 

[Klippybo]

Joe Harper
1969-73 & 1975-81
Forward
300 apps, 199 goals

The "King" was signed from Morton and immediately became a fans favourite and ended up being the clubs record goalscorer. He left the club to join Everton and Hibs before he returned to Pittodrie. He won 2 Scottish Cups and 1 league title with Aberdeen and despite his goalscoring prowess he only won 4 caps for Scotland.

--

MAY

v
Aberdeen 4 (Turnbull 13, 28pen, 34, Ferguson 45)
Kilmarnock 0

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull*, McLennan, Djerlek, Pellegrini, Gibson

David Turnbull moves 2 goals clear of Craig Gibson as our top scorer with his hat-trick here. We now have 102 league points - last year we had 104.

--

v

Heart of Midlothian 0
Aberdeen 6 (Turnbull 4pen, 54, Ferguson 7, McLennan 12, Gibson 42, Djerlek 64)

Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Turnbull*, McLennan, Djerlek, Pellegrini, Gibson

Easy, easy easy. Love thumping a Craig Levein side.

--

v
Aberdeen 0
Celtic 0

Lineup - Bazunu, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson, Campbell, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

We complete the league campaign unbeaten but we fail to score for the first time in the league this season in doing so. Christian Fruchtl obviously doesn't like the Scottish Cup final as he missed it last year due to international duty and this year through injury.

--

Scottish Cup Final

v
Aberdeen 2 (Ferguson 9, Turnbull 49pen)
Kilmarnock 1 (Vaughan 18)

Lineup - Bazunu, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Taylor, Ferguson*, Turnbull, McLennan (Torres), Djerlek (Christie), Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)

Our 2nd treble is secured - Celtic's treble treble in real life will hopefully be matched next season. Credit to Kilmarnock as they made us fight for it and it wasn't a procession by any means.

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SUMMARY

So that is the season wrapped up. A domestic treble was secured although we didn't do as well in the Champions League and with a budget of only £11m for next season that has been reflected. Tbh I am happy with my starting XI and unless I see a standout player I cant see too much being done although I have one or two long term targets in sights if the price isn't £75m lol.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DAVID TURNBULL

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[Klippybo]

END OF SEASON POST

Our 2nd treble was completed this year as we were even better domestically as we didn't lose a game in any domestic competition and only drew 4 matches in the league and obviously won the rest. We scored more goals than last year and remarkably only conceded 10 goals in the league which is truly incredible in a 38 game season.

Our exploits in Europe wasn't so great this year though as we only reached the first knockout stage before Bayern Munich knocked us out.

My players have kicked on this year and improved quite significantly. Gibson, Turnbull, Ferguson and Pellegrini all stepped up a gear with Turnbull finishing as our top scorer and Gibson got over 20 goals which is a big step up from last season.

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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

Ayr United battled hard but they were doomed when Dundee United beat them on the 2nd last game of the season. United beat St. Mirren in the relegation playoff and St. Johnstone got promoted.

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SQUAD

Goalkeepers - 3 played this year which was unusual with Gavin Bazunu winning a Scottish Cup medal. Fruchtl was immense and kept a staggering 36 clean sheets in his 52 appearances.

Defenders - McKenna and Devlin were solid at the back with McKenna popping up with goals every now and again. Greg Taylor became my left back and performed admirably but undoubtedly the most impressive defender was my new record signing Ryan Nyambe who was amazing. He scored 3 goals and was consistently brilliant.

Midfielders - David Turnbull was incredible and was the top scorer for us as well as the leagues top scorer with 25 goals in 27 league games. Lewis Ferguson got into double figures too while Dean Campbell and Ryan Donaldson came on leaps and bounds this season with Campbell getting his first Scotland cap.

Connor McLennan scored 20 goals from the RW and Matias Pellegrini got 12 from the LW although after such a bright start he faded a bit in the 2nd half of the season. Armin Djerlek got a few more goals this season but a total of 7 is still disappointing.

Forwards - Craig Gibson had a far better season this time out but he still went on long periods without finding the net but he finished up with 24 goals. I suppose if you took the penalties off Turnbull and onto Gibson he would be a 40 goal a season striker lol. Timothy Weah got 12 goals and amazingly didn't start a single league match.

My Player of the Season - David Turnbull
My Young Player of the Season - Christian Fruchtl
Must Do Better - Armin Djerlek

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SUMMER PLANS

I have no pre-arranged transfers but I will have to bring in a new backup keeper. I am happy with my squad overall but we aren't world beaters yet so we will have to see what I can do. With a starting budget of only £11m there isn't too much I can do!
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