I expected Mali B to be here just to make up the numbers but not so as they pushed us all the way here and actually had 2 goals disallowed but we won it in stoppage time when Leigh Griffiths headed home.
I had to rest several players here but the lads that came in still managed to get us the win to see us through. Ourselves and the USA now play to see who tops the group.
We needed to win this to top the group but it was not to be although I did rest several players as it was kind of a dead rubber game. My own Timothy Weah scored against us the ***** lol.
I didn't see this coming even when Connor McLennan put us in front as after that France wiped the floor with us and went 2-1 up and we were hanging on. My triple substitution changed the game and in the last 15min we battered them. Fraser had a goal disallowed before he levelled the scores and then McGregor put one in the top corner from the edge of the area to put us into the final.
When we drew with the USA earlier in the competition it was with a weakened side so I was confident a stronger side would defeat the Yanks and so it proved to be.
Now with the game date in the middle of July I can finally concentrate on Aberdeen business - I am like Newcastle in real life lol.
Despite only playing 1 game for Aberdeen Teddy Scott is a true Aberdeen legend and served the club for 49 years as a player, trainer and kitman. He served under 15 managers and Alex Ferguson brought his Man Utd side up to Pittodrie for his testimonial at the turn of the century.
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PRE-SEASON POST
This summer has been very strange. Mainly due to the Confederations Cup I pretty much neglected my Aberdeen duties for a few weeks and although I think my squad is stronger as a whole it has felt rushed but there is still a month to go in the transfer window.
There was big news off the field as my chairman, Stewart Milne, agreed to build a new stadium. The final plans will be announced in 2 years time in 2023 apparently.
So without further ado I will show you my transfer dealings so far...….
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PLAYERS OUT
I recouped a record fee for Ryan Christie as he joined Wolves for an initial £9.25m with the fee potentially rising by £1m. Considering he was a backup player and was signed on a free transfer that is a decent bit of business. He played 81 times for me and scored 16 goals.
Harry Cochrane was sold to Chelsea for an impressive £8m. Signed for £150,000 my 4th choice CM was refusing to sign a new contract and with it expiring at the end of the season I decided to cash in but I wasn't expecting to recoup such a fee for a player who only appeared 23 times for me, scoring 3 goals.
Also joining Chelsea amazingly is 18y/o left back Finn Ecrepont for £51,000. He doesn't look that great and I was flabbergasted that both Chelsea and Celtic went in for him when I put him up for sale.
Dundee United bought Anthony McDonald for £205,000 and Tyler Mykyta for £79,000 while my wonderkid Croatian midfielder, Marko Bulat, joined Sevilla on loan for £1m for the season - he rejected a £8.5m move to PSG.
Also leaving on loan was Jason Kerr to Rangers (£200k fee), Aidan Fitzpatrick to Hibs (£100k fee) and Fabio Fernandez, Tiago Serrao and Javier for no fee on loan amongst others.
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PLAYERS IN
I went into the summer with the sole aim of signing a new backup keeper and after spending ages looking for one I ended up bringing in Scott Bain from Celtic for £185,000. He is an average player but began his career at Aberdeen so will be an extra home grown player by the club which is a bonus.
The reason Ryan Christie left was because I signed Argentinain Maximiliano Lovera from Rosario Central for £2.5m. He is a significant step up from Christie if not as flexible positionally and he his technically superb and will compete with Djerlek to be my AMC.
Incoming at £2.6m was a long term target in Daniel Parada from Universidad Catolica. He had been on my shortlist for a good while and impressed at the Confederations Cup for Chile so when Cochrane went I jumped at the chance to sign him. The 19y/o wonderkid really looks a player however his agent insisted on a £9.5m release clause so I will strive to remove that ASAP.
Ryan Porteous joined from Kilmarnock for £1m to replace Jason Kerr as my 4th choice CB. I have been a long term admirer of Porteous and at the very least I should be able to sell him on for a profit. When Kerr signed he was valued at £325k and is now valued at £3.3m despite hardly playing so we shall see how he goes.
Other than those signings I signed Mohammed Chadli for £500,000 but he didn't get a work permit so I loaned him out to my feeder side Karlsruhe, Brad Stillie joined from Ayr United for £300,000 while Ian McMillan joined from Motherwell for £6,750.
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FIRST TEAM
The first XI stays the same with the only possible change being Lovera for Djerlek. Parada will be my 3rd choice CM which is a bit harsh on Dean Campbell and Ryan Donaldson who are top quality, young, Scottish CMs.
Unless a standout player is available I don't envisage much else happening in the final month of the transfer window tbh. I still have £16m to spend but I don't want to spend millions on a player who would struggle to make the bench as my first team squad is pretty tight.
"Bumper" won the Scottish Cup at Aberdeen just 6 weeks after making his debut and also won the League Cup in 1976. He won 11 caps for Scotland, scoring twice and was sold to Leeds United for £125,000 and later went on to play for Manchester United.
A good start to the season as we put 4 past newly promoted St. Johnstone. Pellegrini scored twice while his fellow Argentinian, Lovera, impressed on his debut and got an assist.
Despite Ayr having just been relegated I was confident that my backups would do the job and they did. Ross McKay and Ryan Porteous made their debuts here.
We have started the season on fire as we have won all of our matches - even Craig Gibson has been scoring for fun! We sit at the top of the league which is commonplace while in the Betfred Cup we will play Hibs.
I think a Europa League campaign after Xmas may be on the cards as in the Champions League we have been drawn alongside Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Dynamo Kiev!!!!
I made a huge signing on transfer deadline day as I brought in Malcom from Barcelona for £7.25m. Barcelona will be paying £30k per week towards his wages so I was able to afford him and we will be paying him £40k a week which makes him my 2nd highest paid player (Djerlek is on £44k). He should terrorise the Scottish league but I didn't really need him. He is far better than McLennan but he hasn't done anything wrong and Pellegrini is doing well on the left so we shall see how he fits in. With Torres and Morgan also waiting in the wings to get on the wings somebody will be unhappy.
Fred Martin actually started his career as an inside left before becoming a goalkeeper. He won the League and the League Cup while at Aberdeen and won 6 caps for Scotland. He was the first goalkeeper to play for Scotland in a World Cup.
Something had to give here as both sides had a 100% record and Rangers hadn't even conceded a goal but we beat them here. Malcom was unleashed into Scottish football and got an assist while Jordan Jones scored against us - again.
I would have gladly taken a point before the match but this draw leaves a bitter taste in the mouth as we were by far the better team and conceded a late goal to drop 2pts.
My squad is at a strength now where I am confident that my backups can get a result against a decent SPL side - probably a bit overdue as the starting XI had 7 current internationals lol.
This was a lesson which I hope we will learn from. Liverpool wiped the floor with us and fully deserved the win and it shows how much further we have to go.
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SUMMARY
A generally good month ended with a bitter taste in my mouth with our defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League. In the league we have won all of our games and our win away to Rangers was the highlight and we will play them in the semis of the Betfred Cup after we knocked out Hibs.
In the Champions League we drew with Bayern but lost to Liverpool which means we better had get results against Dinamo Kiev in the double header coming up.
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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
TIMOTHY WEAH
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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
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SCOTLAND FIFA World Cup Qualifying Group 2
v
Scotland 3 (Gibson 8, Fraser 41, Armstrong 59) Northern Ireland 0 Lineup - Clark, Fredericks (Paterson), McKenna, Souttar, Tierney, Ferguson (Campbell), McGinn (McCrorie), McLennan, Armstrong, Fraser, Gibson*
An important win as we put Northern Ireland to the sword and a nice help to the goal difference tally. Now we have a must win match against Denmark if we want to top the group.
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Pathetic!!! We bottled it completely and have no chance of winning the group now and just have to secure 2nd place. Connor McLennan got injured and is out for a month so Malcom will get a spot in the side for now lol.
WOW! I loved the story so far. Really enjoyed the first season in Europe and the away goal wins.
The league each year is locked from the start, but great to see Scotland winning some trophies too.
Look forward to reading more.
Gordon Strachan
1977-84
Midfielder
292 apps, 89 goals
Signed from Dundee for £40,000 plus a player Strachan went on to become one of the key players in the successful side of the early 80s. A regular goalscorer and penalty taker he was the main creative force in the side. Was later sold to Manchester United for £600,000. He won 7 major trophies while at Aberdeen and also ended up with 50 Scotland caps and 5 goals.
Malcom showed the country what he can do and tbh what I expected a signing from Barcelona can do as he scored a fantastic hat-trick - 2 of his goals were from distance. Lewis Ferguson had another poor performance as he has struggled so far this term.
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v
Aberdeen 4 (Malcom 2, Gibson 70, 89, Afonso 86) Celtic 2 (Success 40, Wolf 42)
This was a thrilling encounter. Malcom put us in front early doors and we were looking comfortable until they scored 2 quick goals. We levelled through Gibson and then I made a triple substitution and it was Torres who fed Afonso for the winner.
Disappointing. We really needed to win this if we had any serious prospects of progressing but we didn't play well enough to do so - at least Lewis Ferguson put in a decent performance for the first time this season. Now for Lovera or Djerlek to do the same lol.
Lovera's first 2 goals for the club got us the win here as we continue our run of winning every single league game so far this season.
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v
Aberdeen 3 (Campbell 14, Malcom 59, Parada 89) Ross County 0 Lineup - Fruchtl, Nyambe, McKenna, Devlin, Leigh, Ferguson (Parada), Campbell, Malcom (McLennan), Lovera, Pellegrini, Gibson (Weah)
A comfortable victory which saw Parada get his first goal for us. Gibson missed a penalty and Ferguson went off injured but is only out for a few weeks.
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SUMMARY
Not a bad month all told however our draw against Dinamo Kiev wasn't the best of results. In the league we keep on winning and the highlight was the 4-2 victory over Celtic. We end the month 8pts clear of Rangers and that should be that regarding the title lol.
In the Betfred Cup we defeated Rangers in the semis and have set up a final against Hearts next month.
As for the Champions League we pretty much have to beat either Bayern or Liverpool as well as Dinamo Kiev to have any chance of getting through to the knockout stages.
Putting this save on hold for a wee while as their are plans afoot between myself and Stonecold to doing something very soon. I am on holiday for 3 weeks so going to play the **** out of the game lol.
Going to do a supplementary save too - this Aberdeen save is fun but montonous domestically and the fact that I have done so well with Scotland so early has spoiled it a bit tbh
