A Light In The North - Aberdeen FC

[Klippybo]

HELLO

Firstly - yes I have nicked the title of Alex Ferguson's book about his time at Aberdeen and secondly I have aborted my AC Milan save as I just knew it didn't feel right (despite being unbeaten and top of the league).

I have decided to go for my 2nd team - Aberdeen. Normally I wait until my good friend Stonecold gets bored of his save and then I jump across but that hasn't happened yet so I am just doing it anyway. There are huge differences straight away though - updated database (St.Johnstone have no manager, Aberdeen have McGeouch, Hernandez and Kennedy for a start whereas Stonecold didnt) plus I have downloaded a database that unlocks basically every single league in Scotland down to the juniors. So I could manage my local side Inverurie Loco Works if I wanted or even their feeder side Colony Park!!!!!

Also I think the time is right with the changes happening off the park. A new stadium is just around the corner, the club have moved to their purposely built training facilities, we have a new chairman in Dave Cormack and a linkup with MLS side Atlanta United.

My aim I suppose is too match Stonecold with hopefully more Scottish players in the side and as ever try to improve the national teams fortunes. So please follow, comment etc!!!!

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CLUB INFO

Founded - 1903
Nickname - The Dons
Ground - Pittodrie Stadium
Capacity - 20,866

Scottish League Champions (4) - 1954-55, 1979-80, 1983-84, 1984-85

Scottish Cup Winners (7) - 1946-47, 1969-70, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86, 1989-90

Scottish League Cup Winners (6) - 1955-56, 1976-77, 1985-86, 1989-90, 1995-96, 2013-14

UEFA Cup-Winners Cup Winners (1) - 1982-83

UEFA European Super Cup Winners (1) - 1983

​

 

[Klippybo]

JULY

Doing pre-season as we go as I have games all through July and August before the window ends. I inherited a side that should finish 3rd in the league and I did have a couple of hundred grand in the transfer kitty but after making Greg Leigh's loan permanent for £100,000 I basically spent it all in getting together my backroom staff and offering new contracts to the likes of Scott McKenna and Sam Cosgrove.

There were several changes. I appointed John Collins as my new DoF, John McMaster and Neil Cooper returned to the club as scouts and I appointed 2 nice looking ladies as physios which is nice lol. In all I appointed nearly 20 new members of staff so basically there wasn't much I could do transfer wise.

I desperately needed another CB while a LB, CM and ST wouldn't go amiss but so far I have only managed to bring in one player but at least that covers 2 of the needed positions. But there is shocking news - I AM GOING TO HAVE TO PLAY WITH A COMPLETELY NEW FORMATION!!!!!

Yep - I haven't gone outside my 4-2-3-1 formation for a few years but Aberdeen didn't have any AMCs so I have been forced to change and will try out a 4-3-2-1 instead with 3 CMs in the middle of midfield and 2 wingers. Cant believe I have to do this lol.

So I better introduce my new signing - Florentin Pogba - the elder brother of Paul Pogba - has joined on a free transfer and will provide competition for both the CB and LB spots. He is a good player for the SPL and I think I might be able to cash in on him and get a decent fee in the future so I am happy with this signing.

There were no departures - the only one I would definitely sell would be Curtis Main but he just joined the club so wont be able to go until January.

Overall I am content with my squad. Joe Lewis is the best keeper in the league while Scott McKenna will be someone I build my side around at CB. I am interested to see how Pogba and my Venezuelan RB - Ronald Hernandez - does while in CM I have the experience of Bryson and McGeouch with also another player to build my side around - Lewis Ferguson. Dean Campbell is a bright prospect there.

I have tons of wingers in the shape of Kennedy, McGinn, Wright, Hedges, Gallagher and McLennan while up front I just have to pray that Sam Cosgrove doesn't get injured as Curtis Main is **** and I am not sure if Bruce Anderson is ready yet.

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UEFA Europa League Best Placed 1st Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson (Campbell), McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn, Kennedy (Wright), Cosgrove*

A fine start to my career. Sam Cosgrove stole the headlines with a hat-trick while Niall McGinn also shone. Pogba got an assist on his debut which was nice.

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UEFA Europa League Best Placed 1st Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Considine), Bryson, Campbell (Ojo), Ferguson, McGinn*, Kennedy, Cosgrove (Anderson)

We sail into the next round here thanks to a Niall McGinn masterclass as he scored 2 fine goals and also assisted 2. Shay Logan scored - it is important that he impresses and Ronald Hernandez is due back from holiday soon.

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UEFA Europa League Best Placed 2nd Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, Hedges, Kennedy, Cosgrove*

WOW!!!!!! Its safe to say we are through to the next round. We were 7 up at half-time so I am naturally disappointed that we only scored one in the 2nd half. Ryan Hedges certainly put in a performance to catch my attention!

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SUMMARY

Only 3 games but we scored an incredible 17 goals in those matches which slightly skews the goalscoring charts! In truth we havent played anyone decent but in the next round in the Europa League we will face either AA Gent or Kairat Almaty (who knocked us out a few years back).

I appointed more staff to the club with the most notable being club legend, Jim Leighton, as a youth team goalkeeper while I have also removed Joe Lewis as captain and made Scott McKenna the skipper with Andrew Considine as vice captain just because it is him. I also signed a 16y/o regen striker from Northern Ireland who looks a prospect.

Finally in the Betfred Cup we have a home tie against Ayr United.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
SAM COSGROVE

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[Klippybo]

AUGUST

UEFA Europa League Best Placed 2nd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin (Considine), Pogba, Bryson, Campbell, Ferguson, Hedges (McGinn), Kennedy, Cosgrove (Anderson*)

Hard to judge this. Sure we won but to only win 3-0 with 2 late goals against a team we beat 8-0 away and were down to 10 men for more than half a match is not acceptable. That said we had 49 shots on goal!!!

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Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson (Campbell), McGeouch*, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), Kennedy, Cosgrove (Anderson)

Not the greatest performance by any means but we got the win and that's the main thing. They had a late goal disallowed so they almost snatched a point.

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UEFA Europa League Best Placed 3rd Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson (Campbell), McGeouch*, Ferguson (Ojo), McGinn, Kennedy (Hedges), Cosgrove

A great result that should see us through to the final qualifying round. Nice to see young Dean Campbell get a goal for us.

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Lineup - Lewis, Logan (Hernandez), McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson, Campbell (Ojo), Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), Kennedy, Cosgrove*

Hibs were predicted to finish 4th before the season kicked off so to win so convincingly away from home is a fine achievement.

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UEFA Europa League Best Placed 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson, McGeouch*, Campbell (Ojo), McGinn (Hedges), Kennedy (Wright), Cosgrove

I am naturally disappointed that we didn't win the match but all the damage was done in the 1st leg so I will let my players off. One more round to negotiate and we will be in the group stages.

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Betfred Cup 2nd Round

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez (Logan), Pogba, Considine, Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch* (F.Ross), Campbell, Hedges (Gallagher), Wright, Anderson

I decided to rest my players here just because we have had a horrendous amount of games plus we have 3 huge matches upcoming. We were rocked by an injury before the match to Funsu Ojo and he will be out for a couple of months - we are desperately short of CMs considering I play with 3!!!! In the end we struggled and only got through thanks to a Bruce Anderson penalty.

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UEFA Europa League Best Placed 4th Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Considine), Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson (Campbell), McGinn, Kennedy (McLennan), Cosgrove

Not bad but not great. We were the better side out there but didn't create much and a draw was always on the cards. Just a pity we couldn't find that crucial away goal.

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Lineup - Lewis, Logan, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson, Campbell (Barron), Ferguson, McGinn, Kennedy (McLennan), Anderson

Incredible. Going into this game I was without Hernandez, McKenna, McGeouch, Ojo, Taylor and Cosgrove yet we manage to destroy Celtic 4-1. Bryson (who wasnt really fit enough to start either) got his 1st goal for us to give us the lead, Logan hit the post before tapping in the rebound into an empty net and then Kennedy and Devlin headed in the 3rd and 4th. Amazingly despite winning 4-1 - it was Ryan Christie of Celtic who got the MOM award. 16y/o Connor Barron made his debut here.

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UEFA Europa League Best Placed 4th Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna (Leigh), Devlin, Pogba, Bryson*, McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), Kennedy (McLennan), Cosgrove

We reach the group stages with another fine victory. Cosgrove converted a penalty for the 1st and Bryson scored with a fine first time finish from 25 yards for the 2nd and after that we just managed the game.

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SUMMARY

What a hectic month but a great one! We packed in 9 matches this month across 3 different competitions and emerged undefeated, top of the league, through to the League Cup quarter-finals and in the Europa League group stages!! Domestically we beat Hamilton before going to Easter Road and beating Hibs 3-1 but was then bettered when we humped Celtic 4-1 at Pittodrie which was incredible. We edged past Ayr in the League Cup but have a tough quarter-final tie against Rangers coming up.

In the Europa League we sailed through past Sabail and Kairat Almaty before we matched up against Antwerp. We drew 0-0 away before defeating them 2-0 at home and have been rewardeda place in a group alongside Wolfsburg, Strasbourg and PAOK as well as £2.5m. A special shout out goes to Kilmarnock who somehow won away to Espanyol to reach the group stages!!!!

None of that extra money however has been given to me however and try as I might I just cant sign anyone. Billy Gilmour for instance was going to be a cheap loan deal but we cant afford the £19k a month to bring him in. In the end I went to Atalanta United to bring in Anton Walkes just to fill in a squad place. He aint great but I didn't have to pay anything to get him so in he came.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DYLAN MCGEOUCH

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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

St.Johnstone appoint John Robertson from Inverness CT as their new manager
Rangers sell Scott Arfield and Conor Goldson​

 

[Klippybo]

SEPTEMBER

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch*, Ferguson (Campbell), Hedges, Kennedy (McLennan), Cosgrove (Anderson)

We maintain our 100% record with victory here. Sam Cosgrove also missed a penalty so it could have been a bigger winning margin. We now head into the international break and some of my players can get a much deserved rest!

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Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson, McGeouch*, Ferguson (Campbell), McGinn (Hedges), Kennedy (Wright), Cosgrove

A horrible boring match. We had the better of it but we only had 1 shot on target - which was still one more than Kilmarnock had! Our first dropped points this season.

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UEFA Europa League Group I

Lineup - Lewis, Logan (Hernandez), Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson (Ojo), McGeouch*, Ferguson, Hedges, Kennedy (Wright), Cosgrove

I didn't expect to win this match but I am delighted to naturally! We went 2-0 up and they had a man sent-off so all was easy but no - for some reason we shat ourselves big time and they pulled a goal back and totally dominated us but fortunately we held on. Shay Logan got injured here though and is out for 3-4 months which is a huge blow.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh (Considine), Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, Hedges (McGinn), Kennedy, Cosgrove (Anderson)

Our 2nd successive 0-0 draw in the league and this is dar worse than the last one as we pummelled Motherwell with nearly 30 shots on goal but we just couldn't find the net.

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Betfred Cup Quarter-Final

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh (Considine), Bryson, Campbell, Ojo, McGinn (Hedges) (Gallagher), Kennedy*, Cosgrove

What a win!!!! To beat the great unwashed with a weakened side at castle greyskull is fantastic as we March into the semis. They missed a penalty to rub salt into the wounds. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. Ronald Hernandez got 2 assists here and deserves a mention.

(If you haven't guessed - I hate Rangers lol)

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Lineup - Lewis, Walkes, McKenna, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn*, McLennan (Gallagher), Cosgrove (Anderson)

Pathetic. We draw our 3rd league match in a row against sides we really should be beating. Livingston are bottom of the league but managed to get something off us here.

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SUMMARY

A hard month to judge. In the league we beat St.Johnstone but then drew our next 3 league games which sees us sit 3rd place in the league which is ectremely frustrating. However that is offset by our cup exploits as we beat Strasbourg 2-1 away in the Europa League and also Rangers 2-1 away in the Betfred Cup - 2 magnificent results.

Also I suppose which should be taken into account is the fact that 5 out of our 6 games this month was away from home although we did draw at home to Motherwell in our sole home fixture.

Good news however - after asking the board for our wage budget to be increased (we are paying £5k over the odds) and the club rejected it they did respond favourably to me asking for more money to the transfer budget and they gave me £2m so naturally I have put some of that towards the wage budget and I can strentgthen the side significantly in the winter now.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DYLAN MCGEOUCH

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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

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[Klippybo]

OCTOBER

UEFA Europa League Group I

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Devlin (Considine), Leigh, Bryson (Ojo), McGeouch, Ferguson*, McGinn, Kennedy (McLennan), Cosgrove

My first defeat as manager but I cant fault my players at all as they wer ethe better side and just got outdone by a side who were better to a man individually. A couple of defensive lapses cost us but I can take heart with this performance.

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Lineup - Lewis, Walkes, McKenna, Devlin, Considine, Bryson (Barron), Campbell, Ojo, Gallagher (Wright), McLennan*, Main (Ruth)

I am delighted with this win as I could only field 4 first picks and even then Bryson shouldn't have started but needs must. Connor McLennan scored both of the goals that won us the match while youngster Michael Ruth made his debut. How we win this but drew our last 3 league games is beyond me although maybe the fact they had Damour sent-off after 3min was a big factor lol.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin (Taylor), Pogba (Leigh), Bryson (Ojo), McGeouch, Ferguson*, McGinn, McLennan, Cosgrove

A win but not a convincing one as we come from behind to beat St.Mirren who have been doing really well this season so far. We fell behind and were labouring but from the moment Connor McLennan scored I never thought we would get beat but could we win? Yes was the answer as Lewis Ferguson scored his 1st league goal of the season.

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UEFA Europa League Group I

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson (Ojo), McGeouch, Ferguson (Campbell), McGinn*, Kennedy (McLennan), Cosgrove

Meh. An adequate result but not great. We are still 2nd in the group on 4pts but Wolfsburg will run away with it as they have won all 3 matches so far. The home match against PAOK will be vital if we are to qualify.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson (Ojo), McGinn, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove

My first defeat in the league and it comes against the one team I dont want to lose too. We werent good enough tbh and Sam Cosgrove missed a 2nd half penalty which could have got us a point but when McGinn got sent-off it was all over.

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Lineup - Lewis, Walkes, McKenna, Pogba (Taylor), Leigh, Bryson, Ojo*, Ferguson, Gallagher, Kennedy (McLennan), Cosgrove (Main)

We bounce back with a decent away win having lost in our last match. Jon Gallagher got his 1st goal for us and Connor McLennan continued his good scoring run in the league by sealing it late on as he broke away clean through from the halfway line.

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SUMMARY

We lost our first 2 games of the season this month in both the Europa League and the Premiership with the defeat against Rangers in the league being a particularly sore one - especially since we missed a penalty to equalise. Despite having lost the least amount of games in the league (1) we are still 3rd in the league but things are going along well but with the sheer amount of games being played I am suffering from injuries.

In Europe we lost to Wolfsburg unluckily and then drew away to PAOK which was slightly disappointing but if we beat them at home I actually think we can qualify for the knockout stages.

Shout out goes to my U18s who won the Highland League Cup - a competition that appears thanks to the download and we got rewarded £10,000 prize money.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
LEWIS FERGUSON

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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

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[Klippybo]

NOVEMBER

Betfred Cup Semi-Final

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson, McGeouch, Ojo, McGinn (Gallagher), McLennan, Cosgrove

RONALD HERNANDEZ!!!!!!

My Venezuelan right-back scored a hat-trick to put us through to the final in an incredible performance by him personally. When Aberdeen last won the trophy they beat St.Johnstone 4-0 in the semis so here is hoping that a 4 goal winning margin will be a good luck omen for the final.

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UEFA Europa League Group I

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn*, Kennedy (McLennan), Cosgrove (Anderson)

This win has us 1pt away from the knockout stages. Niall McGinn scored a double which takes him up to 7 for the competition this season - 2 behind Sam Cosgrove and we have scored 33 goals in all in the competition already!!!!

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Taylor, Leigh (Considine), Bryson, Campbell*, Ojo, McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove (Anderson)

For the 4th time this season we draw a league game when we really should win and as a result we drop down to 4th place in the table. If Sam Cosgrove starts scoring again we will be well on our way - he hasn't scored in his last 7 league games.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin (Considine), Pogba (Leigh), Bryson, Campbell, McGeouch*, McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Anderson

During the international break (and obviously not having been called up by England!) Sam Cosgrove got injured and is out until the New Year so that is a blow despite his horrendous league form. In the end his replacement Bruce Anderson scored a goal while Connor McLennan notched again and with 5 goals is our top scorer in the league yet arguably he is my 4th choice LW!!

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UEFA Europa League Group I

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Campbell, McGeouch*, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), Kennedy (McLennan), Anderson (Main)

We only needed a point to qualify from the group so it was nice to win. Connor McLennan came off the bench to score the winner and if we beat Wolfsburg away we will actually win the group.

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SUMMARY

November got off to a great start as we thrashed St.Johnstone 5-1 in the Betfred Cup semi-final with Ronald Hernandez scoring a hat-trick from right back amazingly. We play Celtic in the final so that will be tough.

In the Europa League we beat both PAOK and Strasbourg to qualify for the knockout stages and we will be in Europe after Christmas. So that means we will have played 16 games in the competition which is crazy and we have scored more goals in the Europa League than in the league and Betfred Cup combined!!!!

In the league however we stumbled to a poor 1-1 draw against Hamilton but recovered to beat Hibs 2-0 and it seems that the top 4 in the league wont be caught so we shall see what happens.

In other news we will play St.Johnstone at home in the Scottish Cup 4th round but bad news is that Craig Bryson got an injury and will miss the Betfred Cup final while Sam Cosgrove is touch and go.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DYLAN MCGEOUCH

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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

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[Klippybo]

DECEMBER

Lineup - Lewis, Walkes, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Campbell, Ojo, Ferguson, McGinn, McLennan (Kennedy), Anderson (Main)

A good point particularly since Celtic battered us throughout. They had a late goal disallowed and we rode our luck but we held on. We drop down to 4th place though.

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Lineup - Lewis, Walkes, Considine, Devlin, Leigh (Taylor), Campbell, Ojo, Kennedy, McGinn* (Hedges), McLennan (Wright), Anderson

These draws are killing us. Another 2pts dropped and our 6th league draw of the season. They levelled late on and like in the last match they had a goal disallowed. I just need to get to Christmas and have my players fit and bring in a couple of players hopefully.

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Betfred Cup Final

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, McKenna, Pogba, Leigh, Campbell (Ojo), McGeouch (Considine), Ferguson, Hedges (Kennedy), McLennan, Anderson

WE WIN THE BETFRED CUP!!!!!

What a win, what a performance!!!! We went into the match without Logan, Devlin, Bryson, Cosgrove and McGinn yet still managed to win the game and whats more we more than deserved it. We came out of the blocks on fire and peppered their goal early on and were rewarded when we got a penalty which McLennan duly converted. We continued to dominate the first half and in truth we were comfortable until the last 15min.

That was when I went defensive and played 5 at the back but we managed to hold on. We had 64% possession and had almost double their shots on goal so it was a deserved victory.

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UEFA Europa League Group I

Lineup - Lewis, Walkes, Considine, Devlin, Leigh, Campbell, McGeouch, Ojo, Hedges (Gallagher), Kennedy (Wright), Anderson (Main)

I decided to rest several players here as a flu virus has hit my squad and with us having already qualified this was a dead rubber. We gave it a good go and missed a great opportunity to go 2-1 up but I don't mind losing this match at all.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Campbell (Barron), Ojo, Ferguson, Hedges, McLennan, Anderson (Cosgrove)

We get back to winning ways in the league with a fine away win and performance. Sam Cosgrove finally returned from injury and we will rely on him heavily in the next few weeks as Bruce Anderson has struggled in truth.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Pogba, Leigh (Considine), Ojo, McGeouch, Ferguson, Gallagher (Kennedy), McLennan, Anderson (Main)

Thank god for Connor McLennan. I was raging going into the final minutes as once again it seemed as though we were going to get another infuriating draw but McLennan headed home at the far post to win us the match in the 2nd minute of stoppage time.

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Lineup - Lewis, Logan, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh (Considine), Ojo, McGeouch, Campbell, Hedges, Kennedy (Wright), Cosgrove (Anderson)

Hearts are 4pts clear of us in the league so this was a missed opportunity to catch up however I am happy with a point considering I was still missing some key players. That and the fact we were hopeless in the 1st half and they had a goal disallowed to go 2-0 up.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Campbell (Ojo), McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove (Anderson)

Draw after draw after draw - to be fair the last 2 matches are acceptable as if we had lost we would be struggling for European qualification. I almost fielded my full strength side here for the first time in ages!

-

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Campbell (Barron), Ojo, Ferguson, McGinn, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove*

Despite the narrow scoreline we dominated this match and missed chance after chance but in the end Sam Cosgrove's 1st league goal since the 4th league game of the season won it for us.

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SUMMARY

What a month this was!!!! We had 9 games all told and while we won only 4 we got some terrific results. In the league we won 3 but drew 4 of our 7 matches although there were creditable draws against Celtic, Rangers and Hearts. We end the calendar year with only 1 defeat in the league but still in 4th place.

In the Europa League we lost out to Wolfsburg but I wasnt too disappointed that we didnt win the group as 2nd place was an achievement anyway. We have drawn Borussia Monchengladbach in the next round.

The highlight of the month however was our victory over Celtic in the Betfred Cup final to claim my first trophy. We were by far the better side on the day but it was just a penalty from Connor McLennan that did it for us.

Now we are about to enter January and I can strengthen the squad - a top 3 finish is a must!!!!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
CONNOR MCLENNAN

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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

St.Johnstone sack John Robertson and appoint Dave Mackay
Hibs sack Jack Ross​

 

[Klippybo]

JANUARY

William Hill Scottish Cup 4th Round

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez (Logan), McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson (Ojo), McGeouch*, Campbell, McGinn, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove

We return from the winter break and I had a fully fit squad for the first time in months - although Ferguson was suspended. In the end we won fairly comfortably.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, McKenna, Pogba, Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove (Dykes)

We laboured to victory here but in the end got there. Craig Bryson scored a long range screamer while Lyndon Dykes came off the bench to seal the victory with a goal on his debut.

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Lineup - Lewis, Logan (Hernandez*), Devlin, Considine, Leigh, Ojo, Campbell, Ferguson (Cochrane), McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove

Hamilton were in a generous mood here as they gave us 2 penalties and had 2 men sent-off! Harry Cochrane came off the bench for his debut here.

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Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson (Campbell), McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

We beat Celtic yet again!!!! We even had the luxury of missing a penalty through Connor McLennan in the last minute. Celtic have yet to beat us this season after 4 attempts.

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SUMMARY

I went into January excited that I could finally strengthen my squad with the near £2m that I had to spend but in the end I struggled as I was treating every penny like a prisoner and I still had to scour around for some good deals rather than blowing the cash on one player. I let 2 players go as I sold Curtis Main and Tomas Cerny for basically nothing so I needed to replace them for a start.

In the end I brought in 4 players. I went to Dundee United and poached their keeper, Benjamin Siegrist for £140,000. He is a decent enough keeper for backup and that's about it lol.

I paid £500,000 for Lyndon Dykes of Livingston. He hadn't had a good season but as a backup striker he should be good enough in the short term. He has a bit of pace about him and if he gets a run in the side and does well I could sell him on for a profit but I see this as a low risk transfer.

​

£130,000 was spent on Hearts teenager Harry Cochrane. He has a bright future ahead of him and I think he can develop quite well with us and to get him so cheaply was very pleasing.

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Finally I brought in Rnagers youngster Josh McPake on loan until the end of the season just to have a look at him. He was worth a load of money and doing well for Spurs in my Newcastle save so wanted to check him out.

Anywho regarding matters on the pitch we had 4 home matches and won all 4 which sees us leapfrog Hearts into 3rd place. St.Johnstone were beaten in the cup and a home tie against Kilmarnock is our reward but the highlight in the league was our meeting against Celtic as we defeated them 2-1 to record our 3rd victory over them this season.

Amazingly we still have lost only 1 game this season in the league and even then it was just 1-0 and we missed a penalty.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
RONALD HERNANDEZ

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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

Derek Adams is appointed the new Hibs manager
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[Klippybo]

FEBRUARY

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Bryson, McGeouch*, Ferguson (Campbell), McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove

This win makes it 5 in a row in the league against Hibs who were under the management of Derek Adams for the first time. McGinn got injured and will be out for a month or so.

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Lineup - Lewis, Logan, McKenna (Considine), Devlin, Pogba, Bryson, Campbell, Ferguson, Hedges (Wright), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

**** sake. We battered Kilmarnock here, hit the woodwork twice with free-kicks yet fell behind to Kilmarnock's only shot on goal - from a free-kick but fortunately Connor McLennan came to our rescue and not for the 1st time this season.

All that pales into significance as Scott McKenna got injured and is out for 5-6 months so his season is over.

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William Hill Scottish Cup 5th Round

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Devlin (Considine), Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson (Ojo), Hedges, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove*

We fell behind early on here but fought back to win thanks to a double from Sam Cosgrove who now has 23 goals in all comps - 15 of them have been in cups lol.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh (Considine), Bryson (Cochrane), Campbell, Ferguson, Hedges*, McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

St. Johnstone lost 8-0 to Celtic and had 2 men sent-off last time out and despite the narrow scoreline they could have lost 8-0 again such was our dominance. Yet again Connor McLennan scores the game winning goal.

--

UEFA Europa League 1st Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson (Ojo), McGeouch, Ferguson (Logan), Hedges (Kennedy), McLennan*, Cosgrove

A great result and performance but oh what could of been! We came out of the blocks on fire and took an early lead through McLennan who headed home from a Hernandez cross but 6min later Hernandez was sent-off and then it was a case of everyone digging in. We lasted until 88min when they equalised which was gutting tbh but I am proud of my players.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh (Considine), Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn (Kennedy), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

McLennan strikes for the 3rd league game in a row and helps us to victory here. He really has been a surprise revelation this season.

--

UEFA Europa League 1st Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Logan, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson (Ojo), McGeouch, Ferguson (Campbell), McGinn, McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

I think its safe to say that Niall McGinn's 1st minute goal angered the beast!!! We were well and truly thrashed here and it could have been so much more if it wasn't for Joe Lewis. I still cant help but think what might have been if Hernandez wasn't sent-off in the 1st leg though.

--

SUMMARY

The main story of this month was the fact that our European adventure is over as Borussia Monchengladbach disposed of us 5-2 on aggregate. Domestically though we were decent as we progressed in the Scottish Cup and avoided defeat all round. I have just noticed that we have only conceded 12 goals in the league and have the best defence by far although with Scott McKenna suffering a long term injury that may change.

Youth intake next month!!!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
CONNOR MCLENNAN

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

​

 

[Klippybo]

MARCH

William Hill Scottish Cup Quarter-Final

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh (Considine), Bryson, Campbell (Barron), Ojo, Wright, Kennedy, Cosgrove (Dykes)

Naturally I am gutted and raging to be out of the cup against under performing Hibs but I had so many players out that it wasn't a huge shock. Logan, McKenna, Ferguson, McGeouch, Hedges, McGinn and McLennan were all out.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez (Logan), Taylor, Considine, Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch*, Ferguson, Hedges (Kennedy), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

Now this is embarrassing. We dominated the match but still succumbed to our 2nd league defeat and our 2nd defeat in succession in all comps. We had a makeshift defence out there and that proved to be costly. We were 17 games unbeaten in the league - a poor way to end it.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Considine, Devlin, Pogba, Bryson (Cochrane), Campbell, Ojo, McGinn*, Kennedy (Wright), Cosgrove (Dykes)

Hearts were the better team here and deserved at least a point but having retaken the lead so late on I am ****** off that we threw it away immediately.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Logan*, Taylor, Considine, Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn, McLennan (Wright), Cosgrove

We get back to winning ways here with an easy victory - I was getting a bit worried after the previous results.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Devlin (Considine), Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn, McLennan (Hedges), Cosgrove (Dykes)

A point away to the great unwashed is never a bad thing so I am happy with this result. We weren't at our best but we dug in and got a point.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson (Campbell), McGeouch*, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

--

SUMMARY

We had a torrid time this month. From our defeat to Hibs in the Scottish Cup to immediately losing to Livingston in the league. We also dropped points to Hearts and Rangers although we did manage to win 2 matches. We go into the last game before the split 8pts behind the leaders Celtic and 5pts clear of 4th placed Hearts. All those draws really have killed off an unlikely title challenge!

The youth intake was pretty poor although there was one striker who could develop into a decent player.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
LEWIS FERGUSON

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

​

 

[Klippybo]

APRIL & MAY

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson (Campbell), McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove (Dykes)

A handsome victory and also our 4th clean sheet in a row in the league.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson (Campbell), McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

Celtic finally beat us this season and any feint title hopes we had are definitely extinguished now. We were the better team throughout but they got the goal and held on.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove

Wonderful. This win all but secures 3rd place as we thrash Hearts to move 8pts clear with 3 games to go. We were excellent and Ronald Hernandez got his 4th of the season - the other 3 were all in one match of course! Cosgrove is up to 25 for the season now and moved into double figures for the league here.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba*, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson (Ojo), McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Dykes (Anderson)

We are on fire all of a sudden!!! Lyndon Dykes scored on his first start for us while Connor McLennan converted a penalty and Bruce Anderson scored on his first appearance for a few months.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Logan*, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh, Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson (Cochrane), McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

Nothing to mention here but elsewhere Rangers sealed the title as Celtic lost - annoyed at that as I fancied denying them the title on the final day.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Leigh (Considine), Bryson, McGeouch, Ferguson, McGinn (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

Never nice to lose to this lot. We were the better side but just couldn't score while they did. A disappointing way to end the campaign.

--

SUMMARY

I combined April and May as we only had 2 games in April. Overall we did OK although we did lose to the Old Firm although there were some highlights with the 5-1 thrashing of Hearts at Tynecastle being the obvious one.

Other than that I spent a bit of time trying to sign some players for next season. At the moment I have spent £3m on 5 players - I was given a transfer budget of £4.5m so I have a bit more room to maneuvre.

End of season post to follow.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
RONALD HERNANDEZ

​

 

[Klippybo]

END OF SEASON POST

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this season! We played 61 games across all competitions and only lost 8 of them!!! We had a successful season all told as we finished 3rd in the league and were on the fringes of the title race, won the Betfred Cup, reached the Scottish Cup quarter-finals (which was a disappointment) and made it to the knockout stages of the Europa League!!!

In the league we went into the split having lost only 2 games but we doubled that by the end of the season. We finished 3rd in the league, 8pts off Celtic in 2nd but 6pts clear of Hearts in 4th. An unbeaten run of 17 matches was had but the amount of draws when we should have won really harmed us. We had the best defensive record though as we only conceded 19 goals but going forward we were disappointing as we only scored 59 times.

We were victorious in the Betfred Cup, beating Rangers at Ibrox along the way and St.Johnstone 5-1 in the semis before we defeated Celtic 1-0 in the final thanks to a Connor McLennan penalty. The Scottish Cup was disappointing though as after beating St.Johnstone and Kilmarnock we lost out to eventual runners-up Hibs.

The Europa League campaign was enthralling. We sailed through the 4 qualifying rounds with an aggregate score of 26-1 before we finished runners-up to Wolfsburg in the group stages to qualify. Borussia Monchengladbach then knocked us out but we were left rueing 2 red cards and a late equaliser in the 1st leg.

I didn't do much transfer wise this season with Florentin Pogba being the only summer signing but in winter I added a bit of squad depth with a couple of transfers but nothing revolutionary - that will come in the summer hopefully.

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

--

SQUAD

Goalkeeper - Only the one was used and that was Joe Lewis. The big Englishman is possibly the best keeper in the league and he kept 31 clean sheets in all.

Defenders - They all had plenty of games!!! Florentin Pogba impressed. He played the first half of the season at left back before playing the 2nd half at CB as he replaced Scott McKenna who missed a few months of the season. Devlin did ok as did Logan although Greg Leigh was disappointing. Ronald Hernandez however was a revelation. The right back scored a hat-trick in the league cup semis, got many assists and was a star - he also won the Football Writers Young Player of the Year award.

Midfielders - Dylan McGeouch was immense. He was always on his game and was the main creative hub of the side yet he only scored 1 goal. Lewis Ferguson did well while Craig Bryson also did a job. Dean Campbell played a lot and he is developing nicely too. On the wings Connor McLennan came from nowhere to be our top scorer in the league and also scored the winner in the league cup final. He started the season as my 3rd choice LW so that is impressive.

Niall McGinn did well but he scored more in Europe (8) than he did in the league (7)!!! Kennedy and Hedges were disappointing in reserve tbh and Scott Wright hardly got a kick.

Forwards - Sam Cosgrove led the way with 25 goals all told but he only managed 11 in the league which was disappointing. Bruce Anderson had a little run in the side and struggled but in January I brought in Lyndon Dykes as backup and he did alright - scoring 4 goals.

My Player of the Season - Dylan McGeouch
My Young Player of the Season - Connor McLennan
Must Improve - Matty Kennedy/Ryan Hedges
Donkey of the Season - Jon Gallagher

--

SUMMER PLANS

As I said before I have already agreed to sign a few players with a GK, RB, CB and CM as well as a young LB coming in. I am not blind - anyone can be replaced but realistically if I can improve maybe 2 or 3 of the first XI and get better backup options I will be happy. Now whether I will revert back to my normal formation I have no idea - for that to happen I would need to sign 2 AMCs.

Its all up in the air lol.

​

 

[Klippybo]

My chairman alongside the training ground that got named after him before he was chairman lol

PRE-SEASON

Well I say pre-season but there is still a month and a half of the transfer window left to do deals!!! There has been plenty of deals for me to tell you about and a few stalwarts have left but arguably one of the deals that we just missed out on was just as big as any that I have signed.

I signed a new deal in the summer and we also added Derry City as a feeder club and we also improved all the facilities and increased the youth budgets etc. We are building a base - we just need the talent.

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

--

PLAYERS OUT

As you can see I decided to clear out a few of my older players although Joe Lewis stays and so does Andrew Considine - cant sell him!!!! Niall McGinn went back to South Korea for a decent fee but 33y/o Craig Bryson went for arguably half price. Scott Wright went to Dundee and while I wanted to cash in on Shay Logan and Ash Taylor there were no takers so I loaned them out instead for 100% of their wages.

I rejected a £6.5m bid from Chelsea for Lewis Ferguson while Celtic bid £2.3m for my young right back Calvin Ramsey and that got rejected too.

--

PLAYERS IN

I am delighted with my business so far. As you can see I have stolen some of the best players from the clubs outside the Old Firm which can only help and make things easier for us in the long run!!

I smashed the clubs transfer record (previously £1m for Paul Bernard from Oldham in the mid 90s) to bring in David Turnbull from Motherwell for £2.1m. Technically he is arguably the best Scottish player there is and at 20y/o he can only improve. If and when I am to revert back to a 2 man central midfield I feel that he and Ferguson could have a great partnership together.

Ryan Porteous came in from Hibs for £800,000. He is a good young Scottish centre half and while I dont think he will ever usurp Scott McKenna he could overtake Mikey Devlin if he develops well.

Stephen O'Donnell was brought in from Kilmarnock on a free transfer and I am delighted to bring in the Scotland international back to the club where he started his career as a youth player. He will replace Shay Logan in the squad and do battle with Ronald Hernandez for the RB spot.

Another free transfer signing from a fellow SPL club was that of Vaclav Hladky. I lied to him and said he would be a star player but in fact he will be my backup keeper. He was the best keeper outside ourselves and the Old Firm and was far and away St.Mirren's best player so to snaffle him up on a free is a great deal.

I am excited to see Isaac Lihadji join us. To sign the 18y/o prospect from a club such as Marseille is a real coup and he will replace Niall McGinn on the right wing. If he learns the language quickly, settles in and performs well then the sky is the limit for the young Frenchman and he could arguably be my best signing of the summer.

Finally my last transfer of the window so far was that of Finn Ecrepont from Ayr United for a fee of £100,000. My scouts raved about him and he is young and Scottish so I decided to take a punt and see how he develops.

As for deals that got away the main one was that of Aaron Hickey who agreed a £2m move to us from Hearts but then Chelsea came along and hijacked the deal. He would have been a magnificent signing for us but I will keep tabs on him and see how he gets on. I also failed to sign a few free transfers as I couldnt afoord the wages while Jason Kerr of St.Johnstone for some reason rejected us to join Kilmarnock!

--

SEASON HOPES

The board want me to reach the group stage of the Europa League and reach the semis of both cups which is fine by me. The way my squad is now I think 3rd place and a cup win once again would be the minimum aims but we will always try and achieve more. I think I need to improve in a few positions before we can really take on the Old Firm.
​

 

[Klippybo]

Willie Miller
1972-90 & 1992-95 (manager)
797 apps, 32 goals
Defender

Arguably the best penalty box defender in Europe in the 1980s, Miller was a colossus at the back for Aberdeen. As a player he won 3 league titles, 4 Scottish Cups and 3 League Cups as well as captaining the side to the Cup-Winners Cup and the European Super Cup. As a manager he wasn't so successful although he lead the team to be runners-up to Rangers in all competitions in 1993. He won 65 caps for Scotland and scored 1 goal.

--

JULY

UEFA Europa League Best Placed 1st Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, Porteous, Devlin, Leigh (Considine), Turnbull, McGeouch (Campbell), Ferguson, Lihadji*, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove

Introducing Isaac Lihadji!!!!! My young right winger scores an astonishing 4 goals on his debut in a world class performance! His 4th goal was amazing as he powered a shot in from an acute angle from 25 yards and he completely outshone all my other debutants even though Turnbull scored and assisted.

--

UEFA Europa League Best Placed 1st Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Pogba, Devlin, Leigh (Considine), Cochrane, Campbell*, Ojo, Hedges, Kennedy (Ross), Dykes

I didn't deliberately play my backups - my first choice picks were either injured or ******! lol. Ethan Ross returned from his loan spell in the summer and made an appearance here.

--

UEFA Europa League Best Placed 2nd Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, Porteous, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull*, Campbell, Ferguson (Cochrane), Hedges, McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

2 late goals added a bit of gloss to the scoreline here but I cant complain over a 4-0 win.

--

UEFA Europa League Best Placed 2nd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell (Leigh), Porteous, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull*, Campbell, Ferguson (Cochrane), Hedges, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove

We go through but it wasn't a great performance.

--

SUMMARY

On the pitch July was decent as we sauntered past our 2 opponents in the Europa League and have a tie against Montpellier to look forward to next month. Undoubtedly the highlight of the month was the debut of Isaac Lihadji who scored 4 goals and promptly got injured in training. To score 4 goals on his 1st appearance is sensational and I cant wait to see what he does against better opponents.

I did no more transfer business this month apart from selling Benjamin Siegrist to Hearts. I still have about £3m to spend so I will see what happens. Maybe a left back or a centre back?

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DAVID TURNBULL

​

 

[Klippybo]

Alex McLeish
1976-94
693 apps, 30 goals
Defender

Willie Miller's partner in defence for club and country, McLeish won a load of trophies while at Aberdeen. 3 league titles, 5 Scottish Cups, 2 League Cups plus the 2 European trophies were collected by McLeish plus the Football Writers player of the year in 1990. He won 77 caps for Scotland and went on to manage his country twice.

--

AUGUST

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin (Porteous), Pogba, Campbell (Cochrane), McGeouch, Ferguson*, McLennan, Kennedy, Dykes (Anderson)

We get a win to kick off the league campaign but the performance wasnt the best. Scott McKenna finally returned from injury here.

--

UEFA Europa League Best Placed 3rd Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Turnbull, McGeouch, Ferguson (Cochrane), Hedges, Kennedy, Cosgrove (Dykes)

I am delighted with this result as we take charge of the tie with not only the lead but the 2 away goals. I know we beat Strasbourg home and away last term but Montpellier are better than them I think.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Turnbull, Campbell, Ferguson (Cochrane), Hedges (Lihadji), Kennedy, Cosgrove*

A great result and performance. We smash 5 past Hamilton and Matty Kennedy also had a goal disallowed while they had one chalked off late on.

--

UEFA Europa League Best Placed 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Porteous, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull (Campbell), McGeouch (Cochrane), Ferguson, Lihadji (Hedges), Kennedy, Cosgrove

That will do. We make it into the last qualifying round by keeping a clean sheet against the French side. We were the better side but didnt create much and it was a boring match in truth.

--

Betfred Cup 2nd Round

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, Porteous, Considine, Leigh, Cochrane, Campbell (Barron), Ojo, Hedges*, Kennedy (Ross), Dykes (Anderson)

I had to put out my backups here as with the amount of games being played my first picks needed a rest. Hedges put us in front and Anderson converted a penalty as we kick off our defence of the cup with a comfortably victory.

--

UEFA Europa League Best Placed 4th Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull*, McGeouch, Ferguson, Lihadji, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove (Dykes)

Fantastic!!!! To beat Gent 3-1 away is a magnificent result as they have some top players like their scorer, Jonathan David. Despite falling behind we immediately bounced back thanks to Ronald Hernandez and Scott McKenna while Lewis Ferguson netted a 3rd goal in a 14min spell to seal the deal. Nothing stupid in the 2nd leg and we reach the group stages again.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna (Findlay), Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull, McGeouch*, Ferguson, Lihadji (Hedges), McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove

Dylan McGeouch's wonder strike against one of his former clubs was enough for all 3pts here. Stuart Findlay came off the bench to make his debut.

--

UEFA Europa League Best Placed 4th Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull, McGeouch, Ferguson, Lihadji (Hedges), McLennan*, Cosgrove

Into the group stages we go as we complete the home and away victories over Gent. Lihadji picked up an injury and will be out for a few weeks.

--

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Campbell (Cochrane), McGeouch, Ferguson, Hedges, McLennan*, Cosgrove

Fantastic!!!!! We thrash Dundee United 5-0 here in the New Firm derby. Connor McLennan scored a magnificent hat-trick while the goal of the game was from Lewis Ferguson as he scored from distance. Dundee United beat Rangers last week so this win is very pleasing.

--

SUMMARY

August was hectic as is the norm with 9 matches in all. In the league we are top of the table with 4 wins out of 4 including 5 goal hammerings of Hamilton and newly promoted Dundee United which is all the more impressive considering we had big European matches only a couple of days before. We also progressed in the Betfred Cup and once again we will face Rangers in the quarter-finals.

In Europe we have reached the group stages in the Europa League again after defeating Gent and Montpellier amongst others. We have been given a tougher group this year though as we will play PSV Eindhoven, Eintracht Frankfurt and Vitoria Guimaraes.

Regarding transfers I was quite busy as I brought in 2 players and arranged 2 more for January. The two that came in were once again signed from fellow SPL clubs to make me stronger and them weaker.

The first one and the one who has already made his debut was Stuart Findlay from Kilmarnock for £975,000. He is a huge step up from Considine who has been demoted to the reserves and I a have no idea why Kilmarnock transfer listed him. With him, McKenna, Devlin, Porteous and Pogba we are really strong in the CB department.

Then on deadline day I moved to weaken Motherwell and signed Allan Campbell for £425,000 which is cheap as chips. He will be a backup CM but will get plenty of game time and should develop quite well here. Funnily enough Motherwell took my money and then gave me almost half of it back by signing Funso Ojo lol.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
LEWIS FERGUSON

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Celtic always sign fake Kyle Walker. Quacks!

 

[Klippybo]

Bobby Clark
1965-80
595 apps, 0 goals
Goalkeeper

Signed from Queens Park, Clark won 1 league title, 1 Scottish Cup and 1 League Cup while at Pittodrie. He had the record in Britain for not conceding a top flight goal until Edwin Van Der Sar beat it in 2009. He earned 17 caps for Scotland and Aberdeen's youth academy is named after him.

--

SEPTEMBER

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull, McGeouch, Ferguson (A.Campbell), Hedges, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove (Dykes)

FFS. I hate losing to Rangers and this one was tough to take as we more than matched them but they have better players individual players and that proved to be the difference. Hopefully we can gain revenge in the Betfred Cup later on this month.

--

UEFA Europa League Group B

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull, McGeouch, Ferguson (A.Campbell), Hedges, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove (Dykes)

We have made things extremely hard for ourselves here as this was our easiest fixture and we ****** it up. We battered them in truth but we couldn't finish and they held on. Frankfurt hit PSV for 5.

--

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, McKenna, Devlin (Findlay), Pogba, A.Campbell (D.Campbell), McGeouch*, Ferguson (Cochrane), Hedges, McLennan, Cosgrove

We fell behind here but came back to win thank god. Cosgrove and Hedges both scored back post headers while Dean Campbell came off the bench to score a fine goal from outside the area.

--

Betfred Cup Quarter-Final

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull, D.Campbell (Cochrane), Ferguson, Lihadji, McLennan (Ross), Cosgrove (Dykes)

GET IN!!!!! It seems we can only defeat Rangers in the Betfred Cup quarter-finals as we knock them out here. Hernandez and Lihadji scored 2 great goals and although they pulled a goal back and had a last minute goal disallowed I always thought that we would hold on.

--

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, McKenna, Devlin, Leigh, A.Campbell (Cochrane), McGeouch*, D.Campbell (Barron), Lihadji, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove

A decent win - especially since we were without a few players. In the end Dylan McGeouch got the only goal of the game with a free-kick. He didn't score in the league at all last year (only got 1 overall) but has struck twice already this term.

--

SUMMARY

This month started off terribly but got better. We kicked the month off with a disastrous defeat away to Rangers where we gave a good account of ourselves but 2 late goals did for us. We then followed that up with a disappointing 0-0 draw against Vitoria Guimaraes in the Europa League.

However after beating St.Mirren we got our mojo back and then we beat Rangers 2-1 in the Betfred Cup quarter-finals and ended the month with a narrow victory over Kilmarnock. Ourselves, Celtic and Rangers are already miles ahead of the 4th placed side so it is a 3 way race for the title just now.

We will play Hamilton in the Betfred Cup semis while off the field I cashed in on the Ryan Fraser transfer clause to Bournemouth and we received just over £4m for that clause which took our bank balance up to £12m.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DYLAN MCGEOUCH

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

​

 

[Klippybo]

Stewart McKimmie
1983-97
561 apps, 9 goals
Defender

McKimmie was brought in from Dundee and went on to win 2 league titles, 3 league cups and 3 Scottish Cups as well as the European Super Cup while at the club. He also won 40 caps for Scotland and scored 1 goal for his country against the World Champions, Argentina in 1987. A personal story - I played a game against him and nutmegged him and he promptly booted me up the ****!!!!!

--

OCTOBER

UEFA Europa League Group B

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna (Findlay), Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull (A.Campbell), McGeouch, Ferguson, Lihadji*, McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

Unbelievable. PSV absolutely battered us here and had more than double the amount of shots that we had on goal yet we come away with a magnificent victory. David Turnbull missed an early penalty for us in basically our only kick of the ball in the 1st half but we held on somehow and then Lihadji scored 2 quick goals on the counter and we held on - by far the best result I have had so far.

--

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, Porteous, Findlay, Leigh (Considine), Turnbull, D.Campbell*, A.Campbell (Cochrane), Hedges, Kennedy (Ross), Cosgrove

Because of our European exploits most of my players were unfit for this fixture against bottom of the league Motherwell but my backups did me proud and Dean Campbell scored a fine goal from outside the area. Allan Campbell meanwhile had a shocker - he has been rubbish so far for us.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Findlay), Turnbull*, McGeouch, Ferguson (D.Campbell), Lihadji (Kennedy), McLennan, Cosgrove

A fine away performance. David Turnbull's goal was a thing of beauty as he fired in a volley from the angle of the box but 22 yards out into the top corner - surely goal of the season.

--

UEFA Europa League Group B

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin (Findlay), Pogba, Turnbull, McGeouch, Ferguson (D.Campbell), Lihadji (Kennedy), McLennan, Cosgrove

As ever is the case it seems - when we get beat against stronger opposition we more than match them with chances, possession etc but it is just the superior individual quality that the opposition players have that proves to be the difference and so it was here. I cant really fault my players tbh. Frankfurt have scored 14 in their 1st 3 games in the group lol.

--

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, McKenna (Findlay), Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull*, McGeouch, Ferguson (D.Campbell), Lihadji, McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

While I am pleased that we didn't get beat considering we had Findlay sent-off I am actually disappointed that we didn't go on to win as we were the better side and had a Mikey Devlin goal disallowed to boot.

--

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Porteous, Devlin, Pogba, D.Campbell (Cochrane), McGeouch* (A.Campbell), Ferguson, Lihadji, Kennedy (Hedges), Cosgrove

Nice. The only downside to this match was a missed penalty from Sam Cosgrove.

--

Betfred Cup Semi-Final

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, McKenna, Devlin (Porteous), Pogba, Turnbull, D.Campbell, Cochrane, Lihadji (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

We were so dominant here as we had over 40 shots on goal yet it took 2 sublime strikes from outside the area from Dean Campbell and an own goal to see us through. We were fantastic though and saunter into the final.

--

SUMMARY

We had some terrific results and performances this month with the best result being our 2-0 away victory over PSV in the Europa League but the best performance was our 3-0 win in the Betfred Cup semis against Hamilton. In the league we have a 2pt lead at the top of the table so all is going well. We drew with Celtic during the month and were unlucky not to win in truth but a disallowed goal and a red card went against us.

In the Europa League it is going to be tight for 2nd place with ourselves and PSV battling it out for qualification alongside Eintracht Frankfurt who we battled hard against but lost 4-2 to.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DAVID TURNBULL

--

LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

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[Klippybo]

Jim Leighton
1978-88 & 1997-2000
535 apps, 0 goals
Goalkeeper

Leighton is a club legend and was the keeper during the glory years of the 1980s when he won 2 league titles, 4 Scottish Cups, 1 League cup and the 2 European trophies. He left the club to join Manchester United for £500,000 before returning nearly a decade later from Hibs. He was selected for 4 Scotland World Cup squads and won 91 caps.

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NOVEMBER

UEFA Europa League Group B

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull, McGeouch, Ferguson (D.Campbell), Lihadji (Hedges), McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove

Once again we did well against Frankfurt but they sneaked it in the end. Mind you they did have 2 disallowed goals!

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez (O'Donnell), McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, D.Campbell*, McGeouch, Ferguson, Lihadji (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

Dean Campbell is at it again! Once again he netted from outside the area for his 7th of the season and Lyndon Dykes came off the bench to seal things late on. I wish I could start Campbell regularly but I just cant drop Turnbull, McGeouch or Ferguson!

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin (Findlay), Pogba, Turnbull, McGeouch (D.Campbell), Ferguson, Lihadji (Kennedy), McLennan, Cosgrove

We got off to a perfect start here when Cosgrove scored in the first minute. They equalised but Turnbull converted a penalty to give us the win. Hibs were actually the better side here so it was nice to grind out the win.

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UEFA Europa League Group B

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell*, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba, D.Campbell, McGeouch (A.Campbell), Ferguson, Lihadji, McLennan (Kennedy), Cosgrove (Dykes)

Lihadji loves a big game! After scoring 4 on his debut, 2 versus PSV and a goal against Celtic he got another huge goal here as he set us on our way to victory and with PSV drawing with Eintracht Frankfurt it means that we have qualified for the knockout stages again.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Findlay, Devlin, Pogba, Turnbull (A.Campbell), McGeouch, D.Campbell, Lihadji (Hedges), Kennedy, Cosgrove (Dykes)

A very poor result but obviously I am happy that we rescued a draw considering we were 2-0 down with only 8min to play. We were by far the better team it was just one of those days.

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SUMMARY

The main headline of this month was the win over Vitoria Guimaraes to secure our qualification to the knockout stages of the Europa League. We still have a group game left but I will play my backup games against PSV as with 9 games coming in December I will need to take the opportunity to rest my players in a dead rubber of a match - as long as we don't get thrashed!!!

We are still sitting pretty at the top of the league but the Hamilton match hurt badly and we are only top by 1pt.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DEAN CAMPBELL

there were no standouts at all so I picked Dean because he has been immense this season so far.

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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

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[Klippybo]

Andrew Considine
2003-present
518 apps, 39 goals
Defender

Considine is a bit of a cult hero at Aberdeen now. Still at the club and a member of the 2014 league cup winning side he is a centre half who has spent most of his career playing at left back. Always good for a goal - he once scored a hat-trick against Dundee. Would love him to get a Scotland cap. In my reserves at the moment in this save.

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DECEMBER

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, McKenna, Devlin (Findlay), Pogba (Leigh), D.Campbell, McGeouch, Ferguson*, Lihadji, McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

Ouch. This is a sore one to take as we are still yet to beat Rangers in the league as they get a late leveller here. Lihadji scored in a big game yet again and Lewis Ferguson scored a long range free-kick but we just couldn't hold on which was disappointing. Before the match David Turnbull got injured and will be out until the new year so will miss the Betfred Cup final.

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Betfred Cup Final

Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), D.Campbell, McGeouch, Ferguson*, Lihadji (Hedges), Kennedy, Cosgrove (Dykes)

WE RETAIN THE BETFRED CUP!!!!

We got the win here and although it wasn't as one sided as last year we still just about deserved it. Lewis Ferguson put us in front before Luis Suarez (the Watford one lol) levelled with a penalty but Dean Campbell popped up with a goal on the stroke of half-time and that proved to be the winner. Brilliant.

This is arguably the first big game that Lihadji hasnt scored in for us lol.

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UEFA Europa League Group B

Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, Findlay (Considine), Porteous, Leigh, D.Campbell, McGeouch, A.Campbell, Hedges, Kennedy (Ross), Dykes (Anderson)

Although this was a dead rubber of a match and didnt matter I am actually ****** off that we lost 2-0 as my backups more than held their own but we threw it away in the last 5min. Never mind we are through and that's the main thing.

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Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), D.Campbell*, A.Campbell (Barron), Ferguson, Hedges, McLennan, Cosgrove (Dykes)

We were excellent here. Dean Campbell struck the opener with his 9th of the season and then Lewis Ferguson blasted one in from over 30 yards out and McLennan headed in the 3rd. We are scoring so many of our goals from outside of the area this season.

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Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, Findlay, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Barron, McGeouch*, A.Campbell, Lihadji, Kennedy, Cosgrove (Anderson)

A nice moment for Connor Barron as he scored on his first league start for the club.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez*, McKenna, Devlin (Findlay), Pogba (Leigh), D.Campbell, A.Campbell, Ferguson (Barron), Lihadji, McLennan, Cosgrove

A disappointing result but I suppose with games coming every 3 days a disappointing result was bound to happen sometime. Celtic away up next so lets hope there isn't another one coming up!

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Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, McKenna, Devlin, Pogba (Leigh), Turnbull, McGeouch, Ferguson (D.Campbell), Lihadji (Hedges), McLennan, Cosgrove*

I am naturally delighted that we grabbed a late equaliser but I am seriously ****** off that we couldn't beat Celtic with them playing over an hour with 10 men after Marcus Rojo got sent-off. Celtic are still unbeaten in the league.

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Lineup - Lewis, Hernandez, Findlay, Devlin, Pogba, D.Campbell (Cochrane), A.Campbell, Ferguson, Lihadji (Hedges), Kennedy, Dykes (Anderson)

Our 3rd draw in a row and our 5th in 7 league games - we are losing ground in the title race now and we have to get back to winning ways quickly!

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Lineup - Lewis, O'Donnell, McKenna, Devlin, Leigh, Turnbull, McGeouch*, D.Campbell (A.Campbell), Lihadji, McLennan, Cosgrove

That's better. We cruised to victory here and we got 2 cracking long range goals from McGeouch and O'Donnell. A fine way to end the calendar year.

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SUMMARY

We ended 2020 on a high as we once again beat Celtic to retain the Betfred Cup. Goals from Lewis Ferguson and Dean Campbell gave us the trophy and also Celtic's 1st defeat in domestic competitions this season - we have been drawn at home against them in the Scottish Cup though!

In the league we drew 4 and won 3 of our matches which was disappointing even if there were draws against the Old Firm. Celtic are leading the way in the league but we are chasing close behind. As for Europe we lost to PSV in a meaningless game and have a decent draw against FC Kobenhavn in the next round.

There were some managerial changes. My predecessor Derek McInnes rocked up at Livingston and promptly lost 4-0 to us in his first game in charge, Quinton Fortune is at St.Mirren while Mark Hughes is the new Hibs manager.

Going into Janaury I have 2 signings already happening - 1 for the first team and 1 prospect. I aim to bring in one more player for the first team squad and we shall see what is out there. If we can strengthen slightly that could be enough to overcome the Old Firm this season but they may strengthen too.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
LEWIS FERGUSON

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LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP

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