Arguably the best manager of all time in the history of football, Sir Alex Ferguson was appointed manager of Aberdeen in 1978 after he was sacked by St.Mirren. He went on to lead the club to 3 league titles, 4 Scottish Cups, 1 League Cup as well as the European Cup-Winners Cup after defeating Real Madrid 2-1 in the clubs greatest hour and also the European Super Cup.
He left to join Manchester United and a statue was revealed at Pittodrie in his honour this very weekend.
JULY & AUGUST
UEFA Conference League 2nd Qualifying Round 1st Leg
Lineup - Lewis, McLaughlin (Ojo),
Bates*, McCart (Gallagher), MacKenzie (Hayes), McCrorie (Polvara), Brown, Besuijen, Ferguson (Emmanuel-Thomas), Montgomery, Ramirez
A decent performance which was not rewarded with the scoreline. Vicente Besuijen got both of our goals however his debut could have been even better but he saw his penalty saved late on.
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UEFA Conference League 2nd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg
Lineup - Lewis, Ramsay (McLaughlin), Bates, McCart, MacKenzie (Hayes), McCrorie, Brown (Jenks), Besuijen, Ferguson, Montgomery,
Ramirez*
We thump the Macedonians in the 2nd leg here thanks to a wonderful performance from Christian Ramirez as he netted 4 times. Besuijen also netted again and Lewis Ferguson popped up with a goal so it was a good win.
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Lineup - Lewis, McLaughlin, Bates, McCart,
MacKenzie*, McCrorie, Brown (Jenks), Besuijen (McLennan), Ferguson (Emmanuel-Thomas), Montgomery (Watkins), Ramirez (Conway)
A decent start to our league campaign. Jack MacKenzie and Adam Montgomery scored two goals in quick succession for us but in the 2nd half we dropped off a bit and they pulled a goal back but we sealed the points late on when Marley Watkins prodded home from close range.
Celtic and Rangers both lost their first game of the season surprisingly.
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UEFA Conference League 3rd Qualifying Round 1st Leg
Lineup - Lewis, McLaughlin, Bates, McCart, MacKenzie (Hayes), McCrorie, Brown, Besuijen, Ferguson,
Montgomery*, Ramirez (Conway)
This is an unbelievable result!!!!
We go away to Azerbaijan and hit Qarabag for 7 as we put on a tremendous display. We were 3-0 up after 22min so it was really game over from then. Adam Montgomery - who I see as my backup LW when Watkins is fully fit - scored a fantastic hat-trick and that is certainly food for thought.
As an aside Aberdeen were paired against Qarabag this season in real life and after a 1-0 defeat in the first leg away the Dons lost 3-1 at home which was a game that I attended so it is funny to see us win so convincingly!
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Lineup - Lewis, McLaughlin (Ramsay), Bates, McCart, MacKenzie (Hayes), McCrorie, Brown, Besuijen,\'; Ferguson,
Montgomery*, Ramirez (Watkins)
Adam Montgomery is on fire!!! He scored another 2 goals here and my on loan Celtic player is pulling up trees at the moment.
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UEFA Conference League 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg
View attachment 582030
Lineup - Lewis, McLaughlin (Ramsay), Gallagher, McCart, Hayes, Ojo (Barron), Polvara, McLennan (Besuijen), Emmanuel-Thomas (Jenks), Watkins (Montgomery), Conway
With the games coming thick and fast and with a 5 goal lead heading into this match I decided to play a backup side and we managed to win through although we werent at our best.
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Premier Sports Cup 2nd Round
Lineup - Lewis, McLaughlin, Gallagher (Bates), McCart (McCrorie), Hayes (MacKenzie), Ojo, Polvara (Jenks), McLennan (Besuijen),
Emmanuel-Thomas*, Watkins, Conway
I trusted my backups again here and they did the job - but only just!!! We fell behind early on but JET levelled and we managed to scrape through on penalties.
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UEFA Conference League 4th Qualifying Round 1st Leg
Lineup - Lewis, McLaughlin (Ramsay), Bates, McCart, MacKenzie (Hayes), McCrorie, Brown, Besuijen (Watkins),
Ferguson*, Montgomery, Ramirez
Very nice! This should be good enough to see us progress into the group stages. I expected a tougher match as Puskas Akademia knocked out Rosenborg in the previous round but we smashed in 3 goals in the opening 26min and controlled the game from then on.
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Lineup - Lewis, Ramsay (Ojo), Bates, McCart, MacKenzie, McCrorie (Jenks),
Brown*, Besuijen (Watkins), Ferguson (Emmanuel-Thomas), Montgomery (Hayes), Ramirez
A fine away performance. Adam Montgomery scored yet again to put us in front and then when they went down to 10 men. When Scott Brown scored 2min later from 20 yards it was all over and then he bundled home his 2nd before half time.
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UEFA Conference League 4th Qualifying Round 2nd Leg
Lineup - Lewis, Ramsay (McLaughlin), Bates, McCart, MacKenzie (Hayes), McCrorie, Brown (Barron), Besuijen, Ferguson (Emmanuel-Thomas), Montgomery (Watkins), Ramirez
We qualify for the group stages but I am not happy that we threw away a 2 goal lead to lose the match.
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Lineup - Lewis, Ramsay,
Bates*, Gallagher, MacKenzie (Hayes), McCrorie, Brown (Ojo), Besuijen (Watkins), Ferguson, Montgomery, Ramirez
We make it 4 wins out of 4 in the league with a comfortable win over Ross County. With all the games coming thick and fast the upcoming international break will be a good chance to give my players a rest!
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SUMMARY
We have made an excellent start to the season! We have won all 4 league games to make a perfect start to the league campaign while Celtic and Rangers have slipped up. We struggled to beat Hamilton in the League Cup but we got the job done however the main focus was on our Conference League fixtures.
In July we disposed of Shkupi and that set us up with a tie against Qarabag and we destroyed them 7-2 in the first leg away from home before beating them at Pittodrie. Hungarian side Puskas Akademia stood between us and the group stages and we defeated them 3-0 at home to all but secure our group stage place. We lost the 2nd leg despite going 2-0 up which was a disappointment.
In the group stages we have been drawn against Rennes, Molde and Shamrock Rovers.
I didnt sign anyone else in the transfer window. I had a bit of money to spend and pulled out of a deal to sign Lynden Gooch from Sunderland. Apart from McCrorie, Ferguson and Ramsay the whole squad really needs strengthened but with £250,000 to spend it will have to be done in baby steps.
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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ADAM MONTGOMERY
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PREMIERSHIP
