Aberdeen Save 2022

[Mr_Grieves]

Just the 75 goals in 8 games?

The gap between the big teams and the rest is huge. So many 6+ wins around the groups

 

[Mr_Grieves]

November


Fixtures

Still perfect domestically. Huge wins with the Ross County win ironically right after a Champions League with 3 of my best players and both strikers being unfit to play.


SPL

Despite a perfect 14 games Celtic are still only 5 points behind but miles clear of the rest. Ayr are the stars of the season so far while Rangers return to the top 6


Champions League

We beat the Slovakian champions before the slightly harder game against PSG where the backup Bulgarian Gochev keeps his goal-a-game ratio going.


Scotland

We won both our games scoring 3 goals which would have secured the top spot but the Netherlands gave us the points edge too drawing their final game with Wales but were the highest scoring 2nd place team so made it to the World Cup finals too
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

December


League Cup Final
Aberdeen 0-1 Celtic

Celtic ended our hopes of a 4th treble in a row with a 2nd half-penalty. They deserved the win and we didn't show up on the day ending our 3 year winning run in the competition


Fixtures

In the league we would lose another long-standing record. Our 12-month 42 wins in a row league records when we drew with struggling Dundee following on from not scoring in the league cup final. At least we still have our unbeaten run that is now at 83 games and over 2 years. Elsewhere it was business as usual in the other 6 league games


SPL

Celtic made no headroads on us as we beat them before we dropped points with Dundee. Hibs looking good in 3rd but here come Rangers. Ross County is back in the top 6 and we have a new team at the bottom in Queens Park that are somehow in administration just 3 seasons after i send £20m to them for MccIver. They would be 7 points ahead of bottom-placed Dundee so depending on how they do in January will decide if they can turn around the imposed 15-point penalty,


Champions League

Only one game and Bavidge returns from injury to keep the winning run going and secure the spot in the last 16, the earlier i have secured a top 8 spot by a long way.


World Cup Draw

These 3 team groups are facial​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

January


Fixtures

We are back from the break and in devastating form. Well until i played the strongest 11 against Kilmarnock where only a late MacIver winner secured the 3 points.


SPL

Celtic dropped points drawing at Dundee Utd. Queens Park looks to have collapsed and their constant run since the 2nd season in the top flight is in major jeopardy


Champions League

Final Table

For the first time, we top the whole table with a perfect 8 wins from 8. Only Man City and Real Madrid have ever managed this in over a decade of this format. Celtic sneak into the playoff. Rangers are out


Transfer Window


SPL

One of the most dead transfer windows since the very start.


Aberdeen
We made no permanent buys or sales in this window. Just some u18s coming in the summer.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Fixtures

All the action was domestic where we kept unbeaten runs going. 90 unbeaten in the league.


SPL

Celtic have had a few blunders to start the year and the title race is all but over already Great fight for the final top 6 spots and i feel Queens Park are doomed. Have been on awful form since going into administration despite the squad not changing much.


Champions Leauge Draw

Both Scottish sides could be going out at the last 16 stage.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March

Misrable misrable march. the unbeaten run has come to an end

After 92 games this is how it ended! We were thumped by Rangers, especially in the 2nd half where we were already missing Bavidge who was injured for the 4th time this season on Scotland duty

Finally, current lead striker MacIver broke his ankle and is in major danger of missing the World Cup while his Aberdeen season is over

SPL

The only league record we can go for is most goals for but its unlikely. The title is in our hands as long as the Rangers game was a blip. Queens Park is definitely knackered and Rangers had already taken 3rd back before they beat us.



Champions League
Last 16

1st leg
Man City 2-0 Aberdeen

What a mess. Nothing is going right this month is it? City tanked us in the 1st half and actually scored in the 2nd. I didn't even notice the red card

2nd leg
Aberdeen 2-1 Man City
Man City win 3-2 on Agg

When we brought it level by going 2-0 up i was very confident we were in the middle of a standard Aberdeen recovery job. It was not to last and City grabbed the winner with plenty of time left over we never looked like saving ourselves. Celtic also goes out so a miserable year for the coefficient.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

April


Fixtures

The quietest April in years should have seen us tie up the League title but Rangers ended our winning run and we'll need to use the May update for the title party. Hopefully, a Scottish Cup victory will follow when we play Hibs.


SPL

Celtic are going to clear 90 points and not win the title. Rangers have the legs on Hibs but 3rd is not safe yet. European football await for Ayr and Ross County. Queens Park is officially relegated while any of Kilmarnock, Hearts or Dundee will fill the playoff spot.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

May


Fixture

We win the final games of the season to start a new winning run hopefully

SPL

We run out easy winners 19 points clear and dominating the player awards.

We also beat a near 100-year record for goals scored held by the Hearts team of the 50s

Scottish Cup Final
Hibs 0-1 Aberdeen

We win the Scottish Cup for the 6th year in a row and our 10th Scottish Cup in 11 seasons and a club total of 18. Still well behind Celtic's record of 41​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

End of Season 16


SPL - Winner​

Just like the Scottish Cup we have our 6th win in a row and our 10th in 11 years. Celtic were strong yet again but a distant 2nd. Hibs are back ahead of Rangers with things really close between the two teams. Ross County remains the 5th best team in the country but their manager David Hopkins who once upon a time scored vital goals to help Scotland qualify for the 1998 World Cup. Can they roll onto a 3rd successful run with their next manager? Ayr builds on their previous success for the 3rd season in a row. St Mirren and Dundee Utd were close to the top 6 and are now expected to be challenging. Dundee not only stayed up in their first season but was comfortably ahead of Kilmarnock & Hearts who fall into the playoff spot and are continuing to look in major danger of going down even if they win the playoff. The saddest part of the season in the league was Queens Park who ended their 10-year run in the top flight. The points deduction was not the direct reason behind their relegation but their form totally collapsed when that happened and by the time they started getting results it was too little and too late. Their administration is mind-boggling since they have a £30m profit in the transfer market over the last 5 seasons and total wages are under £5m a year and average over 8,000 attendance per game. Due to the Administration, they will now have to pay £1.2m in loan debt for the next 10 seasons so we may not see them return to the top flight. Replacing them to the shock of nobody is Motherwell. Their 3rd Championship title wins in a row. Wonder if they can finally get themselves into a stat to stay up. At last.


Playoffs
Hearts 3-2 Dunfermline

Dunfermline finished 1 point short of Motherwell in the race for the league then lost a first-leg lead in the playoffs


Managers

We spoke about Ross County earlier while Hearts manager Lee Bullen continues the merry go round of Managers Hearts have had since ending Robbie Neilson's year stay at the club. Neilson also featured in this year's manager list with the club's collapse into administration costing him his job.


In Europe
Ross County was the star of the season for the Scots winning the Europa League. Even the Nice scorer Alfie Stewart a former Aberdeen player who played 26 times for Ross County in 2024.

Celtic like ourselves fell at the last 16 they went out 5-0 to eventual runner-ups Liverpool
Rangers finished outside the top 24 in the Champions League
Hibs had a solid run to the last 16 of the Europa League Arminia Biefeld beat them 3-0
Dundee Utd was our annual qualifying failure.


Champions League Final
Liverpool 0-2 Bayern Munich

Bayern confirms their dominance of the save with a 5th Champions League win.


Squad Review

Goalkeeper

The season plan of playing Ajayi as the 1A and Dussart as the 1B worked very well, Dussart was close in appearances due to injuries to Ajai and a trip to the African Nations in the new year. I'm now in a position where if an acceptable bid for Dussart comes in he will leave.


Defense

The center-backs were the only guys that managed to stay fit all season. Both played fine but not spectacular. De Falco & Villareal both missed too much time with injuries. Villareal at 27 was bought to be the best in the world and didn't do much better than Munro. Sekulic was a fantastic backup. Not


Midfield

My 4 starting midfielders Goni, Singh, Martinez & Guner were class and should all stay for next season. Except Goni who is 29 and is in the window to be moved on. I'm hoping for a bid for Lopez so I can play Alvarez & Lowndes more. Bakardzhiv has requested a move so this could be his last season with Aberdeen. as has my right sided backup Hector Senese so who knows how the wings will look

Attack

I had to do a doubletake when i saw the amount of goals Ewing scored in what will be his final season with us. He asked twice to move for regular football and after being such a good servant to us he will leave us clearly in his peak. Bavidge spent another season injured too often but recovered enough to regain the Golden Boot. Gochev was the backup but got plenty of games, especially once Andy MacIver who was having the greatest season any striker has had for me when he had a season-ending injury. I'll have a returning player as the 4th striker.


Players for life

Bradley Cummings - DC
P381 G19

Last season as wonderkind is now a man leading the defense for club & country.

Owen Munro - DL
P325 G1

The running joke of Munro not scoring has another strike. He was solid when he was called upon this season. Definitely suited to missing the biggest games where he falls short.

Krasimir Bakardzhiev - ML
P393 G47

It seems like the Bulgarian won't make it to 400 games for Aberdeen. Might be ahead of myself as this is the 3rd time he has asked for a move in his 10 years at Aberdeen and the 2nd time i have accepted.

Alfie Bavidge - ATT
P750 G573

Hopefully, it was just a down year.

It was. Bavidge came back and was better than a goal a game.

Andy MacIver - ATT
P135 G88

New player alert. The player who will generate the 2nd era of the save is one of the game's best players.


Rankings

Club Ranking - 2nd

We'll have another season ranked 2nd till we lose the points from our 1st Champions League win next season


National League - 4th

WE MADE IT! Could it last more than 1 season? Probably not but next season we'll have 4 teams in the Champions League group stage. 2 in the Europa League and the 7th place side in the league will be in the conference league.


National Team ranking - 14th

No change going into the Euros


Awards


Player of the Year
Urko Goni

Hard to believe i picked up the Spanish winger on a free to back up 3 summers ago. Now almost 30 and valued at £70m he'll be hard to keep a hold of.

Young Player of the Year
Andy MacIver

14th year in a row Aberdeen won this award. MacIver was on for more goals than games played before going down.

Top Scorer
Alfie Bavidge

8th win and one of the more impressive with his 29 goals coming in only 22 games. Maciver also had a monster season with 24 in 22. Gochev completes a Dons top 3 that led to us breaking the national record for goals in a season.

Team of the Year

Far too many Rangers players for the 4th placed team.




Page 1 stats have been updated too​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

World Cup 2038


Squad

This is the tournament! The core of the squad is in its prime. Only Patterson would be 100% over the hill by Euro 2040 but for Bavidge, and Ewing they will be on their way down. The rest are in their prime and ready to go.


Warm Up Games

Not the best form going into the contest


World Cup Group

The win over Costa Rica was enough to secure qualification since they drew with each other in match day 2. A well-rested team won coming back from 2 behind to set up a last-32 tie with South Korea

Second Round
South Korea 1-3 Scotland

In my rush to get through the competition, i totally forgot to agnolage this win over South Korea. We dominated the game but it was a nervous 2nd half till Bavidge of course secured it right at the death. Germany was the only mega power going out at this point

Third Round
Scotland 1-1 Argentina
Scotland win 4-2 on Pens

The upset of all upsets. I thought we were in for a thrashing when we went behind in the 2nd minute but give us our dues we fought back and we were level after 16 minutes and in the fight all the way through the 90 minutes. Extra time was dead with both sides seemed happy to get to penalties. Once there Argentina was less pleased to have missed their first and had their last penalty saved to see one of the favourites knocked out. England the favorites were stunned by the Netherlands who finished behind us in qualifying. Spain will be our Quarter Final rivals

Quarter Finals
Scotland 0-1 Spain

As wonderful as beating Argentina on penalties was this was about as polar opposite as you get. The punch in the balls against our solid performance that deserved something from the game was upgraded to a full kick in the balls as sub-Paul Ewing looked to have grabbed us a 90th-minute equalizer and was going to force extra time again. The joy lasted barely seconds as it was disallowed and the ref swiftly blew our finals to an end.


World Cup Final
Chile 0-1 Netherlands

Unbelievable that the team we beat to top our qualifying group won the whole **** thing for the second time


Bavidge retires again. Will it be for good this time?

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 17
Aberdeen 2038


The Stadium expansion is done. We are officially in the big leagues

Last season was a bit of a step back with no domestic treble and getting knocked out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage. The squad is almost identical to last season so i expect us to be more consistent and to challenge to win all 4 major competitions


Squad
I was pretty happy with our starting squad if not it was maybe a bit too big last season so i have trimmed it down to 23 players and spent the summer rebuilding our u19s squad after a poor intake


Goalkeepers

No change Ajayi will be no1 and Dussart the cup keeper


Defense

The starting back four is the same as last season but i promoted a 5* protege Allan Bruyere to the bench


Midfield

After spending almost £200m last season there were no additions to the midfield. We have a settled 8 players with wantaway players and poor performers moved on.


Strikers

The front two remain all Scottish with Bavidge & MacIver leading the way. Gochev proved to be good enough to start if either goes down leaving Neil Brock & Gabi Consigli to fight over the scraps.


Transfer Window

SPL

Hibs were the only top side not to make a major player sale. Celtic work the free and loan market while Herts spend big to try and break their bottom 3 funk


Managers

More than half the league will have new managers going into the new season. David Hopkins retired on top after winning the Europa League. Allan Campbell of real-life fame had a good 18 months in his first job at Kilmarnock. His replacement is SPL journeyman Lee Johnson. Heart's new-look side will be led by former Dundee Manager Daniel Harvie after their steady rise into the SPL. His replacement is Green Street Regen Pete Denham after two mediocre seasons at Airdrie who are a long way from the side that were in the SPL 9 seasons ago and have even dropped down to League One for a season.
Rangers boss Barak Bachar continues to fall up after 4 trophyless seasons and twice finishing 4th in the league. His replacement Jacob Neestrup joins after almost 20 years at Kobenhavn.
Hibs who took one of those 3rd places from Rangers also lost their manager to the International game although Paul Lambert may have earned his place with Hibs league performances. Rob Holding kept Kilmarnock in the top flight before stabilizing St Mirren in the middle of the table.
St Mirren themselves return to the SPL after 2 years with Inverness hoping to have a better run on the SPL than he did with Motherwell's disastrous 2034/34 campaign.


Aberdeen

In

We bring in 16 players but only one goes right into the 1st team. Gabriele Consigli joins as a backup striker. His price was too good to be true.

Youth

Almost a full squad comes in with a £30m budget for rebuilding the youth team that has been offering far fewer stars in recent seasons. I Had a bigger budget for players that would go right into the first team but not a single one wanted to join


Out

After 18 months of asking to leave, i finally parted ways with club captain Krasimir Bakardzhiev. Left very disappointed with the final price being a tad disappointing. Backup player Paul Ewing put together almost 200 games for Aberdeen. We will still see him playing for Scotland. Back-up players Fernandez, Villanueva & Verhoek are moved on as is former starting midfielder Roger Lopez who moved to Man Utd on loan with a future fee for him to move next year.


Krasimir Bakardzhiev
P392 G47

PL*10, Sco Cup*10, League Cup *4, Champions League *2​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

August


Fixtures

​

SPL

Dundee Utd join us in the land of the perfect start. Every featured player in the stats sheet player except Lamarti had an Aberdeen or Scotland connection


Champions League

A far better draw than last year​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

September


Fixtures

One of our most dominating months in the league and an even bigger win before the end of the month in the league cup


SPL

The perfect start goes on with the old firm assembling behind us. MacIver is averaging 2 goals a game.


Champions League

A shakey start in Salzburg was forgotten as we thrashed one of Germany's best teams.


Scotland

A fantastic win in Portugal has us topping the table and another win against Serbia while Portugal 1 and Netherlands 2 points have given us a huge headstart in the group.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

October


Fixtures

The perfect start domestically goes on. With the team knackered going into the back-to-back old firm game, i was convinced we were dropping points but won both games quite comfortably


SPL

Dons are perfect after 1/4 of the season but Rangers look to have found an upgraded manager and are justifiably ahead of Celtic. Dundee Utd is still top 4 may be a sign that keeping the same management team helps at least to kick off the season. Kilmarnock i thought had made a decent hire with Lee Johnson who has been fine in the League over the past decade or so but they have made an awful start.


Champions League

Only one game and Dortmund were swept aside


Scotland

We beat the world champions for the 2nd time in 2 years. A draw in the final game and Scotland will win an A group in the Nations League


The draw at home to Portugal moves Scotland to its highest position ever.

Someone decided to unretire

​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

November


Fixtures

The winning run in the league goes on with thrashing both capital teams. A win over Ross County has us in the League Cup final


SPL

Rangers vs Celtic looks like it is a thrilling fight for 2nd.


Champions League

We got victories over one of the weakest teams and the strongest team.


Scotland

We beat Serbia to secure the top spot and a Semi-Final next summer. The result at home to the Dutch would even make the 99 Bayern team feel bad for us.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

December


Fixtures

The winning run goes through to the end of the calendar year

We removed one of the more embarrassing records from our league and club history for the biggest win in league history

Not to mention the craziest comeback i can remember the Dons having

League Cup Final
Aberdeen 2-0 Hearts

We combined a cup final with the classic December boxing PPV with both teams playing most of the match with 10 men. We pulled through with some luck to try and get back on the treble hunt with the first trophy ticked off.


SPL

21 wins in a row but only 13 clear of Rangers led by the astonishing signing Max Gunnion. Celtic are right on their tail in a thrilling Old Firm battle with them both on good form. Hibs are a team not in good form and are only just hanging onto a top 6 spot with Dundee Utd being the standout performer. Some battle at the bottom with 3 stuck in there and Hearts not far away.


Champions League

The late own goal gave the Dons 6 wins out of 6 and were into the last 16 before the January games​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

January


Sorry for the late update. Been sick as a dog and hardly been out of bed in a week. On a plus, I'm down a belt size. Not sure if the amount of work i did in January or diseases passed on from my kids but let's get into it


Fixtures

We beat Celtic before the winter break and came back to win against Hibs before an extremely nervous 1-0 win over struggling Hearts and thrashed Caley in the cup


SPL

We go 24/24 while the old firm squabbles and both drop points in the race for 2nd.


Champions League

Two wins even with a rotated squad against AEK


We finished 2nd to Real Madrid on goals scored. Nice to see Barcelona up there again

Scotland Transfer Window

Hibs go two in two out. Celtic lose a key midfielder to Man City for a bargain price and we go spending nuts.


Aberdeen

In

We drop a £50m note on gang on youngsters a few of which will be in the 1st team.

Two go into the first team immediately.

Diego A Cuellar - AT

What a find this is by our North American scouts. Already good enough to mix it with the failing Bavidge for the start.

Rafael Reis - MC

I had him on the shortlist from the summer and his minimum fee was still at £3.3m. He can play anywhere in the middle of the park so will be a great backup that i hope will make us a good profit


The rest to the u18s of back out on loan

Out
No sales now but a few deals arranged for the summer.
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Fixtures

All domestic and it's still all domination. Ayr was the only team that got close and that was with 2 goals in the last 8 minutes while we were 3-0 up


SPL

29/29. We are on for plenty of records. How many will we get? Old firm scrap for 2nd still in a good spot. Dundee Utd is in a fine spot to take a top 4 while the top 6 is set with Ross County missing out. Relegation spots are still totally open


Champions League Draw
Tottenham vs Aberdeen

It's probably the strongest last 16 line up we've had, Celtic has to overcome Barcelona​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March


Fixtures

The perfect season is done! We were 2-0 down to St Mirren at halftime and this time couldn't quite pull off a comeback. We did manage wins in our other League game and the Scottish Cup too.


SPL

Two months of the season is left but we've won the title, maybe that's why we were half asleep against St Mirren. The old firm is now tied for 2nd.


Champions League Last 16

1st Leg
Tottenham 1-1 Aberdeen

Before St Mirren ended our perfect league season Tottenham took our overall perfect record after 42 wins in a row. A draw in London was a fair result

2nd Leg
Aberdeen 6-0 Tottenham
Aberdeen win 7-1 on agg

Well, that's an incredible turn of events. MacIver had led us to a 3-0 lead before Spurs went down to 10 men and by the end, they had totally collapsed to suffer by far the biggest defeat of the last 16. No Major shocks. Bayern is out but it was to Man City & Celtic put up a strong fight but lost 4-2 overall to Barcelona


Quarter Final Draw
Juventus vs Aberdeen

Benfica would have been the best draw but Juventus would be the weakest other team still standing.


Scotland

Two wins from Two in the opening games. Alfie Bavidge gets injured and puts the end of our club season run in Jephordy


So close to the top 10

​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

April


Fixtures

Domestic bliss is back! Celtic await in the Scottish Cup final


SPL

Celtic took a huge step towards 2nd place in the old firm game. Dundee Utd still has Hibs & St Mirren at arm's length. At the other end, Motherwell are favorites to go down. shock! 3 teams fighting over the playoff spot.


Champions League
Quarter Final

1st Leg
Juventus 0-2 Aberdeen

A close game that could have gone either way swung our way twice

2nd Leg
Aberdeen 3-1 Juventus
Aberdeen win 5-1 on Agg

The final result is far from a true reflection of the tie or the match. We were 1 down, just lost star holding midfielder Alvarez who is best used on European games for the season and in real trouble. A quick double from Falcao & Consigli off the bench put the tie beyond doubt before MacIver put the cherry on top


Semi-Final Draw
Real Madrid vs Aberdeen

Lots of narratives here. A repeat of Aberdeen's greatest game in 1983. Could it be another Fergie final? or a El CLassico final?​