Aberdeen Save 2022

[Mr_Grieves]

December


League Cup Final
Livingston 0-1 Aberdeen

Think the Liverpool vs Tottenham CL final and that sums up this game. Who cares if you win a trophy after the most boring game in your near 400 game career


Fixtures

Early disappointment for the Celtic game. Had half an hour to try to get something back but couldn't break them down. By the end of December, we were knackered and crying for the winter break. Dropped points against Livingston days after creeping past them in the cup then an utter horror show to end the year.


SPL

How did we let this happen? ****** Celtic are top again and somehow Rangers are right on our tail too. Please end the suffering


Champions League

Try and beat this for entertainment 2-0 down, 4-2 lead then Hertha dragged it back to 4-4 till the man of the moment Alfie Stewart scored in the 94th minute to secure a massive 3 points.

With 2 games to go, we are in a very good spot. Chelsea and Real Madrid will probably see to it that we fall out of the top 8 again, however.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

January


Fixtures

The break did us the world of good and we came back swinging.


SPL

Rangers lost the old firm match but wins everywhere else.


Champions League

Win over Chelsea with the two Alfies getting the goals amazingly secured our spot in the last 16. Celtic also made it a game later too. Real Madrid got treated to our backup players


Final Table

Celtic 3rd and Aberdeen 5th. Unreal considering we have 6 top leagues running.


Transfer Window

Celtic spent £50m to fend us off. A Bayern Munich midfielder, a Chilean wonderkid who we scouted but had no interest in Aberdeen. Alex Collado for £30m is the national record by some way. They end with a final insult picking up Alejandro Frances from Zaragoza for £6m a player i had on the shortlist for 18 months but could never get the wages to pull it off. Now the defender who can play across the back line will be at our biggest rivals.

Aberdeen

Out

Minimum fees are not my friend Doyle, Mueanta & worst of all Aznou late on deadline day. Backups Nikolaou & Besuijen could cause us problems later in the season but with the contract running down, like lots of players we have a huge summer coming up.

In

4 defenders, a spot we were filled with already Javier and Sean Allen stay at the club Jakoljevic & Staricco go back to their clubs to give me time to think about how to solve this mess. Bakardzhiev & Ariza come it to bolster our wingers with contracts coming to an end.

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Fixtures

Here is the month we may have turned it around. We may have dropped points away to Hibs, who Celtic beat 8-1 two weeks later we finally got the better of our title rivals winning 3-1 and being in control most of the way. Comfortable wins over St Johnstone & Livingston and an uncomfortable win away to Ross County


Ross County moved to a new stadium last season named after real-life sporting director and veteran of 250 games Scott Boyd.

Scotty stadium is the 6th biggest club stadium only 2,000 less than we have at Pittodrie.

Table

9 Games to go and our head-to-head win had the gap down to 2 points. Rangers are now 12 points back and are not totally dead but Celtic have not dropped 12 points in the first 29 games. Rangers are out of Europe after a humiliating defeat to Aris in the Europa League so they have that advantage over the top 2 who start our Champions League K'O football in early March.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March


Fixtures

Hearts and League 2 Edinburgh were dispatched with ease, the latter with 10 men for almost the whole game. Ayr was the second game in a row where we had a red card and this one was pivotal giving Ayr the chance to level the game and hold on for a point. This was earmarked as a game to build up our goal difference and dropping points was unthinkable. Yet here we are.

SPL

The gap is back up to 4 points and Celtic takes the lead in goal difference too. The top 6 looks set but the league's best battle is for the bottom spot. 4 points split 4 teams.

Champions League Last 16
Aberdeen 2-2 Dortmund
Aberdeen win 7-6 on pens

We were the better team over the two games but to be dragged through 15 kicks we both missed one of the first 5 and despite being our best striker Bavidge is awful at pens but he scored the decisive kick to send us deservedly into the Quater Finals


Quarter Final Draw

Aberdeen vs Liverpool
The winner 2 years ago get treated to a trip to Pittodrie. Celtic also make it but keep up their stunning record of getting an easy draw.
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

April


Fixtures

I put up this update in mid April to fit the split into one update. So April. An expected to win over St Mirren while Celtic drew the old firm game. Not quite as good at them losing 10-0 and having the squad injured but I'll take it after we got a win at Ibrox a week later. Livingston was the backlash of the European tie and shock of shock it is Celtic we play in the final.

SPL

2 points advantage for Celtic while it's a tie on Goal Difference but we have scored 2 more goals. Insane how close we're running them. Rangers results leave them in no man's land with nothing to play for. Ross County & Motherwell will be after Hearts 4th spot. In the bottom half Ayr are having a brilliant season and looking safe already, Can't say the same for the 4 teams below them. 6 pointers everywhere.


Champions League
Quarter Finals
Liverpool 6-4 Aberdeen

Two games against England's finest and twice we threw away 2 goal leads. Can't decide which one is more disappointing. The 2 late goals at Pittodrie when i should have gone more defensive. Or the 2nd leg where a shambolic 2nd half collapse from the team ended our chances. In the end, there is no need for blame. We played a far better team and almost won. Celtic played a weaker AC Milan team and lost 5-0 over the two legs.
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

SPL Split

Only 2 points in it and all to play for. Will it come down to the final day when we host Celtic at Pittodrie? Que the riots

Match 34
Aberdeen 5-2 Motherwell

I do hope this we look back on the half-time team talk just after going 2-1 down to our easiest opponents at home. Thankfully we turned it around while Celtic was beating Hearts. The gap stays at 2 points.

The day before the Rangers game we had a shambolic training session. Our lead striker bruised his jaw. Out for the week. Coward! but not as bad as the "6 weeks" i thought it said. Our only good keeper and only keeper that's played a serious game in 2 seasons got food poisoned. Never crossed my mind till now but in real life, my mum a cook covers the Aberdeen training facilities when they're short staffed so this could be the first injury caused by my own family. If it costs us the league i don't know if we'll speak again!

Scrap that. Bavidge was fit enough for the bench but will only play in an emergency. Luiz Junior recovered enough to start


Match 35
Rangers 0-2 Aberdeen

MOTHERWELL!!!!!!! They were determined to play a role in deciding the title and now with the Rangers game out of the way, we are all tied on points at the top. We have done a number on the goal difference and led that by 3, basically 4 as we have scored more. At the other end, Kilmarnock wins again to probably save themselves for another season. 1 point between the two Saints and Livingston. Also we no 2-0 after a nervy hour in Govan two quick-fire goals settle the tie


Match 36
Ross County 0-1 Aberdeen

County are good. Wonder if they can build on this and join Hearts on a regular basis. MEANWHILE Rangers hold Celtic to a goalless draw as they drop points for a second game in a row.

Match 37
Hearts 2-0 Aberdeen

All that hard work for nothing with a shameful performance. We are basically back to where we started the split. Must win at Pittodrie against Celtic on the final day or it's 2nd again.


Match 38
Aberdeen 4-1 Celtic

Forget the score this was a rollercoaster. Celtic dominated the 1st half but didn't turn enough shots on target. We had a double injury blow with Barron and right-back Joseda not coming out for the 2nd half. One of their replacements Javier struck to give us the lead and put us into Championship position. Only lasted 10 minutes till veteran Slovak Lobotka had them level and back in command. We were breathing heavily but not for long before Bavidge, of course, put us back in control but in a horrible spot whereas it got later and later Celtic only needed one goal again to take the title, The match started to get out of control so i went defensive and Bavidge twice hit on the counter to end his season with a hattrick and FINALLY our 2nd league title.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Scottish Cup Final
Aberdeen 1-0 Celtic

We complete the domestic treble for the first time a year after Celtic did exactly the same. Not sure how it was only 1-0 as Celtic did not show up for this Almost all their shots came in the last 15 minutes.​

 

[Smee135.]

Scottish Cup Final
Aberdeen 1-0 Celtic
View attachment 613024

We complete the domestic treble for the first time a year after Celtic did exactly the same. Not sure how it was only 1-0 as Celtic did not show up for this Almost all their shots came in the last 15 minutes.​

Hope you’ve made up with your mum now after the title came home lol

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Hope you’ve made up with your mum now after the title came home lol

Haha We're on speaking terms

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 6 Review


SPL - Winner

After finishing in 2nd three seasons in a row we finally overcome Celtic winning the title against them in the final game. It was a toss-up for the title but thankfully we came out on top to take the 2nd step of the treble. Rangers were alone in 3rd as were Hearts in 4th. Motherwell beat Ross County for 5th and the last European place. The bottom of the table was astonishingly close. St Mirren and St Johnstone were both fresh from a top 6 finish last year but were now relegated and falling into the playoffs.

Playoff

St Johnstone 2-1 Dundee
The Saints survive. But only just

Managers

John Mousinho went from being sacked by Hibs to saving Ayr from immediate relegation. Jack Ross came in at Kilmarnock and although it was closer he also steered them clear of the dangers zone. Lee Bullen left Ayr for St Johnstone and took them down to the championship. It might be a better job long term if he survives. Lee Johnson at St Mirren is an even more dangerous spot long term after finishing bottom.


Champions League Final
Liverpool 2-4 Paris SG

Mbappe won the Champions League by himself. Some director of football that is!


Squad Review

Goalkeeper

Luiz Junior is the man. One of the youngsters on loan is approaching his level but Steven Kingsley did not look great in his sporadic appearances. A few years on loan will hopefully turn it around for him.

Defense

Fabio Luis is the standout player in our defense and with the money, we're spending on Tommy St Jago he will probably have a new partner next season with one of Barbiero, Lacruz, and Javier expected to get the spot. Joseda improved at DR but there is a few prospects coming through to challenge him. Oviedo is the only player along with Fabio Luis that is a locked-in career starter which is bad news for Diop who i will be expecting to sell in the summer after some good offers last summer. Sean Allen looks to be a great piece of business.

Midfield

Our wingers were the stars of the show. Rukavina only getting 2 goals shocked me but made up for it with the assists. Pereira might be at the end of his time at Aberdeen. Will have one more go at redoing his contract but just now he is asking for too much cash. Barron as steady as you like with double-digit goals & assists with Jorgensen & Junco sharing time alongside him with the occasional game where i played a DMC in tougher games. Adam Emslie was brilliant when he was called upon and despite only playing 6 games for us Bakardzhiev is now ahead of Ross Marshall as the next big thing on the left wing.

Attack

Bavidge & Pedro led the line and were my best 2 players. Tolardo will have a lot of work to do to show he will be good enough to ever start for us when Pedro is eventually sold.


Players for life
Here at Aberdeen, we love one of our own coming through and thriving. There are quite a few current Dons i hope to keep long-term so let's have a look at how the spine of our squad is doing in more depth after our first season.

Luiz Junior - GK
P217 CS95 R7.13

A new addition to the list could turn out to be a mistake if he's moved on in the next year or two. Been a solid no1 after joining from Portugal in the middle of our 2nd season when City screwed us with our loan keeper. The best thing that could have happened.

Connor Barron - MC
P267 G74 R7.20

The star midfielder is steady but not spectacular

Alfie Stewart - MC
P98 G14 R6.91

Made almost 40 appearances in his first year back full-time at Aberdeen and he looks like a very capable 23-25th member of our squad at worst.

Ross Marshall - ML
P128 G9 R6.84

Not sure what to make of what's going on here. Reports still say he has the potential to be better than any winger we have but I'm just not seeing it and now at 20, this could be his last season before joining the Ryan Duncan club of letdowns.

Alfie Bavidge - ATT
P280 G192 R7.28

Our star striker finished runner-up in the Champions League & SPL for the second season in a row. He is still putting up video game numbers up top


Rankings

Club Ranking - 14th

The monumental rise from the 200s 6 years ago to the top 15. A good year next season could see us in the top 10.

National League - 7th

We jump the Dutch and this is as good as it will get unless ourselves & Celtic push on to the next level. Surely not.

National Team ranking - 45th

Up 4 but still not enough to get me into the job


Awards

Player of the Year
Alfie Bavidge

The 4th Don to win the player of the year award

Young Player of the Year
Paulo Pedro

Aberdeen strikers own this award with them both being a repeat winner

Top Scorer
Vitinha - 30

Manager of the Year

3rd win

Team of the Year

Aberdeen and Celtic team as it should be.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 7
Aberdeen 2028

It took 7 seasons to finally win a 2nd title and win our first treble. Now stage 2 is to push on in Europe and long term get more Scots in this squad.


Euro 2028
England 2-1 Spain

Jude Bellingham scored the winner in the 122nd minute to win England's 1st Euros.

France was one of the biggest shocks ever by not qualifying to lose to Wales in the playoff after finishing 3rd behind Greece in the group.

Celtic Manager quits

The biggest boost pre-season by a mile came on the eve of the season when the man who took Celtic to the next level Kjetil Knutsen quit to take over the Portugal job. Wonder who is next to take charge and will this move start the Dons dynasty

Squad
Following on from a treble win and a deep run in the Champions League this summer was all about clearing out some of our 32 youth & on loan after evaluating who met the criteria of having the potential to be better than our current starters and a few others that have not improved a bit since joining.


Goalkeepers

Luiz Junior returns as our no1 but with the backup Frelih demanding a move it was a prime opportunity for our best prospect in goals Daniel Dorsaz will get some cup opportunity.

Defense

Mirza Jakovlijevic will look to follow Oviedo from the major leagues to be a key starter at wing-back. Joseda should be worried. Allen and Symons will be backups probably looking for a move next summer. Plenty of changes in the middle. Last season rock Tommy St Jago was upset about his playing time so i was more than happy to move him on for a huge profit this summer. Fabio Luis stays for now but the bids for him are getting higher. Barbiero starts alongside him in the middle with Javier as the main backup while Lacruz & Jesus will get their chances.

Midfield

The only change here is Spanish youngster Santiago joining the squad after 4 seasons on loan or the youth team.

Strikers

Like last term, the midfield and attack have little change. Bavidge & Pedro start up front. Tolardo is the main back up and Langesberg will be the 4th striker who can't shoot......

 

[Mr_Grieves]

August


Celtic have their new manager. The former Dutch national team coach

Fixtures

He joined the day after we demolished his new team on our way to a perfect start to the season.


SPL

Hearts are the shock team joining us at the top of the table. Would be great if they could make it a 4 team title battle.


Champions League Fixtures

Looks like a far tougher bunch of games than previous seasons with Young Boys being the only game I'd consider against a 4th seed-quality team.


Transfer Window


SPL

Chelsea decides to keep buying Celtic players to try and get good again.


Aberdeen


In
5 Players joined, Non will be relevant for now with only Ofori staying at the club in the u18s. Vaughan had u19 England caps while playing for Stevenage The other 3 hit the parameters of being capped at the youth level and rated better potential than my current players. Pavlovic has caps for Serbia's full team and is only 18!

Out

I have mentioned the most notable exits in the squad post. Loan players that are now in their 20s and not making a hit on the 1st team were Kraus, Elpert, Gorito, Kangman, and Windass. They followed out last year's squad backups Willock, Sneddon, and Diop. Lots more left for free but non were relevant and there is still plenty more to work on next summer.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

September


Fixtures

Another smashing month domestically seeing off all challenges. Winning at Celtic should have been the highlight and proably is but playing Hearts who also had a perfect record right after a Champions League game and destroying them 7-1 was fantastic

Perhaps having a former Porto striker might have something to do with Hearts rise. How did they land him?

SPL

Perfect start. Rangers and Celtic are out of the top two and have hardly put a foot wrong.


Champions League

Two English Premiership teams faced and we beat tehm both, Chelsea was a close game but City battered us and its a minor miracle they didnt score from there 8 shots on target,​

 

[MatthewElphinstone]

In an alternate world (mine) Conor Barron left for Norwich for £1.2 million, played 4 games in like 5 years and is now warming the bench for Hearts.

Bavidge is on loan in the English championship after a failed loan stint at Hearts and rejecting an offer from newly promoted (and tycoon funded) Queen of the South, Emslie signed for Celtic for reasons I can't understand seeing as he hasn't played for any club outside the Scottish Championship and Ryan Duncan fell off the face of the Earth.

Funny how things work out in different saves, well done for bringing these players in like you have.

Oh, and after 5 years Arbroath's stint in the cinch Premiership came to an end.

 

[KayEn]

Great content looking forward to the next part

 

[Mr_Grieves]

In an alternate world (mine) Conor Barron left for Norwich for £1.2 million, played 4 games in like 5 years and is now warming the bench for Hearts.

Bavidge is on loan in the English championship after a failed loan stint at Hearts and rejecting an offer from newly promoted (and tycoon funded) Queen of the South, Emslie signed for Celtic for reasons I can't understand seeing as he hasn't played for any club outside the Scottish Championship and Ryan Duncan fell off the face of the Earth.

Funny how things work out in different saves, well done for bringing these players in like you have.

Oh, and after 5 years Arbroath's stint in the cinch Premiership came to an end.

Emslie is a weird one. Hardly ever plays but never plays badly when he gets his 5 games a year. Great for the 8 Scottish players in Europe cap though. At Least our saves have Ryan Duncan being awful. He is starting for Dundee Utd in the championship

 

[MatthewElphinstone]

Emslie is a weird one. Hardly ever plays but never plays badly when he gets his 5 games a year. Great for the 8 Scottish players in Europe cap though. At Least our saves have Ryan Duncan being awful. He is starting for Dundee Utd in the championship

Mine is just "sign 18 year old foreigners and pray they stay three years" to fill that quota lol

I only have one Scot in the starting 11!

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Mine is just "sign 18 year old foreigners and pray they stay three years" to fill that quota lol

I only have one Scot in the starting 11!

Same problem. Not had 1 youth player of any quality in the intakes yet which is shambolic considering i have it upgraded as high as it can go. An hour a season spent regen hunting in South America is the way in FM23. Finally getting some 5* prospects at least interested. Going to try bleed in more youth players from our own u18s but there all so bad.

 

[MatthewElphinstone]

Same problem. Not had 1 youth player of any quality in the intakes yet which is shambolic considering i have it upgraded as high as it can go. An hour a season spent regen hunting in South America is the way in FM23. Finally getting some 5* prospects at least interested. Going to try bleed in more youth players from our own u18s but there all so bad.

I have one Scottish player in the starting line up and I had to poach him from Hibs.

Have you noticed how difficult it is this year to get players to want to come?

17 year olds won't talk to you but will talk to PSG, Man Utd, Man City etc etc but will tell you they're "waiting till closer to the end of their contract"?

It's also been generally hard to sign anyone that immediately improves the team, been on the glass ceiling of the Champions League last 16 (barring one freak run to the semi's) but anyone that improves the team immediately either tells me we're not a big enough club or they want a massive pay rise to come here (agents telling me they want 40k max then when we talk wages at negotiations they start at like 65k+)

To be fair though.. I do quite like the challenge.. just not when I need to sign a Defensive Midfielder cause mine had his release clause activated..

 

[Mr_Grieves]

I have one Scottish player in the starting line up and I had to poach him from Hibs.

Have you noticed how difficult it is this year to get players to want to come?

17 year olds won't talk to you but will talk to PSG, Man Utd, Man City etc etc but will tell you they're "waiting till closer to the end of their contract"?

It's also been generally hard to sign anyone that immediately improves the team, been on the glass ceiling of the Champions League last 16 (barring one freak run to the semi's) but anyone that improves the team immediately either tells me we're not a big enough club or they want a massive pay rise to come here (agents telling me they want 40k max then when we talk wages at negotiations they start at like 65k+)

To be fair though.. I do quite like the challenge.. just not when I need to sign a Defensive Midfielder cause mine had his release clause activated..

Yes! The young winger i got from Ross County took 3 windows before he would look at us and I've been chasing a Hearts wingback for 2 seasons and he still won't talk to us. These 17 year olds you mentioned were the heartbeat of the team building in previous saves but these days the only way I've found to do this is by buying South Americans that are in the national teams or u21s early. Over half my 24 man squad is South American or Spanish youngsters from their Min Fee deals. The next problem with this is almost everyone we buy this way is a gamble as there are not as good as the current starters and no guarantee they will improve so ATM i have a starting 11 of players that are not good enough for our first team but i can't sell due to the wage demands. 4 i can't even give away for nothing. Also now that we are regulars in the Champions League last 16 these gambles have gone from £1-5K per week in the first few seasons while now i just checked the last 3 i signed. £5,75k, £9.5k £29k for Tolrado who joined on double the wage of my previous 3rd highest earner. He is still the top wage earner.

Been getting around the contracts by avoiding Min Fees where possible and throwing them an extra few £K per week to add an optional 2 year contract extension to their deal so it gives me a 5-7 year window with them before the demands get out of hand.