End of Season 21
SPL - Winner
It was a step back on points, goals for and against and the early dropped points made me determined that next season my no1 focus is on having a perfect season. The best players are in the window of their prime so its now or never. Hibs stun the old firm to take 2nd. The first season no old firm side finished in the top 2 since 1965. Celtic finished ahead of Rangers on goal difference and that's the difference between Champions League and Europa League. A distant Hearts and St Mirren make it to the conference. Dundee Utd were the let down of the season failing to make the top 6. There was quite a drop off to Ayr and Ross County who came on strong after changing manager at the end of the season. Kilmarnock and Queens Park were better than the bottom side Inverness who dropped back to the championship. 5th Season in a row the champions go right back down. Somehow Cove fail to come up after 3 seasons of investment.
Playoffs
Queens Park got the mother of all scares losing the 1st leg to Airdrie but they easily won the 2nd leg to survive
Managers
Inverness & Ross County made 2 changes each with Ross County maybe getting it right 2nd time round after losing Rob Holding to the England National team as insane as that sounds. Former DOns youth player Daniel Harvie took over at Killie and kept them up.
Europe
Celtic had an improved season in the Champions League getting to the quarter-finals and losing to eventual finalists PSG
Rangers fell in the Playoff round to Ajax 1-0
Dundee Utd got to the Europa League Quater finals only losing to Juventus on penalties
Hibs couldn't win a 2nd European trophy in a row losing to Ingolstadt in the Europa League last 16
St Mirren went a round further losing to eventual winners Leeds in the Conference semi-final
Ross County's season was miserable from the start losing to Swiss side Thun in the qualifiers
Champions League Final
Aberdeen 2-1 PSG
Squad Review
Goalkeeper
Lawrie scored a higher rating than Ajayi after getting the African nations break and many chances through the season.
Defence
The good news first. Amado steps up as a starting LB and Langton improved again giving me a real selection headache between him and Casares as DR. Center back is also a problem with Quintana being the best DC but ******* is a lifer and he and Niedermann have been great for half a decade at least. A very encouraging start for Ross McDougall while Jose & Tremble have shown enough to be sold.
Midfield
Probably the best season our collective midfielder with the best 4 all cleared 7.20 while the backups also all found their way over 7 as we added some u18s who also played up to a solid level.
Attack
The first non-Bavidge season and his replacement MacIver flung in another ridiculous level of goalscoring. Dujakovic & Soumah shared the sidekick role with Dujakovic being the better of the two. Four youth players made appearances with Andersson & Craig stepping up to the first team. Hard to see a place for both of them still being here next season.
Players for life
300+ Appearances
Bradley Cummings - DC
P624 G33
Jean Niedermann - DC
P304 G18
Ramiro Martinez - MC
P340 G68
Dimitar Petkov - MR
P301 G117
Andy MacIver - ATT
P382 G392
Rankings
Club Ranking - 1st
Another Champions League extends our lead at the top
National League - 5th
We jump back into the top 5 so next season we'll have an extra CL team and an extra team in Europe
For the first time Scotland finished 2nd in the season rankings so we got an extra Champions League place. It should go to Rangers as Celtic should get the spot by finishing 3rd so will see how this plays out.
National Team ranking - 8th
The highest Scotland has ever been ranked
Awards
Player of the Year
Andy MacIver
5th in row
Young Player of the Year
Momodou Trawally
We have already sold the league's young player of the year to Man City. I don't think he's that good and was considering selling him anyway.
Top Scorer
Andy MacIver
Dons clean sweep
Team of the Year
Which team dominated the league again? Surely is not the one with only 4 players featuring in the league's team of the year.