STAND FREE WHEREVER YOU MAY BE - And you thought Celtic beating Barca was something!

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Season preview 2021/22
Back to basics




Targets


We would like to get back to winning the treble. Returning to the 100 points and getting 100+ goal difference. In Europe a better run than last year with Quarter Final appearance being my target




League - Winner
Scottish Cup - Winner
Scottish League Cup - Winner
Europe - Champions league - Quarter Finals






Summer news
Neil Lennon moves onto bigger things and several other big jobs changed, 4 of them for the 2nd summer in a row




Manager changes
Lionid Slutski - Man Utd
Slavan Bilic - Valencia
Neil Lennon - Bilbao
Aykut Kocaman - Porto
David Moyes - Motherwell, 2nd spell as manager after being sacked in 2018 following a 3 year run
John Van Den Brom - Athletico Madrid
Alan Shearer - Celtic, Spent the last 5 season with Everton in the Championship





Transfers



Top June and July Transfers
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Kamil Pavlov
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I tried to sign Pavlov last summer but he was well beyond what i could afford and wasnt interested prior to that.




Top SPL Transfers
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Celtic and Rangers step up to the plate with big money signings but both teams sold there best forward







First team 2021
Provisional
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I say provisional as Nanclares is causing a stir and trying to force a move and i if can get a replacement he can go and Bamba has only 1 last contract offer coming his way and with our wage issue's its more likely he'll leave.



 

Pre Season




Friendlys


Rapid Bucharest 0-2 Aberdeen

Aberdeen 2-0 Anderlecht

FC Brasov 0-3 Aberdeen

Lierse 0-6 Aberdeen

Aberdeen 3-1 Barcelona


Nimes 1-2 Aberdeen





Aberdeen Transfers


In


Ross Barkley - MC - Free
View attachment 319394


Barkley was "the next big thing" to come out of Everton but after a season in the Championship he ended up at West Brom where he had 2 good seasons in his 5 at the Hawthorn. I think he'll do a job for the Dons and helps fill in some of the gaps that appeared in our Midfield




Xavier - MR - Free
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Xavier was the only brilliant youngster to come from Spain this season. Maybe Real and Barca have noticed how well there youngsters are doing once they release them.





Out


Jens Andersen - £9.5m
Back up keeper Jens Andersen came on leaps and bounds every season he was with us But with Craig Crawford returning to challenge Monnard there was no room for him and eventually his home based side FC Kobenhavn bough him for a pricey £9.5m


Bodgan Kilin - £2.5m
The German was bought as a 14 year old school boy and never developed to a level to even get near the 1st team so now he's too old for the u19's i put him up for sale and Austrian side Red Bull Salzberg picked him up for £2.5m






With these transfers we are now over the wage budget and still not tied Bamba down to a contract. With the new season right around the corner its looking bleaker that ever for Bamba staying at Pittodrie.



 
Good transfers. Hopefully Moyes can lift Motherwell up and have another Scottish team pulling up the nation in Europe.
 
Good transfers. Hopefully Moyes can lift Motherwell up and have another Scottish team pulling up the nation in Europe.

I am going to say he wont. His recent record is


Everton - 2013 sacked after being relegated

Motherwell - 2018 Sacked after finishing 10th
Hearts - 2020 Sacked while 5th, finished the next season 8 points away from champions League


In other words he isnt very good in this game haha​
 
I am going to say he wont. His recent record is


Everton - 2013 sacked after being relegated

Motherwell - 2018 Sacked after finishing 10th
Hearts - 2020 Sacked while 5th, finished the next season 8 points away from champions League


In other words he isnt very good in this game haha​
Oh. Surely he has great stats though.
 



Scotland



Squad
Exactly the same as the June Internationals


Two bits of controversy in the squad choice. Celtic's Martin Nelson always on the verge of selection but i decided to put Jonny Russell as my 3rd choice squad striker at the start of the qualifying campaign and that's how its going to stay. And James McArthur changed his mind about retiring and wanted back in the squad and sparked a national debate He may get back in the squad when the qualifiers kick off next month but we'll see about that later!




***Darran Donalds 500th game in management***



Friendly
Hungary 1-1 Scotland
S Cairney


Both sides had there chances to win the game in Hungry and im walking away quite happy that were still unbeaten during my time in charge.

View attachment 319424



 
That's good, I think he actually has been under performing so hopefully he can get his act together and pick up Motherwell.

Yeah! Would be nice to see Celtic get closer to us, Hearts and Motherwell get over 60 points and Rangers get relegated! haha
 

Champions League Group Stage Draw
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A reality check after being European Champions and top seeds last season were demoted to 2nd seeds for this years draw.






1st Seeds
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Group B or H are preferred. Would take Group A The rest i want to avoid




2nd Seeds
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Well i got one of my desired groups. Forgot they took Real Madrid to extra time in the final. Looking at there team i was stupid to dismiss them. Star players of FM13 in there squad include S Mandanda, Nic Otamendi, Z Labyad, N Gaitan, L Markovic, F Ferreyra and there star player Carlos Fierro


Only side in the 3rd seeds i don't want is Liverpool




3rd Seeds
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Ahh! This is looking really tough already! Liverpool's squad doesn't have many recognizable names but a heap of brilliant regens


Ok well lets make sure i get at least Europa league action. Anyone but Hoffenheim or Real Sociedad




4th seeds
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Sparta Prague it is then. Phew so if worst come to worst I'll be in Europe after Christmas




Well its not going to be easy probably the 2nd toughest group to get through but we'll take it 1 match at a time and enjoy the big occasions in Liverpool and Porto





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Scotland expects



With Scotland loosing a Champions League spot there was extra pressure on Aberdeen and Celtic to qualify for the group stages of this years competition. Celtics hopes ended as soon as they were drawn against Man City making it almost impossible to get through. So as they fell all the hopes fell as expected on the shoulders of Darran Donalds Aberdeen team. "We have been given a massive challenge to achieve a last 16 spot. We'll need to play our best and get some luck to knock out either Liverpool or Porto. A group such as this means i will have to do what i can to improve the squad before the transfer window shuts in 3 days time"



 

August


Dave1875 wont want to look at the final match in August
Stadium expanded to 25000 seater stadium
Donald signs new contract keeping him at Pittodrie till 2026


Fixtures




Dundee Utd 2-2 Aberdeen
Loeffen
Cabestany


Not the start we wanted and to make it worse we had to fight from behind to get a point on day 1.




Aberdeen 6-0 Rangers
Loeffen 2
Sneddon 2
Cabestany 2


What a crushing win. 2 goals from each of my forward while Rangers don't even get a shot on goal. As well as hitting a double against his old team Derek Sneddon plays his 350th Aberdeen game




Celtic 1-1 Aberdeen
Soldan


Celtic took the lead with there only shot on goal then on our 15th and last we grabbed a dramatic equaliser. Daniel Monnard makes his 200th Aberdeen appearance




Hearts 1-4 Aberdeen
Cabestany
Soldan
Elias
Loeffen


In a month of Landmarks Elias played his 175th game for the dons and Max Lecomte played his 125th game.




Aberdeen 5-1 Hibs
Cabestany
Butler
Loeffen 2
Soldan


A Crushing win which mends the errors of our early season form. Despite the slow start this big win puts us top of the table.




30th August
All the plans for transfers and new midfielders if off as Bamba signs a new contract. He moves up to £55k a week and Soldan whos is on a highest earner clause also take a big hike in pay.






League
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All very tight at the top but hopefully we'll put sort it out and go clear at the top in September






Player of the month
Michal Soldan
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Our star player of earlier seasons has come back from a long summer off and is absolutely on fire.



 

August transfers




World Transfers
Champions League Rivals make the two biggest moves
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Scottish Transfers
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Celtic and Rangers add some more depth to there teams. Can they challenge us and do well in Europe?






Meanwhile at Pittodrie..........


Nothing happened. After i tied up Bamba i was more than happy to keep with the squad we had. The expenditure on wages is up by almost £1m a month so we'll have to see how we get by this season with wage costs to see if i can keep all these great players. This is why i wanted a new stadium 3 years ago. Projected losses of £13m this season.



 

Scotland




Squad
James McArthur is back in place of Fraser Fyvie. Wont be starting any time soon unless there is a freak amount of injury's take out our midfield. Other than that were the same 23




World Cup Qualifier Match 7
Faroe Islands 1-5 Scotland
Sneddon 2
Rhodes
T Cairney
Sibbald


Cap landmark day! Craig Crawford 20th, Jack Grimmer 40th, Danny Wilson 75th, Craig Sibbald 40th




World Cup Qualifyer Match 8
Georgia 2-3 Scotland
Robinson
Rhodes
Sneddon


Well this was closer than expected and maybe a wake up call that we needed! Cap landmarks today Stuart Lindsay and Murray Wallace win there 25th cap


View attachment 319804




Two wins against the groups bottom teams takes us to 8 wins from 8 games and even better secure our place in Qatar 2022. These results mean we go into the Ireland and Sweden games playing for pride and World ranking spots so we'll be putting out strong teams for these two games.



 

September


100% record in the league
A Huge win against Champions League runners up Porto in there back yard
Might be a bit early to ask but we need more seats at Pittodrie! 98% attendance and 4 sell outs already this season


Fixtures




Aberdeen 3-1 Ross County
Elias 3


Our attacking Elias reminds everyone who is our most productive midfielder after all the talk about Bamba and Soldan




Champions League Match 1
Aberdeen 2-0 Sparta Prague
Cabestany
Loeffen


I would have liked to have won by more but getting the 3 points on the board was what we had to do today.


Meanwhile at Anfield Porto showed why there group favorites by winning 2-1

View attachment 319866




Kilmarnock 2-4 Aberdeen
Cabestany
Soldan
Loeffen 2


Top v bottom and apart from two consolation goals at the end the usual comfortable win




League Cup 3rd round
Queens Park 1-2 Aberdeen
Hugo
Cristian


Wow not a performance for our back up players to be proud of. It seems the smaller the team the less we try. No worrys of a small time in the lat 8 as we draw defending champions Celtic




Dunfermline 1-3 Aberdeen
Pierce
Sneddon
David


A Very nice win. Pierce returns from injury to score after 6 minutes being my highlight of today




Champions League Match 2
Porto 0-2 Aberdeen
Pierce
Loeffen


The good old Aberdeen counter attacking tactic came out of retirement tonight to devastating effect. Porto dominated every significant stats in the game except the result. Bamba showed he was worth his £50,000 a week wage by dominating the midfield scoring a 8.9 rating

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League
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About as easy a month of fixtures as you could hope for after that tricky start. Despite winning all our games were still only 3 points ahead of Hearts and Celtic




Player of the month
Chris Pierce
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He's only played 2 game after returning from a injury on the opening day of the season but after getting us under way against Dunfermline he scored a massive goal against Porto to set up a win that could make a huge difference when the points are added up in December



 
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