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


Season 2012/13 Season review





SPL - 3rd
Scottish Cup - Quarter Final
League Cup - Semi Final




Season Stats
View attachment 283157




Despite finishing 3rd only 6 points of the champions the way we finished the season was quite disappointing




Final team talk
"We fought above our weight and came close to knocking out the champions Celtic. I'll look to add a bit more strength to this team during the summer and next year could be our year if you all perform like that again"




League

View attachment 283161View attachment 283159View attachment 283160


Celtic ended the season strongest and ended up as champions but they didn't have it all there own way! Aberdeen and Motherwell fought them through the whole season often being ahead of them but in our case we simply ran out of steam and had to settle for Europa league


The battle down the bottom was just as close with Dundee, Inverness and St Mirren battled through the whole season with St Mirren falling apart at the end of the season and finishing last by some distance considering how close it had been.


Coming up in there place is Livingston who won the first division by 3 goals from Falkirk and 2 points ahead of Hamilton and Partick in a very close season


Rangers watch. Rangers won Division 3 with 31 wins and 5 draws recording 98 points to win the league very easily




Scottish Cup

View attachment 283163


This was perhaps my biggest let down of the season. Engrossed in a title battle i drew with Raith Rovers twice and finally went out to a 121st minute goal with a easy path to the trophy opening up i should have taken that tie far more seriously


Falkirk won the final against Dundee, Neither of which would have offered much resistance!
View attachment 283162




Scottish League Cup

View attachment 283166
Aberdeen put on a strong showing through the League cup but were overpowered by a better Motherwell team in the Semi final.

Celtic went on to beat Motherwell in a enthralling penalty shoot out to win the trophy

View attachment 283165




2012/13 awards


Footballer of the year
Joe Ledley
View attachment 283167

Writers footballer of the year
Kris Commons
View attachment 283168

League Player of the year
Scott Brown

View attachment 283169

Top scorer
Gary Hooper
View attachment 283170

U19's player of the year
Callum Paterson

View attachment 283172

Young player of the year
Connor Pepper
View attachment 283173

Team of the season
View attachment 283174


Didn't make the top 3 of Manager or writers manager of the year!



Match of the Season
View attachment 283175

24th November 2012
Hibs 2-3 Aberdeen


What a comeback we had in this match! Hibs were 2-0 up in the first 11 minutes however lead by Ryan Fraser we got back into and eventually went on to win this game. Brilliant scenes




Signing of the season
Bebe
View attachment 283176


There was only one winner really! The donkey was release very early on by Man Utd and i felt that despite his total lack of ability in real life his FM stats would be enough to help score and make lots of goals for Aberdeen. Not quite worked out perfectly to plan yet but he was still easily the best signing i made.




Player of the season


3rd - Ryan Fraser
View attachment 283177
Ave rating had him well done but this is my choice and i felt that reaching double figures as a winger in his first season starting for the club is more than enough to pick him in the top 3


2nd - Isaac Osbourne
View attachment 283178

Big Isaac can do it all. Probably our most complete and important player! Would love to have another 2 of him to run my midfield


1st - Andy Considine
View attachment 283180


6 Man of the match awards through the season and a easy winner in the Ave ratings race. Was as ever reliable as Ryan Jack but Andy performances were on a totally different level and had no problems winning our player of the year.



Honorable mention
Cameron Smith
View attachment 283181

Mostly just a excuse to keep a eye on his progress




Champions League final
View attachment 283182 View attachment 283183

Barcelona regained the champions League once again thanks to a extra time winner for Alexis Sanchez




Euro final
View attachment 283184 View attachment 283185
Bilbao comfortably beat Tottenham in the final




Other Euro leagues
View attachment 283186 View attachment 283187 View attachment 283188 View attachment 283189View attachment 283190




Going into the summer
Despite the poor end of season run i have to chalk this down as a successful first season which really deserved a trophy of some kind. Hopefully if i can make the right signings in the summer i can build on this squad and challenge Celtic harder in 2013/14

 

Season preview

2013/14
Back in Europe, But for how long?




Targets


My debut season at the club was classed as a success. European football and a top 3 finish where we were in with a shot of the title right up to the second last game.


League - Top 2
Scottish Cup - Final
Scottish League Cup - Final




Transfers
View attachment 283199


In


A mix of new signings 2 young two old, One very old!




Alex Manninger - GK
View attachment 283196
The former Arsenal and Juventus back up keeper comes in to be Aberdeens No1. At 36 he's not longed for this world but hopefully it will give me 2 season to pick up a long term replacement


Michal Soldan - MC
View attachment 283197


This is my signing of the summer. Was looking at right Back Kiri when i went into his former teams eventually stumbling across Brno where i found this gem unsigned in the team. He'll go right into my starting team ahead of some much bigger names.


Simon Cziommer - MC
View attachment 283198
One of those players who will have to fight to get in the engine room Cziommer. Sitting on a free after being let go by Vitesse in the summer. Starting to reach his later days so may only get 2 season at pittodrie, Especially if Soldan works out.


Michael Feisthammel - FW
View attachment 283194


You can't beat German efficacy especially when it comes to strikers! Feisthammel might not be great yet but he will be my project for the season. Improve his speed and he'll be ready for the SPL!




Out


6 players who were in the starting squad are no more!


Chris Clark, Jamie Masson, Gavin Rae, Niall McGinn, Peter Pawlett and Jamie Langfield all sold to free up wages for the new players. Youth players departing were Craig Dugid and Matt McMahon




Loans

Storrie, Rose and Rumsby all leaving on loan for the season. Still hoping to flog Gary Naismith in the next month




Summer Europa League games


Europa League 2nd qualifier
1st leg
St Patricks Athletic 0-4 Aberdeen
Bebe
Fraser 2
Vernon


The stars of last years attack all chipped in to all but secure our progress


Europa League 2nd qualifier
2nd leg
Aberdeen 0-0 St Patricks Athletic


AGG
Aberdeen 4-0 St Patricks Athletic
View attachment 283193


You'll notice I've not mentioned much about my aims for Europe. Well we've drawn Man Utd in the 3rd knock out round. How unfeasible is that!



3rd Qualifier draw
View attachment 283192






Summer news


Manager changes
Nothing Major. Only one that will affect us is Ian McCall replacing Bollan at Livingston


Ian McCall - Livingston
Gary Bollan - Dunfermline
Luis Aragones - Osasuna
Lucio Spalletti - Inter
Delio Rossi - Roma
Jim Jefferies - St Mirren
Rafa Benitez - Bayern Munich




Top 10 transfers
Marek Hamsik - Man City - £38.5m
Gareth Bale - Man Utd - £31.5m
Andre Schurrie - Tottenham - £25m
Mats Hummels - Arsenal - £22m
Toby Alderweireld - Bayern Munich - £21.5m
Tomas Vermaelen - Barcelona - £19.75m
Giuliano - Benfica - £18.25m
Zoran Tosic - Tottenham - £15.5m
Christian Benitez - Fulham - £15.25
Davide Santon - Liverpool - £13.5m

Top SPL Transfers
Guess who has all the money?

Robert Snodgrass - Celtic - £7m
Kaya Semih - Celtic - £4.8m
Etien Velikonja - Celtic £3.9m
Conner Pepper - Dundee Utd - £1.1m
Murray Davidson - Celtic - £725k
Darren McGregor - Dundee Utd - £700k
Aaron Doran - Dundee Utd - £350k
Scott Boyd - Motherwell - £275k




First team 2013

View attachment 283195




Except the Goalkeeper and the two center midfielders oh and Robertson taking over as left back from the aging Gary Naismith its the same team as last season

 

August



Out of Europe as Man Utd teach us a lesson
After a flying start we go goal shy at the end of the month
Our striker Feisthammel is the top scorer at the U19 European championships

View attachment 283209




Fixtures




Ross County 0-3 Aberdeen
Vernon 3


Vernon got the start with my two young strikers both injured and made a lot of noise to keep the striker spot with that performance




Man Utd 4-1 Aberdeen - Europa League 3rd qualifier 1st leg
Vernon


Impossible to believe but we took the lead at Old Trafford and had our 10 minutes of fame before Man Utd equalized and then took the lead with a penalty in stoppage time in the first half. The second half was 1 way traffic with United making chance after chance easing to a 4-1 win and a big step towards the 4th round




Aberdeen 0-1 Man Utd - Europa League 3rd qualifier 2nd leg


Agg
Man Utd 5-1 Aberdeen


It was starting to look like we were going to get a result of some kind when with 12 minutes left Van Persie broke our hearts and scored the only goal of the game




Aberdeen 0-0 Motherwell


Both sides were fighting for the title last season and on performance we looked far and away the better team but similar to last season we couldn't put the game away. Vernon made his 100th Aberdeen appearance




Hearts 2-1 Aberdeen
O'G


This was our most disheartening result of the season so far. Never looked like getting anything and the fact our only goal was a O'G says it all. Ryan Jacks 100th appearance




Aberdeen 2-1 Dundee
Milsom
Fraser


If hearts was Disheartening then this was something else. Dundee almost escaped with a point but thankfully Ryan Fraser was feeling inspired and dragged the 3 points our way




Aberdeen 0-0 Kilmarnock


Scott Vernon is such a *****! Started the season with such promise and has been dire since!






League
View attachment 283204
Not quite the start we were looking for with two very disappointing home 0-0 draws standing out






Player of the Month

Scott Vernon
View attachment 283205


Despite having a awful end to the month his goals at the start left us in the top half of the table






Transfers


Aberdeen
Rangers youngster Derek Sneddon moves up in the world to join the Dons
View attachment 283208


Stephen Hughes was sold to Kilmarnock for £60k


Gary Naysmith joins Livingston on loan while youngster Kris Vigures joins St Johnstone on loan to get some match experience


Main transfers - End of the Transfer Window
View attachment 283206View attachment 283207




SPL
Mamadou Diakite - Motherwell - £525k
Stephen Hendrie - Inverness - £400k
Nigel Hasselbaink - Kilmarnock - £300k

 

September



Great start to the month by drawing at parkhead
Awful performances through the rest of the month in the league as the results got worse.
Comfortably beat Hamilton to reach the quarter finals against St Johnstone




Fixtures




Celtic 1-1 Aberdeen
Vernon


Celtic have come on leaps and bounds from last season and had so many opportunity to put this game to bed but we somehow held on to get a point from parkhead




Aberdeen 0-0 St Johnstone


Read all the other 0-0 draws we've had this season




Hamilton 0-2 Aberdeen - League Cup 3rd round
Soldan
Sneddon


16 years and 142 day old David Sneddon becomes Aberdeens youngest ever goalscorer




Hibs 2-0 Aberdeen


First league defeat of the season but certainly not our first poor performance.






League
View attachment 283216

Got a big point against Celtic but then inexcusably threw away 2 against St Johnstone and then were outplayed by Hibs to mark a poor end to a poor month



Player of the Month
Alex Manninger
View attachment 283215


Looks past the Hibs game he was the one reliable player we had.

 

October



Thanks to Soldan and Manninger i win manager of the month
Will go to Hampden for a second season in a row after beating St Johnstone. Will play Hearts in February
Neil Sullivan gets a game for Livingston aged 43 and 244 days




Fixtures




Livingston 2-3 Aberdeen
Soldan 3


Only the set piece skills of Soldan kept us from an embarrassing defeat! Our first win in 5 league games




Aberdeen 2-0 Dundee Utd
Considine
Cziommer


That was better. Got a huge assist from Richie Ryan for getting sent off just after we took the lead




Aberdeen 0-0 Inverness CT


Sigh!




St Johnstone 0-1 Aberdeen - League Cup Quarter finals
Soldan






League
View attachment 283218

Our form improves slightly. Defense seems to be bolted, except against Livingston. If our forwards start scoring then we'll be dancing






Player of the Month
Michal Soldan
View attachment 283217

The young Czech midfielder seems to be settling in and adding goals to his game. Hopefully others will follow his lead in November!

 

November



At last an unbeaten month!
Beat Hearts in battle for 2nd place
Thumped Raith but only scored 2 goals



Fixtures




Aberdeen 2-0 Ross County
Soldan
Hayes


Slowly were starting to look like we may have found some form. Very comfortable win for the first time this season




Aberdeen 2-1 Hearts
Sneddon
Considine


Poor Alex Manninger's long run of clean sheets went down the toilet with a utter blunder on half time. Luckily the Dons have started to remember how to score goals and a second half winner from captain Andy Considine was enough to lift us to second above the jambos




Motherwell 1-1 Aberdeen
Soldan


Have to be pretty grateful for the point as we again fluffed our chances in front of goals




Raith 0-2 Aberdeen - Scottish cup 4th round
Cziommer
Robertson


Dominated the game like crazy and well worth our win






League
View attachment 283224


Badabingbadaboom! Were back. Playing very well at the moment if not perfect in front of goal but that's something we can work on! Already settle into a fight for 2nd as Celtic are already 10 points up the road




Player of the Month
Michal Soldan
View attachment 283223


He won SPL young player of the month and continued to score for fun in the SPL

 
Last edited:

December


Christmas cracker of a match at Pittodrie being 2-0 and 3-2 down to finish with a 3-3 draw against Celtic
Vernon hands in a transfer request on boxing day
We seem to have remembered how to score goals!
Rob Milsom wins the Player of the month and Ryan Fraser wins Young player of the month




Fixtures




Dundee 1-0 Aberdeen


Ryan Fraser makes his 50th league appearance for the dons but had nothing to celebrate after we had another woeful attacking performance




Kilmarnock 1-5 Aberdeen
Fraser 2
Sneddon 2
Milson


Made two very minor tactical changes for today's game and hopefully I've filtered out the minor issue that was costing us goals, time will tell




Aberdeen 3-3 Celtic
Milsom
Sneddon
Bebe


Match of the season so far, evaluative higher with the quality of opposition. Was 2-0 down at half time and had settle for loosing to the best side in the league when after a rare angry half time message we came out and were quickly level at 2-2 but were to fall behind again for 2 minutes before Bebe ended the scoring with a goal of the month candidate. Brilliant ending to a brilliant game




St Johnstone 0-4 Aberdeen
Smith 2
Hayes
Sneddon


This is an unbelievable change in form in front of goal. 3 of my 4 attacking players hitting the back of the net on the day my senior striker hands in a transfer request!






League
View attachment 283222
Our defeat to Dundee gave Hearts the initiative to move 2 points ahead of us. Both of us closed the gap on Celtic however which is nice




Player of the Month
David Sneddon
View attachment 283221

"Remember the name!"

 

And thats it for tonight! Hopfully i'll get another update done on Monday but we'll see.
 
You're doing really well but Man U in the Europa League, that's just unfair.
 
You're doing really well but Man U in the Europa League, that's just unfair.

Especally in a 3rd round qualifyer. Thats just reduculous!


Well im delighted to announce my internet is back! Havent had any time to play Football manager since my update on friday
 
I be back in the world of the living now said person (if you want to play FM this week just holler) - looking good with the dandy dons!
 
Glad your updates are back, liking this story

Likewise. Hated having to store up a heep of months together like that and hope i had save the correct pictures and such like since it would be impossible to go back
 

January


Destroy New Firm rivals Dundee Utd at Tanadice, No night out to Fat Sams for them
Teams form helps me to win Manager of the month
Beat Hearts in the battle for 2nd place
Celtic pick up a Premiership and Irish legend


World Awards

View attachment 283872


Both the Golden ball and World player of the year went exactly the same way!




Fixtures




Aberdeen 2-0 Hibs
Sneddon
Smith


Hibs were very threatening through the 2nd half as the score stayed 1-0 but thankfully Cammy Smith put the game to bed making the last 10 minutes less stressful




Dundee Utd 1-5 Aberdeen
Milsom
Fraser
Smith 3


Scary to think we fell 1-0 behind and almost 2-0 if it hadn't been for the linesman




Aberdeen 2-0 Livingston
Hayes 2


This was far from our greatest hour. Game could have swung either way before a double from Jonny Hayes halfway through the second half won it for us




Inverness 1-0 Aberdeen


Good Run ends as we were very much 2nd best on the day. Celtic and Hearts also dropped points adding to our pain




Ross County 1-1 Aberdeen
Hayes


Third match i a row we've fell bellow expected standards so a big upturn is expected against Hearts or I'll have to call a team meeting. Considine's 225th appearance




Hearts 2-4 Aberdeen
Soldan
Smith 2
Cziommer


Clark Robinsons 75th appearance and what a game to mark the day! 0-0 at half time Hearts came flying out for the second half with 2 quick goals seemingly cementing there place in 2nd HOWEVER the dons were far from done and after Soldan pulled us back into Cammy Smith and a penalty from Cziommer completed a most surprising comeback






League
View attachment 283874

Celtic managed to stretch there legs this month lead by main signing Robbie Keane as Aberdeen and Hearts both dropped quite a few points in January




Player of the Month

Jonny Hayes
View attachment 283873

Assits, goals and a brilliantly timed comeback from injury




Transfer window


In

Back up keeper Danny Rodgers injured for 4 months so spent the last week of the transfer window hunting a keeper and eventually picked up this dude from the old folks home


Marcus Hahnemann
View attachment 283875


Would have liked a few more but the bank balance is bad so focus on youth im afraid is all i can do




Out


After requesting a move Scott Vernon was sold to Sheffield Wednesday for £200k


Declan McManus went on loan to Crystal Palace to get more 1st team football haha




Major transfers
View attachment 283876




SPL transfers
View attachment 283877


Hearts took over from Dundee Utd as the big spenders in the chasing pack while Celtic picked up Robbie Keane

 

February


Reach the league cup final where we'll play Motherwell, who we also beat in February
Beat Inverness in the cup so we reach the Quarter finals where we will race our season long rivals Hearts
Worrying end to the month with poor performances and results against Dundee and Kilmarnock at home




Fixtures




Hearts 0-1 Aberdeen - League Cup Semi Final AET
Cziommer


This was an illustration of just how close our teams are at the moment. All that Split us was a 111th minute penalty from the German midfielder to put us into my 1st final!




Aberdeen 2-0 Motherwell
O'G
Fraser


A warm up for the League Cup final Next month. Hopefully it goes as well as today's match




Aberdeen 2-0 Inverness CT - Scottish Cup 5th round
Hayes
Smith


Two of our forward had the match sewn up just after half time. Ryan Jack got sent off 5 minutes before then end but the match was safe by then


QTR Final Draw

View attachment 283903




Aberdeen 2-2 Dundee
Sneddon
Soldan


Two key moments made this match. Dundee's Late equalizer and Ryan Frasers disallowed equalizer right on half time which would have swung the game our way i think




Aberdeen 1-2 Kilmarnock
Fraser


Goals at the ends of both half's gave Kilmarnock a deserved win. No idea what's gone on with our defense at the end of this month






League
View attachment 283901


A disappointing end to the month signals the end of our distant title challenge and now its looking like a fight with Hearts for 2nd






Player of the Month
Ryan Jack
View attachment 283902

 

Scottish League Cup Final 2014
View attachment 283939


From Hampden park
View attachment 283940




View attachment 283942View attachment 283941


Aberdeen VS Motherwell




Team news


Aberdeen
Old man in town Russell Anderson just isn't quite fit enough to make it into the squad . Only other players missing are Long term injury victims Danny Rogers and Michael Feisthammel




Motherwell
Tom Hateley is on the verge of a return from injury but not quite there yet





The Match


5 - Aberdeen 1-0 Motherwell - Milsom
Perfect Start!


13 - Aberdeen 2-0 Motherwell - Milsom

22 - Aberdeen 3-0 Motherwell - Milsom
Have you seen a faster hatrick!




HT - Aberdeen 3-0 Motherwell




46 - Aberdeen 4-0 Motherwell - Hayes

68 - Aberdeen 5-0 Motherwell - Fraser




FT - Aberdeen 5-0 Motherwell




For the first time since 1996 Aberdeen bring back some Silverware back to the north east. Whether the 5-0 victory or Milsom's hat trick in the first 22 minutes is my favorite achievement but winning the cup is a absolute delight. Were Bringing this home!

View attachment 283943

 
Top