View attachment 172067
Hi Guys, welcome back to the Scottish Revival. It’s obviously been a couple of months since I last updated this story, and to be truthful, I’ve just been playing other saves. I hope everyone can continue to enjoy the story as much as I am and hopefully I will be back writing for at least the next month or two.
As it’s a new year, I’ve decided to change a few things and one of those is the update style. I’ve been reading a lot of stories on the site and been really intrigued in the different styles of writing.
Things will be relatively the same in the writing style, but I will be changing the updates to two a season, basically we’ll have a midseason update letting you know how we’ve been going from the start of the season all the way up to January. That will then be followed by an end of season update basically giving you a recap of the second half of the season and a season review.
I’ve found doing monthly gets quite boring and tedious, and really put me off writing updates, kind of making it a chore than something I wanted to do. Updating you this way will hopefully allow me to enjoy it a lot more as well as continue writing this story.
Hopefully you all understand, so let’s get started with the 2023/24 season and our ninth in in the story.
KIT LAUCH
View attachment 172104
Another season, means another set of kits for Aberdeen. New Balance continue to be our kit manufacturer, but it’s their final year of their contract with the club so it’s quite likely we see a new logo on the kits next season.
PRESEASON
View attachment 172093
Preseason was very quiet only playing three games against much weaker sides. We smashed them, which gave the squad the morale it needed going into the season.
I may though, look back on this as a bit silly as we do have a couple of new players added to the squad who should’ve been utilised more in the first team.
TRANFERS
It was quite a busy transfer window, with many players coming in and out of the Aberdeen Stadium, almost a change of guard if you’d like to call it that.
View attachment 172102
We see some massive faces leave, with the first being
Ryan Fraser, a player who will forever be in the hearts of Aberdeen supporters after he scored a heroic goal to win Aberdeen its first Europa League. He was getting quite irritated after not getting enough first team football and was sadly sold to
QPR for £2.5mil.
Now the first of the massive departing players is
Michael Novikov for £22mil to
AC Milan. He came to us on a free transfer two season ago from
Hoffenheim and was an integral part of the clubs rise.
Denzil Scarlett was another to leave after just a single season in Aberdeen for £24mil, which was a quick little profit after he joined from
Mordoviya Saransk in Russia for free.
Two fan favourites in
Ryan Jack and
Fares Bahlouli also leave for £600k and £7.5mil respectively. Both players were massive parts of the transition from bottom of the table to an impressive European outfit, so it’s quite sad to see such players leave the club.
Gilberto our tireless midfielder was also shipped off for a profit to
Metalist Kharkiv for £5.5mil. He was unfortunately injured for an extended period last season and lost his place in the first team. It’s another one of those players I got quite close to even if he was here for a short period of time, so it’s quite sad to see him leave.
View attachment 172103
On the in’s, I’ve tried to save as much money as possible and try to get as much money back into the clubs coffers. I’ve sign three players on Bosman’s who will slot straight into the first team squad either as rotation options or key starting XI players.
View attachment 172101
The first is
Mario Silva who comes in from
Académica Coimbra. After selling off a couple of central midfielders I found we were quite weak in numbers, so Silva will be used in the defensive midfield position, but will be able to provide serviceable cover both at centre back and central midfield. The Portuguese wonderkid will be an integral part of our European run this season.
View attachment 172091
20 year-old
Carmelo Gonzalez comes in from
Elche as a replacement for Michael Novikov. Although probably not as good currently, I can see Gonzalez stepping up this year and making one of the winger roles his own.
View attachment 172092
I’ve been keeping tabs on
Celestino for years, probably since I was at
Dundee. He’s a very well rounded left wingback and to be able to bring in such a quality player on a free is incredible.
Real Valladolid have lost a potential Spanish International here.
BOARD EXPECTATIONS
The board expectations are as usual, try and win everything domestically and reach the group stages of the Champions League.
I feel like this may be the year in Europe. The squad is younger, it’s a real change of guard at the club and I’m really excited to see how we cope with this extra weight of the nation on our shoulders, as none of the rest of the Scottish clubs are helping out in Europe.
AUGUST
View attachment 172095
We started the year as expected going unbeaten throughout August. There were no real competitor throughout the first five matches although Dundee United did start the season relatively well winning three, draw one and losing to us.
View attachment 172094
So here’s the group. It’s tough, really tough.
SEPTEMBER
View attachment 172096
We began the month with a nil all draw against Dundee. We dominated the game all over, without any luck, and to be honest on any other day we could have won 4 or 5 nil. This match was then followed by another 0-0 bore draw. I was very tempted to change a few things tactically but fortunately I stuck to my guns and the team rewarded me with four comfortable victories, two in the League, one in the Champions League and one in the League Cup.
Our defensive record through September was outstanding, showing that keeping things the same can sometimes bring results in the long run.
OCTOBER
View attachment 172097
October was a month to forget, drawing league games against teams in the hunt for the title. The draw away in Turkey was avoidable and the loss to Bayern was incredibly disappointing.
It was a tough month, playing some tough sides and these games need to be won if we want to push further in Europe and keep our dominance over domestic competitions.
NOVEMBER
View attachment 172098
After a very poor October we were able to come out in November and really show teams what we’re about. Not conceding in the league and coming away with an unbeaten month, I really hope we can continue to run into December and then after Christmas.
View attachment 172099
The group is so close at the moment and it’ll come to the final game against
Galatasaray SK to see who will go through. Fingers crossed, we can come away with a win.
SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP TABLE
View attachment 172100
We sit at the top of the table four points ahead of Dundee who have a game in hand on us. I think although it’s still quite close we can improve after Christmas and take out the league quite convincingly. We’ve been struggling with a few injuries to key players and finding way to replace players we’ve lost over the summer, so with those hopefully ironed out we can push on.
Thanks again for reading, I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am. Join me very soon to see if we can continue our lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership. Until then, Catcha.
