The Dons are a club in turmoil. Following a historic Scottish Cup win (which was their first in 35 years), Aberdeen have experienced a mixed, but ultimately very poor season, resulting in the sacking of club hero Jimmy Thelin back in early January. Resident Don Thomas Harper gives a breakdown on what has been a campaign to forget for Granite City punters, and the recent history of the club since 2021.
Aberdeen have been stuck in a cycle of mostly mediocrity since the departure of Derek McInnes in 2021, with league finishes of 10th, 3rd, 7th and 5th being achieved by the Dons, with five managers replacing the current high-flying Hearts boss since then. No matter how you feel about the somewhat inevitable end of McInnes’ time at the club, you cannot argue that the club is missing something he was able to bring in spades to the North East since. Stability. Aberdeen are craving to no longer be the shoogly peg of an organisation of they are right now, Dave Cormack has done a sterling job of providing extra revune to the club, with a highly successful trading model in the past, but the very same business model has now gotten in the way of a team that should always be in Europe, but clubs of our ilk on paper do not deserve a guarentee to play on the big stage and fail to beat Armenian minnows. The current squad can be described as follows.
“Big pedigree players” who joined the club with massive fanfare, only to be a shadow of the player advertised. “Project players” who are still too raw and/or inexperienced to be playing top division football, players who are interchangeable from one another and fail to nail down a starting spot and men who are seemingly invincible in the lineup despite making mistakes week in and out. For large spells this season, the club has provided a masterclass on how not to build on such a massive occasion as the Scottish Cup Final. Over 100,000 people attended the cup parade. It is a city that truly cares about its football club, a football team with a lot of potential to kick on and knock on the doors of the Scottish Football establishment, but if a group of players consistently let down a passionate supporter base, it will inevitably drown that fire in the stands with a tsunami of apathy and numbness towards said group. Yes, some of the blame needs to lie with Thelin for his setup, tombola squad selection and his team’s lack of fight, but other areas of the football club need to accept responsibility.
Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel has a big task on his hands to replace the manager, but in recent weeks it can be argued that this squad of professionals need to take a massive look at themselves in the mirror too. The squad is underperforming, sleepwalking towards danger if they are not careful, and arguably needs yet another cull. A damning cycle that will inevitably become damaging for the “Football Monitoring Board”.
A Manager Hunt That May Become Pointless Next January
Stephen Glass, Jim Goodwin, Barry Robson (interim & permanent), and Neil Warnock (interim) were all appointed by the club under Chairman Dave Cormack. All were flops, despite some decisions at the time being praised by the wider Scottish footballing crowd. The now Cork City boss Barry Robson oversaw a miraculous 3rd-placed finish during his interim period, which saw the club rocket up the table due to a run of seven consecutive wins and overtake Heart of Midlothian in the final weeks of the 2022-23 season. After his appointment, the club sacked Robson on the final day of January. This was due to a winless run that saw the team languishing in 8th place (sound familiar?). Cormack was essentially forced to appoint him, but other decisions consisting of Stephen Glass, Jim Goodwin and Neil Warnock, were all disasters that were his call. Since then, he has provided himself with decision-making barriers to ensure his emotions do not cloud his judgment, something admirable at the very least to admit when you were wrong.
CEO Alan Burrows was appointed in 2023 and Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel was given the gig late last year, with the German Pfannenstiel in control of the managerial final call. With a miserable track record of managerial chopping in recent memory, do I have the full confidence in the Dons finding a mystical fairy godfather who can help the club surge up the table? No, not fully.
The club have been subject to more “ridicule” because Lutz Pfannenstiel was in the dugout with Peter Leven during the Dons’ 2-0 away loss to Rangers, despite this being a very common practice in other countries. While the club deserves the flak at times, this was an unnecessary dig from the media and shows that Scottish football will yet to evolve for some time. The decision was made public when the club announced Thelin’s sacking, stating that this would be the case during the team’s interim management stage; it wasn’t a major surprise if people had bothered to read. Not exactly breaking news that a man who used to be a manager, and is in charge of the club’s footballing identity, provides help with the football side of Aberdeen’s operations? Weird.
Aberdeen now have the unfortunate task of finding a man who can turn around a squad with shattered confidence into a group of players who can consistently grind out results in one of the most unpredictable league seasons in recent memory. Pfannenstiel has a great track record of improving every club he has been a part of, most recently St Louis City, a brand new MLS side in 2020, appointed the German to oversee recruitment. During his tenure stateside, the “soccer” club earned a ton of media adulation for their high‑pressing style and successful 2023 debut campaign, finishing at the summit of the Western Conference regular season standings. He was also involved at Hoffenheim from 2018 to 2020 as their head of scouting, where he was able to find such gems as Roberto Firmino, so there is a feeling that Pfannenstiel could change the atmosphere of the club, but only time will tell. The bookies favourtie at a point was St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson, but now fingers are pointing towards ex Hoffenheim, Hamburg and FC Köln boss Markus Glidol will provide his expertise, but it is still too early to call. We could see a new man in the dugout next month, but my money is on an old friend of Lutz’s, or a returning character to the Scottish game, as the club aims to focus on returning to a homegrown core with a manager with knowledge of the leagues.
A Squad Failing To Respond
Important leaders in the Aberdeen dressing room include Graeme Shinnie, Mats Knoester, Stuart Armstrong, Dante Polvara and Nicky Devlin, all of whom have called upon themselves and the squad to prove their worth to the fans in recent weeks. The club seem hellbent on sending out these players to talk up a game they cannot play.
I have lost count of how many times a Dons player in the last 5 years has said, “Aye it’s not good enough, we need to kick ourselves into gear, and continue to spew out stereotypical footballing words such as togetherness in the group and the lads need to put in a good shift next time out. That will get the fans on board”, and proceed to conjure up performances that instantly invalidate what they tell the media. Do they care? Aye probably. Their stock going into the transfer window has dwindled; their escape route looks less and less probable due to their own failings as footballers.
The mentality of the squad is a massive worry. When the Dons concede the first goal of a game, guess how many they end up fighting back to win? That’s right mate, none! It was always funny when the club provided more of a fight to the likes of Shakhtar Donetsk and AEK Larnaca than Livingston and Falkirk, but alas this is one of many issues in the squad. It’s too big, too many players are similar to one another and consists of new signings devoid of any confidence.
Take Nicolas Milanovic, the winner of last season’s Johnny Warren Medal (A-League Men Player of the Year) and the PFA Harry Kewell Medal (Best Young Player). The former Wanderer’s hero has been transformed from a dynamic goal-scoring winger who likes to cut onto his left foot like Arjen Robben, to a man who fails to beat his man, tries unnecessary skills for the sake of it and lacks a clinical edge. Jesper Karlsson, who joined the club on loan with seconds to spare on Deadline Day from Bologna, is just a better version of Milanovic, who at the very least scores a few goals, but is nowhere near the player the Italian club paid AZ Alkmaar €10,000,000 for. Stuart Armstrong, who is either the best player on the park with his passing range and technical ability, or one of the worst on it, loves to pass the ball to his opposing man. Former city group stalwart Ante Palaversa, Vicente Besuijen, “Pistol” Peter Ambrose, summer signing Kusini Yengi (less we say the better), Leighton Clarkson (baffling if we let him go but I wouldn’t blame him) and Dante Polvara (who has been linked with Hibs) have all been linked with moves away from the club, with Besuijen looking set to return to FC Emmen on yet another loan (where last time out, he ended up scoring 5 goals in 15 during their near promotion season from the Eerste Divisie in Holland).
To give the team credit, and to make sure this negative rant shows some sort of light, Aberdeen have promoted the fact they are looking for a motivator and a man of leadership to take the helm at Pittodrie; they are not blind to the lack of response to the Thelin regime.
Can The Club Achieve Their Goals?
No. Probably not. BBC Scotland commentator Liam McLeod encapsulated the situation in just a short sentence: “Aberdeen’s league season is on the brink of total collapse”. They can forget about Europe this season; all the clubs have something that the Dons do not possess, a mentality. Their second 2-0 loss to Rangers in just a week provided the world with quite a few stark statistics. It was the tenth time in twenty-two games that the club fired a blank in a premiership match, four of their last goals conceded came from set pieces, and their record against the top seven sides this season is just one win in thirteen, including a loss to Wilfred Nancy’s Celtic where the club were dominated from start to finish. With the millions they have spent in recent memory, it is nothing short of embarrassing from top to bottom.
A January transfer window strategy can now be forgotten thanks to the team’s underperformance that led to a managerial sacking. That same squad of players are now facing a situation that quite a few members of the dressing room have found themselves in for the last five years. Maybe lads, just maybe, you’re part of the problem too. I will never turn my back on this football team; it’s the disease disguised as love that ensures I am trapped with you for eternity, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
