ABERDEEN supporters are currently basking in the warm afterglow of their best start to a new season in 39 years, a run of form in competitive matches which their team has not enjoyed at the beginning of a campaign since way back in 1985.
Their wins over Queen of the South, East Kilbride, Airdrie and Dumbarton in the group stages of the Premier Sports Cup and St Johnstone and St Mirren in the William Hill Premiership have given Dons fans grounds for enormous optimism.
Not since Alex Ferguson’s final term at Pittodrie, a time when Jim Leighton was in his pomp, Alex McLeish and Willie Miller were the brains and brawn of an impregnable defence, Jim Bett patrolled the midfield, Joe Miller and Peter Weir jinked and jolted past rival full-backs and Frank McDougall plundered goals for fun, have they had it so good.
Their followers are loving the joy of six and are cautiously optimistic there is even more pleasure to come. Aberdeen are strong favourites to get the better of Championship outfit Queen’s Park in the second round of the League Cup at home tomorrow afternoon and make it seven victories out of seven.
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They should enjoy it while it lasts. No disrespect to the opponents they have faced so far, but greater challenges lie ahead in the coming months. Yes, Jimmy Thelin’s reign could not have gone any better to date. However, the real test of the cerebral Swedish coach and his new-look team will come in October when they face Hearts, Celtic, Dundee United and Rangers.
Adapting to life without Bojan Miovski will certainly be tough. Aberdeen have played an absolute blinder with the North Macedonian striker. They brought him in for £600,000, a considerable outlay for them, two years ago and sold him to Spanish outfit Girona for a record £6.8m fee this week. That welcome windfall should help to ensure their on-field prosperity and off-field stability for some time to come.
They will, though, miss the 25-year-old, who topped their scoring charts in both of the seasons that he spent in this country, leading the line. Can one of their existing forwards fill the massive void which the clinical and intelligent finisher has left up front? Will they be able to bring in a replacement who can perform similar heroics in the remaining days of the summer transfer window? It will be a big ask.
But the money which Aberdeen have banked from transfers – they made £3m for Ross McCrorie and Ylber Ramadani last summer and over £7m for Lewis Ferguson and Calvin Ramsay the year before – has enabled them to increase the wage bill and improve the overall strength of the first team squad. That could prove to be significant.
Thelin, who was headhunted after working wonders during his six year stint at Elfsborg in his homeland, has shown that he expects every outfield player in his starting line-up, his defenders and his midfielders, not just his strikers, to score goals.
His favoured style of play – fast counter-attacking football, a lot of bodies being committed forward in possession, numerous chances being created in the final third – is already glaringly obvious.
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There is great excitement in the north-east about what the Finnish winger Topi Keskinen can add to the party. Having set Aberdeen back a cool £860,000, the second most they have lavished on any footballer after Paul Bernard, there will be huge pressure on the 21-year-old to justify his price tag.
But his manager likes to have width in his teams so Keskinen – who, by all accounts, makes Steve Heighway at his peak look slower than a week in HMP Grampian - could theoretically improve Aberdeen even further still. Brace yourselves for a few Flying Finn headlines folks.
Thelin’s predecessor Barry Robson also got off to a sensational start after succeeding Jim Goodwin on an interim basis at the start of last year. He landed the job full-time in March following a hot streak of seven straight victories. He was hounded off the premises by fuming punters back in January during a wretched run.
However, the current incumbent of the Pittodrie hotseat, who was brought in following a holistic review of football operations which was carried out by the consultancy firm BPTC headed by the renowned German coach Bernhard Peters, has the vital experience which Robson lacked.
Aberdeen should, despite failing to make the top six last season, be setting their sights high. With Rangers looking unconvincing on the park and in a state of some disarray off it at the moment, is second spot in the Premiership achievable? Why not? A club of such size and stature should have heady ambitions.
Finishing runners-up in the top flight ahead of the Ibrox club next May would really give their supporters reason to cheer.
