Rebuild the Bridge a Step at a Time

Even in a season where we have had to put up with seeing weakened sides taking the field, tomorrow’s game at St Johnstone will see the Dandies squad down to the bone. The positive side of this is that a good few home grown youngsters will be involved on the bench and maybe in the team. The downside is that the Saints have been having a decent season and will be slavering at the target of 7th place in the SPL.
The Dons will have to face up to the challenge and battle to get us the three points, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have a go. With nothing much to lose but plenty to gain in terms of repairing a bit of the damage done this season, they should be all out to do their best to give the travelling support something to shout about.
The pelters that the players and the Club have taken this season is understandable because nobody wants to see their team losing as often as has happened, but it is weird to have witnessed a much worse season in 1999/2000 under Skovdahl and recall that a significant chunk of the crowd were happily chanting the manager’s name and forgiving the fact that we were actually relegated. Only Falkirk’s slum-like ground saved Aberdeen from facing the drop into Division 1 - a division notoriously hard to get out of. Who knows where we might have been now if we had gone down. Did anybody think that dear old uncle Ebbe would have guided us back to the top league anytime soon?
This season we have had a miserable time, but the majority of defeats were by the odd goal and quite often they could have ended with an odd goal victory. A lot of the games were actually quite good to watch but results are everything and now we need to see the side recreating itself for a much better performance next season. With the financial state of Scottish football in general, that improvement is going to have to come in part from the youngsters that have featured this season and a few who might yet. When the manager is looking to sign new, more experienced players, let’s hope that he’ll be seeking to bring in men who will do a job for us not only in strengthening the team but in bringing on the younger players who will play such an important part of our future.