A day of the week

Nothing like a quiet final week of the season, winding down slowly to a relaxing summer away from the terraces. Not at Aberdeen Football Club though, oh no. We don't do things by half measures. To say this week has been rather bizarre would be a massive understatement. Now that i've had time to catch my breath and the dust has settled, lets have a wee recap.

Ok, the first major 'incident' of the week would be the choice of many of the first team 'stars' to go out on a drunken rammy 4 days before arguably our biggest match of the season. Several questions need to be asked and answered. Firstly, why couldn't they wait till after the final game. Secondly, why would Gary McDonald have his stag do in Aberdeen, on a Tuesday, but more importantly why would he go to the Priory? Beggars belief. And thirdly (and most importantly) did the club know about this 'session'? No wonder we can't string a couple of wins together.

Not only this, but one of our better performers this season, Mark Kerr, getting a fractured eye socked and arrested for assault, thus missing said vital match on the weekend. Read the good news here.

So, the dust has settled on that little episode and it's off to todders on a sunny Sunday afternoon to hopefully sign off with a win for the season. A crowd of about 15,000 was inside Pittodrie and got right behind the team from the off (despite the incident earlier in the week). My main worry was the sight of Dick Foster at centre back (although 'fozzy' is completely inept in any position). We created a host of chances in the early exchanges, but went ahead through a very bizarre incident. Ma-Kalamaty blasted the ball off a retreating Lee Miller and it rolled harmlessly into the back of the net. No-one knew whether to laugh or celebrate, but welcome it most certainly was. It calmed the nerves however, with news also filtering through that the currant buns were ahead through that vile excuse for a human being, laugherty.

The post was hit, more half chances were squandered but right on the stroke of half time up stepped Mulgrew to curl home a fantastic free kick into the bottom corner. Game over surely? Don't be silly.... right from the restart, a Hibs goal. Riordan, and fozzy well and truly skinned. 2-1. Half time. Over at Tannadice, 2-0 Rangers. Europe was still on the cards.

Into the second half. More chances wasted. We looked VERY nervous. Hibs are reduced to 10 men when Pawlett skips round Murray only to be hauled down in his stride. A Lee Miller free kick is goal-bound until a wicked deflection takes it wide. We get a penalty, which Aluko misses (but to be fair the keeper makes a great save). It's tense stuff, and to be fair to Hibs, they are up for the game. We hang on though and it's a return to European football next season. Praise the lord. Match reaction is here.


That's not the end of the story for the day however, not by a long shot. There had been rumors of an announcement from the club on the Monday. Things seemed to gather pace after the game however that the management team had left with immediate effect. This was finally confirmed by the club later in the evening. Their statement as follows. To say it was a bit of a shock is an understatement. Was he pushed? Did he jump? I think it's fair to say it was a bit of both. So who is next for the poison chalice? Willie Miller, Mark McGhee, Lee Richardson, John Hughes? Just some of the names being banded about.

One thing is for sure, they had better get him in quickly, and get the right man, or there will be egg on faces all round (not in a Kirk Broadfoot way though). Until next season.

Ok, so two games to catch up on here, and both rather controversial it has to be said. First up it was Hearts at Pittodrie. And a 'must win' it was for ourselves to keep our Europa League hopes alive. The end result was a rather pathetic 0-0, with Hearts responsible for some rather shocking time wasting from the off.

The theatrics were highly evident throughout, and Lee Miller must be given credit for rolling Bruno Aguiar back off the pitch after he went down like he had been shot on the touchline. Miller should also have gained us a penalty when he was man handled in the box, but not one thing was going for us. Hearts were also reduced to 10 men yet again when Zaluska was red-carded for a petulant kick at MaGuire.

We only have ourselves to blame however as we missed a glut of chances to finish the game off. Jamie Smith in particular missed two gilt-edged chances and then was unfortunate enough to injure himself and effectively end his Aberdeen career. Thanks for the memories smudger. The match reaction is here. So Europe was effectively out the window as we now needed a win at Ibrox coupled with other results going our way. No danger.

And so on the the hunnery we boldly march, and the alarming thing is that it was even more controversial than the Hearts game, not to mention quite embarrassing for the unwashed scum. The game itself was proving to be rather open and competitive for a change until a late challenge from behind by Lafferty on Mulgrew. The two squared up and Lafferty went down like the proverbial sack of tatties. On seeing the replay I (along with pretty much everyone else) went livid at such a blatant example of cheating. It highlighted everything that is wrong with 'modern day' footballers. A total embarrassment to his club.

The Dons were not daunted however and actually performed very well when down to 10 men. Then came the next talking point. The ball was fired into the Dons box and Bougherra went studs first into Langfields face (not like a Rangers player to do that to one of our keepers eh?). Now, dangerous it most certainly was, but the following red card wouldn't have happened had the ref not made a horses arse of the earlier incident.

Into the second half we go and lose two goals in quick succession. A 'Ravishing Ricky Foster' own goal followed by poor marking on Kenny Miller by el Dick yet again and that's it.... 2-0 down. The faint European hopes gone.

But hark... wait.... what's that? A goal. For the Dons. At Ibrox????? Surely not!!! Paton comes off the bench to score his first Dons goal with a great little finish. This sets up a tense finale, but it simply isn't meant to be. Ah well, we can safely say we were anything but embarrassed by today's performance. Highlights here.

And to cheer us up a little more, Hearts thunp United 3-0. If we win next week, Europe is still possible. How this has happened I have no idea. Lets hope we can round off the season in style.

I decided against a trip to Tannadice following the shambles that was the previous trip to Scumdee (result and car troubles not withstanding). Instead I settled for watching the game on BBC Alba to see our glorious heros making another stride towards a European spot.

Although it didn't really pan out like that (it never does). We seemed to come out of the blocks quite well, but then it all went horribly wrong and United were all over us for most of the first half. So it was a great surprise when we took the lead with a wonderful overhead kick from Lee Miller. It was a sublime finish when Severin nodded down a corner kick into the path of big Lee.

It was to be short lived however, as some woeful defending from Charlie Mulgrew allowed United a sloppy (JC mannerisms ahoy) equaliser just 4 minutes later. In the second half we were playing some great stuff until things took another turn for the worse 15 minutes from time. Mark Kerr (just back from suspension) was sent off again for foul and abusive language. One of our more experienced pros should know better than this and it was backs to the wall for the remainder of the game. Match reaction is available here.

All in all we could think ourselves fortunate to come away with a point and its now a must win game against Hearts at Pittodrie on Tuesday night. Lose that one and Europe will be nothing more than a distant memory.

Oh goody! I've got a hangover and the footy is a 12.30pm kick off. Oh goody, it's those unwashed minks Celtic yet again. Oh Goody, my phone/buzzer are going off and it's only 10am!

Yes, my cousin Stuart arrived early. I was still drunk, had very little sleep and was in no way excited for this upcoming match. Note to self, I really must quit drinking. But not today, oh no! The only thing that was going to prepare me for the forthcoming match, was another beer. And so off to the golf club we toddle. A quick refresher later and trying to avoid as much of the unwashed hordes as possible and we sidle into the 'theatre of dreams' (yes, perhaps i'm still drunk now) and settle down for the glorious day of football ahead.

One positive aspect was no need for a jacket today. It was sunny AND warm. Yes, I know, this is a rarity for the 'deen so we all took the opportunity to bask in the glorious sunshine.

And to be the fair, the first half of the match was almost as glorious. Maguire opened the scoring, heading in from a Mulgrew free kick. He should have scored another 2 in the first half, missing a glorious chance early on with a lob when clean through on Boruc.

It all went horribly, horribly wrong just on the stroke of half time (as always seems to be the case against the tatties). A woeful Considine own goal and the teams go in on level terms.

Surely the second half would see us come out fighting? Don't be so silly, Celtic are all over us, score another two terrible goals (with Considine the culprit for both) and it's all over. That being said, the referee did us no favours throughout the game awarding every 50-50 decision to Celtic. Not to mention the fact he didn't show any cards for Celtic players after a series of bad fouls, but produced one for youngster Pawlett after his first foul. Reaction here.

And to compound matters, Dundee United scored a last minute winner to effectively end our chances of Europe next season. Disaster. We now have to win at Tanadice this coming Thursday, I certainly can't see it....