Across the space of two days last week, Aberdeen fans were dragged down memory lane only to emerge bruised and battered for their troubles.
Friday marked the 40th anniversary of plain old Alex Ferguson’s departure to Manchester United. It was an occasion for newspapers and TV bulletins to again recall the mind-blowing feats which led to the biggest club in Britain beating a path to Pittodrie.
Three Scottish championships, four Scottish Cups, a League Cup, the Cup Winners’ Cup and the Super Cup. The redrawing of the landscape of Scottish football.
There was something especially brutal about how those glories were juxtaposed beside the struggles of the soon-to-be former Dons boss, Stephen Robinson, 24 hours later.
After eight months of grim toil in the Granite City, the four-goal home thrashing the Northern Irishman suffered at the hands of Hibernian on Saturday blew away any lingering hope he retained of turning an increasingly desperate situation around.
A proven manager who was always simply the wrong fit for Aberdeen, Robinson will lick his wounds and come again.
Stephen Robinson is a proven manager who was always the wrong fit for Aberdeen
But while a failure to live up to Fergie’s impossibly high standards might have done for those in Robinson’s shoes in the years which immediately followed the great man’s move to Old Trafford, no Aberdeen supporter in their right mind views things through that prism these days.
The majority of those who watched Saturday’s capitulation weren’t even born when Fergie’s Reds were running rampage throughout Europe.
They appreciate that the slayings of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich which they watched on YouTube were the highlights of a golden era for the club. One they know is not coming back.
In 2026, the expectation is more modest and hardly unreasonable. That with the fifth-highest average crowd in the country, Aberdeen should be in the top six almost every year, frequently playing in Europe most seasons and winning the odd cup. Yet, they’re miles off that right now.
While Jimmy Thelin did deliver a day in the sun by beating Celtic in the Scottish Cup final last year, that success was an anomaly. There have been just two top-six finishes in the past five years, with two ninth-placed finishes and one in tenth spot.
Given all that, it’s difficult not to recall the old wisdom about being careful what you wished for.
In Derek McInnes’ eight seasons at the club between 2013 and 2021, the team never finished below fourth and were runners-up four years on the spin. The League Cup was also secured in 2014.
A run of consistency and success which supporters had long craved was soon forgotten. McInnes’ familiarity and loyalty were eventually held against him.
Five managers later, Aberdeen appear to be as far away from reclaiming their status as one of the Scottish game’s powerhouses as they’ve ever been.
‘I think we’ve been waiting on it for four or five years,’ said Gothenburg legend Alex McLeish.
‘There’s been some signs, obviously winning the cup that year. You think that’s a wee springboard for the coming season and then it’s all kind of middle of the league, lower end of the league.’
As Robinson cleared his desk last night, even those fans who didn’t want him at the club in the first place would have been reluctant to hold him entirely responsible for the current ills.
The Northern Irishman is demonstrably a good manager. He guided St Mirren to three top-six finishes and the League Cup.
Thelin performed wonders across a long period at Elfsborg. Two years ago, he had Aberdeen sitting on top of the table.
Jim Goodwin was humiliated at Darvel, but now has buoyant Dundee United believing again.
Even Stephen Glass, a left-field choice to succeed McInnes, went on to enjoy success with Memphis 901 and as assistant to Robbie Keane at Ferencvaros.
When a club appoints one manager who doesn’t work out, it’s logical to question the individual. If five managers crash and burn, it says more about the environment and the structure they work in.
‘What is the solution?’ asked McLeish. ‘It’s definitely always down to what kind of players you’ve got.
Jimmy Thelin lifted the Scottish Cup before his Aberdeen career ended in disappointment
‘It’s trying to get a team to function together. To have forwards that you know can score, to have midfielders that can show a bit of quality, beat a man, playing one-twos, being accurate with your passing. Every bit of quality comes into it.
‘The manager will always get the worse side of it, you know, because they can’t sack 20 players.’
While it’s too late to save Robinson, the club do appear to have moved to address this particular shortcoming.
Back in March, Darren Mowbray returned to Pittodrie as head of recruitment three years on from his first stint which saw the captures of Bojan Miovski and Ylber Ramadani.
The trouble is that the mish-mash of players who were recruited by Jordan Miles, Chris Badlan and Nuno de Almeida are plainly not good enough.
Mowbray, it must be said, didn’t get too much right in the summer, either.
It’s not just the failure to sign players with the requisite pedigree and character which dismays the Aberdeen supporters.
When it was clear that Thelin’s time was up in January, the Swede was shown the door without there being a replacement waiting in the wings.
While there were legitimate reasons why Eirik Horneland couldn’t commit at that moment, the Dons’ hierarchy needed a Plan B.
Sandro Schwarz came to the Granite City for talks but nothing materialised, with Peter Leven remaining in interim charge.
With the pressure growing, Robinson – a wholly unpopular choice – was unveiled nine weeks and four days on. None of this reflected well on anyone involved.
Lutz Pfannenstiel, the sporting director, has written a book on his adventures in the game which included his recollections of the time he kept a penguin in his bath.
As Aberdeen’s hopes for the season have gone down the plughole, he’s not uttered a syllable in public.
Sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel has had nothing to say during Aberdeen’s recent troubles
With former FA bigwig Adrian Bevington now in the chief executive’s role, Pfannenstiel’s input into the recruitment of the new manager will be interesting.
And what role does Dave Cormack have to play? No one doubts the chairman’s passion for the club or his financial commitment to it.
But after seven years in the post, Pittodrie, on his watch, has acquired the unfortunate reputation of being a place where managers crash and burn. And you begin to suspect they might not be the sum total of the issues.
‘Dave Cormack is a close friend and I know he’s done everything in his power to try and get the Dons to a level,’ said McLeish. ‘We saw that Scottish Cup final victory a couple of seasons ago, but the league positions are not what Aberdeen fans expect.
‘Dave will be agonising. You know what it’s like if you get something wrong. You can’t sleep at night.
‘Dave will have been through all that kind of rigmarole as well. There’ll be a big burden on him right now.
‘He’s been stoic and he’s stood by the club. He has to have massive credit for that. It’s just about getting Aberdeen to cement their name back at the higher echelons of Scottish football.’
Alex McLeish was speaking at the announcement of William Hill as official sponsor of Walking Football Scotland. To find your nearest game visit walkingfootballscotland.org
