With every week, the distinct possibility of Leicester City winning the Premier League increases, in a season where the giants of the English game have found news ways to flounder.
Some, such as Manchester City, are already taking steps to rectify this ahead of next season. Others, like Manchester United and Chelsea, are yet to do so. While media contemplates the possibility of a third post-Ferguson manager at Old Trafford, a no less unlikely situation is taking place north of the border where Aberdeen, whom Sir Alex Ferguson brought unprecedented success before heading south, have woken from their slumber to mount the first serious title challenge by a non-Old Firm team in years.
For the first time since Rangers’ bankruptcy and demotion to the bottom tier of the Scottish League system in 2012, Celtic are facing a serious threat. Since his appointment in 2013, Derek McInnes has restored the fortunes of Aberdeen FC, whose decline since the 1990s has mirrored that of Scottish football in general. A continuous drop in playing standards and the talent pool has been reflected in the poor showings of Scottish clubs in Europe (save for Celtic’s 2003 UEFA Cup run and that of Rangers five years later), as well as that of the national team – Scotland are the only one of the five British Isles teams absent from Euro 2016, whereas Wales and Northern Ireland have ended their long exile from appearing at major tournaments.
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Following wins over Celtic and St Johnstone, Aberdeen now find themselves level on points with the Hoops, albeit with Celtic having a game in hand. Pressure is now mounting on Ronny Deila, as for the first time the League is not the unprecedented foregone conclusion it has been since 2012. Whereas Celtic were far from unchallenged during their nine in-a-row (1965-74), and neither were Rangers for much of theirs (1988-97), the situation since 2012 has appeared like a one-sided contest. The dramatic reversal of this in 2015-16 is definitely one of the stories of the season. Aberdeen have finished runners-up for three consecutive campaigns, the first time they have done this in over two decades. They also ended a long trophy drought in 2014 by winning the League Cup. While there are many who feel a lack of competition may have contributed to Celtic slipping, this does not take away the remarkable progress made by McInnes’ side over the last three years. At the same time, whereas the English leagues have seen a gradual narrowing of the gap between its wealthiest and smaller clubs, evidenced by this season’s Premier League, the belief that the gap in Scotland may have been even more insurmountable has been demolished.
There is a certain irony in the emergence of Aberdeen as serious challengers to Celtic. In the post-Ferguson period, Aberdeen did not experience a decline, but in fact would become the main threat to Rangers dominance for the first six years of their nine in-a-row. Indeed, Dons fans will have good reason to believe they should have won at least one League Championship in that period.
In the space of seven years, Aberdeen took home three League championships, the European Cup-Winners Cup, four Scottish Cups and one Scottish League Cup. Along with Dundee United, they represented the first breaking of Old Firm domination of Scottish football since the successes of the Edinburgh clubs Hibernian and Hearts during the 1950s. In 1985-86, Ferguson’s last full season in charge, Aberdeen were competing on four fronts – domestic, European Cup, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup, winning the latter two competitions. While fourth place may have been disappointing given all the glory that had come, it was a very busy season for not only the Dons but also Ferguson, who had taken charge of the national team following the passing of Jock Stein and faced Australia in the play-offs to qualify for Mexico. Aberdeen also reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup, edged out by IFK Gothenberg (ironically from the city where they had triumphed over Real Madrid three years later) only on away goals. Winning a quadruple that season was not out of the realms of plausibility though. Celtic won their last eight games to pip Hearts to the title in a dramatic conclusion to the Scottish top-flight. But on the horizon were dramatic developments that would alter the nation’s football landscape dramatically once more.
While the Aberdeen squad was a strong one, it was also one that was undergoing a gradual regeneration. The backbone of the team included Jim Leighton in goal, the legendary central-defensive pair of Alex McLeish and Willie Miller, full-back Stewart McKimmie, midfielders Jim Bett, Neil Simpson, Jim Bett, Neale Cooper, Billy Stark and John McMaster, winger Peter Weir and strikers John Hewitt, Eric Black and Frank McDougall. At the same time, there were emerging young players in Brian Grant, Brian Irvine, Willie Falconer, David Robertson, Paul Wright and Joe Miller. The following season, Ferguson signed Bobby Connor and Davie Dodds.
In November 1986, Alex Ferguson left Aberdeen to begin his 27-years in charge of Manchester United. The game, on both sides of the border and beyond, changed immeasurably in those years, during which Ferguson and his United teams were among the central contributors. It is interesting to note that the common consensus was that the Scotsman retired in 2013 leaving Manchester United facing a decline and in need of regeneration, despite winning a Premier League title. At Aberdeen, on the other hand, it appears that some sort of regeneration was taking shape with enough of a legacy left to keep going.
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