Outside90’s David Votoupal continues his look at the 2015-16 resurgence of Aberdeen FC.
Following Sir Alex Ferguson would be no easy task for any manager. In fairness, Aberdeen had foundations for success laid as far back in the 1965 with the appointment of Hibs legend Eddie Turnbull (who would later manage Hibs with some success). The club would spend much of the 70s in the upper-echelons of the Scottish League, which underwent reconstruction in 1975 with the introduction of a 10-team format, periodically changing to 12 teams and then back to 10, then 12 again since 2000. Ferguson’s success with St Mirren, winning promotion with a young team in 1977, left a legacy that saw them hold their own in the top-flight for 15 years. Likewise, he left a legacy at Aberdeen that would endure for some years after his departure, with a core group of players and a youth system that churned out some of Scotland’s more promising players at the time. It is worth noting that when appointed in 1978, he did benefit from a group of players who were already there – as many successful managers elsewhere had.
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His successor was Ian Porterfield, famous for scoring the winning goal for Sunderland against Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup Final. He had began his career in Scotland with Raith Rovers, but had long been away from the Scottish game. As a manager, he had won promotion with Rotherham United and two promotions with Sheffield United, in the latter case taking them to a higher League position each season. Over the next two years, Aberdeen would maintain fourth place and were still hard to beat, although with not quite the same sparkle. In the 1987-88 season, they played a memorable League Cup final with Rangers, finishing 3-3 and losing on penalties. The new man in charge also brought Charlie Nicholas back to Scotland.
In the summer of 1988, however, Porterfield was replaced by Alex Smith, who worked alongside Jocky Scott. Smith had considerable managerial experience, 12 years in charge of Stirling Albion had brought promotion to the second tier, but also saw a relegation season during which they failed to score for eight months. After moving to St Mirren, he won the Scottish Cup in 1987. His nearly four years in charge of Aberdeen coincided with the beginning of Rangers’ domination of the Scottish League, during which Celtic floundered on-and-off the field and left Aberdeen as their main challengers. Indeed, the Dons finished runners-up to Rangers in five seasons out of six, the exception being 1991-92 when Hearts took second.
For three years running under the management of Alex Smith and Jocky Scott, Aberdeen were not only perpetually second on the table, but also won the League Cup and Scottish Cup in the 1989-90 season. It was in the following time around in 1990-91 that Aberdeen mounted their strongest post-Ferguson challenge for the League Championship. With Dutch imports Theo Snelders and Hans Gillhaus, Englishman Paul Mason and homegrown youngsters Eoin Jess, Stephen Wright and Scott Booth joining players like Stewart McKimmie, David Robertson, Alex McLeish, Brian Irvine, Grant Connor and Jim Bett, the team played some fine football and a superb run of form placed them top of the League on goal difference going into the last day of the season. Aberdeen travelled to Ibrox Park to face Rangers in a title decider, which they ultimately lost 2-0. No side outside of the Old Firm has come so close to winning the League since then, let alone taking it to the last day of the season. Given the quality of football played in the years under Smith, Aberdeen fans may have good reason to believe they should have won it there and then.
The following season, Alex Smith was shown the door after a poor league run followed a decent start to the season. He was replaced by Willie Miller, one of the club’s all-time greats as a player and one of the very best defenders in Scotland in his time. As a manager, he initially did well and Aberdeen finished 1992-93 as runners-up to Rangers domestically and in both Cup competitions, with players like Lee Richardson, Duncan Shearer and Mixu Paatelainen thrown into the mix. The following season saw the Dons finish only three points behind Rangers. 1994 was in some ways a pivotal year for Scottish football. Celtic teetered on the edge of bankruptcy before a takeover saved the club and began a revival in its fortunes. Miller undertook a renovation of the Aberdeen squad, with very poor results. Veteran players who had been part of success for a long time had not been replaced by anyone of comparable quality, and money had been misspent.
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By 1995 Aberdeen not only looked like a spent force, they were facing a relegation battle. Willie Miller was replaced by Roy Aitken, and Aberdeen needed a play-off to avoid relegation. While a League Cup and a distant third place followed the next season, a depressingly familiar pattern was to take hold for the years to come – occasional good finishes but otherwise muddled in mediocrity and sometimes worse. They were only saved from relegation in 2000 by virtue of League reconstruction, a stark decline in the space of a decade from being a power of Scottish football. The lowest point came in 2010 with a 9-0 loss to Celtic.
Whereas in the post-Ferguson period a succession of managers – Porterfield, Smith and initially Miller – had benefited from a legacy left in terms of playing staff and youth system, and were able to keep Aberdeen there or thereabouts, the period since the mid-90s was one of squandering and continuous decline in stature and standards. A hard fall from not merely the Ferguson years, but a nearly three-decade period from around 1965 to 1994 where Aberdeen were almost without exception part of the upper crust of the Scottish game.
In view of this, the turnaround under Derek McInnes to become title contenders for the first time since the early 90s deserves nothing less than praise. While Aberdeen’s long decline mirrored that of Scottish football, it may be a tougher task to resurrect Scotland’s European standing.
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