ABERDEEN’S achievements over recent seasons, at least according to Rangers chairman Dave King, don’t count for much.
And, indeed, the team which has been closest to Celtic for the past three years will be swept aside in the coming campaign by the men from Ibrox. After all, they have signed plenty of players, including Aberdeen captain Ryan Jack, while the men from the North East are, on the face of it, haemorrhaging talent.
However, a closer inspection at what has been happening at Pittodrie, and what could occur over the next few weeks, paints a far more positive picture.
First of all, Derek McInnes stayed after realising his career would suffer if he had taken on Sunderland. True, he has lost good players – and Rangers also want key midfielder Kenny McLean – but his recruitment so far has been canny to say the least.
Greg Tansey is a proven Premier League player. So, too, Ryan Christie who will play in red for one more season, as will Greg Stewart who scored 32 goals in just over two seasons for a poor Dundee team before moving to Birmingham City.
McInnes wants Shaun Maloney, who today is set to reveal his next move, and if he were to join his hometown club then even at 34 the former Scotland talisman would stroll it up here. Same could be said for St Johnstone’s former striker and cult hero Stevie May, now at Preston, who is at the moment being lured to Aberdeen.
And yesterday, the club revealed that goalkeeper Joe Lewis, who enjoyed a superb season including an outstanding display in the Scottish Cup Final, agreed a deal until 2020. This is all good news.
Keeping McLean, a fine playmaker, and getting Maloney will be vital, but the notion Aberdeen are a spent force or coming to the end of a cycle, as Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha put it, is sheer nonsense.
McInnes is still there and surely has done more than enough to prove he is an excellent manager. The likes of Adam Rooney, Graeme Shinnie and Shay Logan remain, and while Jack, Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn will be missed, it could well be the case that their absence won’t be as keenly felt as some have suggested.
For me, Aberdeen remain the favourites to finish second which, and let’s be honest here, is all anyone else apart from Celtic can hope for. Rangers should improve; however, why anyone believes this automatically means they will leapfrog their old pals is baffling.
McInnes had his players back training yesterday as preparations began for their upcoming Europa League qualifier against either Ordabasy, from Kazakhstan or Bosnia’s NK Siroki Brijeg.The squad remains strong.
And even if McLean does go to Ibrox, Aberdeen will ask for more than £1million which would go right into the transfer kitty. We have been told the Rangers are coming for a few years now. Aberdeen are already there and will take a bit of moving.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel