|
Well I was gonna do a review of 2007 and declare it was a 'Nae Bad' year, but then I got pished and decided it wis shite and deleted it...tell ye what, we'll do a quick hurl through the SPL stuff first (cos it's mostly depressng) and then brighten ourselves up by talking about the delights of Euro fitba and making the Tin Pot Semis.
So we may as well start wi the Arabs game...missed this one masel having watched Man U-Arse game, got involved in a sesh, thought 'sod it why pay £21 tae be bored senseless when I can stay in the boozer instead and enjoy a sesh'...course sods law we actually produced one of our better performances in recent times and tore Harry Potter's trundlin uglies a new one. Lesson learnt? Aye well maybe.
Next up was the LSC away and some 'after you Claude...no, after you Tarquin' style defending resulted in a 4-1 pounding - a result which in light of the Yams recent 'form' (it may well be their last ever recorded win) gets more and more embarrassing with the benefit of hindsight.
Then a miserable 3-0 pounding at the Brendanbau, so it was a blessed relief when we finally came home and cuffed Hibs and then Killie in quick succession before our A90 blues hit us again with a 3-0 scuddin at Dingus's Dell.
Then a dismal home display against the Huns in which we showed no ambition against 10 men - indeed were played off the park for long spells and our 'attack minded' manager brought on a centre half in the form of Lee 'Night' Mair with 10 minutes to go. I assume Jimmy was waiting for his new bugle fae Suntie or summat.
It didnae get much better as Boxing Day saw us outplayed by a village side (days after sniggering at the Pikeys for losing to them) take an undeserved lead with minute to go, give a way a penalty, survive it and then still manage to give them a point...as Shane McGowan had it 'Merry Xmas yer arse! I pray to god it's our last'.
Surely we'd blow away a dire Smurn side? Well, we beat them with a late counter fae Lovigol but other than that... A standard win against Cannaebeatus Thistle brought in the bells and then for the second time in a fortnight we were outplayed by ten men and hung on for a draw against a side we usually horse...and worryingly play in the Cup this wikend.
See I telt ye it was depressing, having said all that we're tucked in there nicely placed for the run in so if we can just get oor fingers oot we should be quite comfortable because although I expect Hibs to come strong under Mixu and despite the progress made by Levein and Dingus with the Pikeys and Well, they lack the squad depth and experience to go the distance. And, of course, how Well react after the O'Donnell tragedy remains to be seen.
As for our other perennial rivals for the UEFA Spots at the Pink Bus Shelter...what's the phrase...oh aye...OH MA SIDES!
And so to the good stuff....Europe. Despite the schadenfreude at mocking Chick Young's pre-season prediction, I think most Dons were of similar mind to the Glasgae gub shite before the Euro campaign began, my expectations in August amounted to 'well I hope we dinna embarass oorselves'.
It's been a delight therefore to see us actually compete at this level - oh dinna get me wrong, Pana probably couldnae believe their luck when they played us as our naivity cost us and Atletico obviously just played with us and did all they had to do but other than that we've, in our own unsophisticated way, competed. Loko's touch and movement were on a different astral plane to ours but we posed them as many problems as they caused us and of course there was that wonderful wonderful night against Copenhagen...
Christ, Darren Mackie even managed to transform himself from useless haddy/official scapegoat into a player on a par with Drogba according tae some...hell, the Tactical Tombola that drives us to distraction domestically worked a charm in Europe n'aw...fah'd o thunked it?
Of course it will all end in Munich...outwith our daydreams I doubt many Reds (well those not in mental institutions or on medicataion anyway) expect us to win a leg let alone the tie. For me, all I want is to lead the tie at some point even if it's only for a few minutes...having witnessed the glories of the 80's and then wasted my best years being humiliated by Skonto, Bohs and Barry Town, those few minutes of glory would bring the whole thing full circle and give a bit of closure, as they say, to the Euro horrors of the last generation.The most troubling thing about this campaign will be next year, if we fail to make the groups or fail to get out the groups then some Reds will see it as failure. Let's not kid ourselves, we got through through a combination of luck and every result we needed to go for us doing so. Hell, even our victory over Dnipro was down to five seconds of inspiration and 93 minutes of determination.
But that's not to diminish the achievement of Tango and his squad - they've done us proud and it was the perfect way to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of the Glory of Gothenburg.
As for the Tin Pot, well to be honest it's hardly been noticed and we probably benefited by sitting out a round and allowing someone to knock Queens Park out for us.
Binman's Jakie Army were disposed of with little fuss and a Barry Nic hat-trick and Miller giving sub editors the chance to trot out their 'Caley Haloween Horror Show' headlines and now we have the chance of our first trip to Hampden in 8 years. I was spikin to Cuerv and the Barman after the Copenhagen game and we were saying it was brilliant for the younger loons (basically anyone under 30) to finally experience what a great European night at Pittodrie is like, and all they need now is to see and experience what a day out at Hampden with 23,000 Reds is like (ideally with a bit o silverware).
So there ye go, 2007 marked the first time in a generation that the Dons took advantage of the opportunities we created, indeed the club as a whole has a positive outlook about it with the Pittodrie issue finally heading towards a conclusion and we're now back at the level we should be at both domestically and in Europe.
Yes, our domestic form, well, pretty much since the 3-0 pumping we took at Ibrox in the spring, has been mid table at best and the UEFA campaign has masked/distracted us from that but even in the SPL it would only take a few results and the outlook become more postive and we can once again control our own destiny.
So why is there still an element of the support who dislike, in fact, openly loath our manager? Well you all know my opinions on the man (tactical tombola etc etc) but I think the way he reacted over the previous week to being given the largest non-OF budget in the next three years gives you a classic example...what message does it send to the players we're trying to re-sign if our manager acts like a spoilt wee bairn?
Anyway seeing as I havenae used any mangled metaphor in this review try this one... Few years back went out wi this lassie who was an unbeleivable ride - we're talking mind blowing shagging here...thing was, when she wasnae shagging me she irritated the shite out of me...my point: a couple of great mind-blowing nights disnae a great relationship make.
I accept he's now untouchable in terms of sacking him and can pretty much leave on his own terms, it's just I'm kinda hoping some Championship side comes along and flashes their baby blues at him and the relationship can end without to much recriminations on either side.
Onyway Stand Free etc etc,
The Red Avenger