Exorcising The Ghost Of 1991(Part I)

Last updated : 19 December 2007 By Stand Free Ed
NINETEEN Ninety-one. A year that provokes a number of emotions within Aberdeen fans, ranging from horror to desperate attempts at amnesia.

The outstanding team in the 1980s, Aberdeen had dominated the Old Firm et al on the domestic scene and won their first European trophies. This we all know.

After winning the Scottish Cup in dramatic fashion in 1990, there were signs that us Dons fans could expect more of the same in the rest of the decade as we had become accustomed to in the previous.

We had a promising management team of Alex Smith and Jocky Scott, a bunch of exciting youngsters coming through exemplified by the outstanding talent of Eoin Jess, and an 'old guard' spine of experience, led by captain Alex McLeish, to help them through the ranks. What could go wrong?

As it transpired, everything.

Season 1990-91 started inauspiciously, and by the turn of 1991 the Dons had a mountain to climb to catch Rangers at the top of the Premier League.

But climb that mountain they did, winning an incredible eleven games out of twelve on a charge to the top of the table by the final game of the season.

That game, against Rangers at Ibrox on 11th May 1991...er...I've forgotten what I was talking about.

(See what mean about the amnesia?)

A result of that game was that the tide of optimism at repeating the feats of the 1980s had turned virtually overnight. The fans suddenly realised that the club's management was very different now - we didn't have the confidence to go down to Glasgow and play to win.

It was like our world had been turned upside down - it wasn't just the result, but the paradigm shift in expectations. The effect was like a baseball bat to the face, and the result was a support that was angry and hurt.

Yet I, and thousands more, travelled down to Airdrie on 10th August 1991 for the first game of the new season, burying my fears and supporting the team - by memorably singing a song for every player and member of the coaching staff that was warming up before the game.

Despite going a goal down, we won 2-1. Could the management have learned from their catastrophic errors of the previous season? Was it just a blip?

We finished August that season on top of the league, after four wins (including one over Celtic) and a draw (at Tannadice). But a clue of what was to come arrived at the end of the month when the Dons crashed out of the Skol Cup to a poor Airdrie side 1-0 at home, and in September when perrenial whipping boys St Johnstone visited Pittodrie. 1-0 up at half time, the Dons managed to capitulate in the second half and lost 2-1.

Of course, another result of the game on the 11th of May was that Aberdeen qualified for the UEFA Cup and not the European Cup.

And ten days after the St Johnstone debacle, European unknowns Boldklubben 1903 arrived at Pittodrie.


To be continued...


Stand Free Ed