Derek McInnes’s side have an itch to scratch in the League Cup final against Celtic on Sunday and a trophy would sit well for a club with off-pitch developments in the worksIt would be no consolation to Brendan Rodgers but if Aberdeen were to be the side to loosen Celtic’s grip on Scottish domestic silverware, that outcome would seem fair. There will be debate about how meaningfully they have done it but no team have recently threatened Celtic more than Aberdeen. The Dons have been runners-up for the past four seasons.Under Derek McInnes, Aberdeen have an itch to scratch. Six semi‑finals and three finals have returned one trophy, the 2014 League Cup. McInnes takes his players back to the final...
The lifelong fan travels to Aberdeen to celebrate the club’s return to European competition“One-nil to the Sunday league, one-nil to the Sunday league ...” There was a period on Thursday night when Aberdeen were leading us off the pitch as well on it.That particular piece of Aberdonian self-mockery was designed to highlight the “gulf” between the Premier Leagues of Scotland and England. A £3m wage bill was leading £61m thanks to a first-half penalty from Gary Mackay-Steven. Sam Cosgrove, a £20,000 signing from Carlisle, was leading the line for Aberdeen against internationals who earn that in a few days. If the “gulf” cliche had had a fair run-out in the buildup to this Europa League tie, so did that old...
Fifty years ago this week, the United Soccer Association title was decided in a 6-5 thriller. The teams in action were even more remarkable than the scorelineIt happened so suddenly that the Washington Whips goalkeeper Bobby Clark didn’t know what hit him. Los Angeles Wolves full-back Bobby Thomson drove in a dangerous cross that deflected off a defender’s leg, past Clark and into the goal. And just like that, the first and only United Soccer Association championship game was over. “It was the first time I had ever been involved in a sudden-death finish to a game and the finality was numbing,” Clark says five decades later. The Wolves celebrated their achievement while the Whips tried to figure out what...
The Celtic manager has been quick to assess the wider picture in Scottish football and he has the chance to claim his first silverware against his side’s closest challengersBrendan Rodgers does not need the Scottish League Cup as endorsement of his early work at Celtic. Champions League qualification afforded Rodgers instant acclaim, to the point where even finishing bottom of Group C will be accepted by the masses.Rodgers smiles when contemplating what might have been, in the event of falling at the Champions League’s playoff hurdle. “You start behind the eight ball,” he says. “You are tight behind it. If we don’t qualify and then go on to win a league and cup what is said is ‘You didn’t make...