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Watty1962/Aberdeen F.C.
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Full nameAberdeen Football Club
Nickname(s)The Dons
Founded1903
GroundPittodrie Stadium,
Aberdeen, Scotland
Capacity22,199
ChairmanScotland Stewart Milne
ManagerScotland Jimmy Calderwood
LeagueScottish Premier League
2006–07Scottish Premier League, 3rd
Current season

Aberdeen Football Club (also known as The Dons, The Reds, or less commonly The Dandies (from Dandy Dons)) are a Scottish professional football team based in Aberdeen. They compete in the Scottish Premier League and have historically been one of the more successful Scottish teams, having won four Scottish League titles and seven Scottish Cups as well as being the only Scottish team to have won two European trophies.

Formed in 1903 due to the amalgamation of three clubs from Aberdeen, they only rarely challenged for honours until the 1950s, when they won each of the major Scottish trophies under manager Dave Halliday. This level of success was surpassed in the 1980s, when, under the management of Alex Ferguson, they won three league titles, four Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup, alongside the European honours. Aberdeen's league record is jointly the third-best alongside Hibs and Hearts, and they were the last club outside of the Old Firm to win a league title, in 1984–85.

Aberdeen have played at Pittodrie Stadium since their inception. The ground currently has a capacity of 22,199 and was the first all-seated and all-covered stadium in the UK. Pittodrie was also the first football stadium to feature a 'dug-out', an invention of player and coach Donald Colman. The club's colours have been primarily red and white since 1939; prior to this, they played in black and gold vertical stripes.

Having been historically the only senior team within a wide area, Aberdeen have tended to attract a sizeable support from the city and surrounding areas. This has been eroded somewhat in recent years, but a loyal core support remains, and important games still often sell out the stadium. Aberdeen have no geographically close rivals; their nearest neighbours at the same level are in the city of Dundee, with Dundee United having been their principal rivals in the New Firm in the 1980s. Rangers supplanted Dundee United as rivals in the late 1980s, but the rivalry, while fierce, does not approach that of the Rangers - Celtic divide.


Superfluous refs - may be used elsewhere

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League champs[1]

Stadium capacity[2]

All-seated and all-covered[3]

Dugout[4]

The club mascot is Angus the Bull.[5]


Supporters

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Aberdeen's supporters, known as the 'Red Army'[6] are listed in the team squad list as wearing the number 12 shirt - a reference to the supporters being the '12th man'. In 1999, a group of supporters founded the 'Red Ultras' supporters club[7] with the express aim of improving the atmosphere at Pittodrie - the club's supporters had a reputation as being undemonstrative, even during the periods of success: Alex Ferguson having once remarked that

The group have organised coordinated displays and enormous flags and banners, particularly in the Richard Donald stand at home games, but also on occasion at away games. The group share a name with many Ultras groups elsewhere in the world, but disassociate themselves from any elements of hooliganism.

Aberdeen are the only senior team in the third largest city in Scotland[9] — a city which is relatively geographically remote from other large population centres—and as a result have a large catchment area of potential supporters. However, attendances in recent years have not reflected this situation, with the club having the fifth largest average attendance in the SPL in the four seasons from 2003-04[10]. Important games will, however, still see Pittodrie sold out[11]

In the 1980s, a minority of the club's supporters had a reputation as one of Britain's most prominent Casuals groups.[12] The rise of the Aberdeen Casuals coincided with the most successful period in the club's history, and has been chronicled in more than one published account.[13][14]

Aberdeen have rarely played in the same division as their geographically closest rivals: Peterhead, Brechin, Montrose, Arbroath and Forfar, so rivalries have tended to come from further afield. In the early 1980s, owing to the success both domestically and in Europe of Aberdeen and Dundee United, the pair were known as the New Firm; however, Dundee United have their city neighbours Dundee as close rivals[15], and the antagonism was not always reciprocated to the same degree. The same situation applies to Aberdeen's rivalry with Rangers, in that Rangers have their own much older and well-known rivalry with Celtic, but there is a genuinely strong antagonistic feeling between both sets of supporters, and there have been a number of incidents arising from this since at least 1979.[16][17][18]

Managers

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Correct to the end of the 2006-07 season. Only competitive league matches are counted.[19]

Name Nat From To Record
P W D L F A %
Jimmy Philip Scotland August 1903 July 1924 644 221 172 251 817 883 34%
Paddy Travers Scotland August 1924 November 1937 474 214 106 154 916 732 45%
Dave Halliday Scotland December 1937 June 1955 371 165 71 135 731 602 44%
Davie Shaw Scotland August 1955 November 1959 148 66 20 62 316 280 45%
Tommy Pearson Scotland November 1959 February 1965 180 66 42 72 327 343 37%
Eddie Turnbull Scotland February 1965 June 1971 216 101 43 72 392 282 47%
Jimmy Bonthrone Scotland August 1971 October 1975 143 67 46 30 264 143 47%
George Murray (caretaker) Scotland October 1975 November 1975 4 2 0 2 5 6 50%
Ally MacLeod Scotland November 1975 May 1977 61 24 19 18 89 72 39%
Billy McNeill Scotland June 1977 May 1978 36 22 9 5 68 29 61%
Alex Ferguson Scotland June 1978 August 1986 288 167 71 50 564 229 57%
Alex Ferguson and Archie Knox Scotland August 1986 November 1986 15 7 5 3 25 14 47%
Archie Knox (caretaker) Scotland November 1986 November 1986 2 0 1 1 1 2 0%
Ian Porterfield Scotland November 1986 May 1988 71 35 27 9 96 37 49%
Alex Smith and Jocky Scott Scotland Scotland May 1988 October 1991 117 63 35 19 181 89 54%
Alex Smith Scotland October 1991 February 1992 23 7 7 9 34 31 30%
Willie Miller Scotland February 1992 February 1995 124 53 45 26 182 111 43%
Roy Aitken Scotland February 1995 November 1997 96 33 26 37 125 139 34%
Keith Burkinshaw England November 1997 November 1997 1 0 1 0 1 1 0%
Alex Miller Scotland November 1997 December 1998 40 10 13 17 40 50 25%
Paul Hegarty Scotland December 1998 May 1999 19 7 2 10 28 47 0%
Ebbe Skovdahl Denmark July 1999 November 2002 130 40 30 60 157 219 31%
Gardner Speirs (caretaker) Scotland November 2002 November 2002 1 0 1 0 1 1 0%
Steve Paterson Scotland November 2002 May 2004 57 18 11 28 62 86 32%
Jimmy Calderwood Scotland May 2004 Present 114 50 30 34 146 116 44%

References

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  1. ^ "Scottish Football Champions 1891-2003". James M. Ross. Retrieved January 8, 2008.
  2. ^ "Sky Sports: Aberdeen Factfile". BSkyB. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  3. ^ Inglis, Simon (1996). Football Grounds of Britain, third edition. Collins Willow publishing. pp. 424–425. ISBN 0 00 218426 5.
  4. ^ Webster, Jack (2003). The First 100 Years of The Dons: the official history of Aberdeen Football Club 1903 - 2003. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 83. ISBN 0 340 82344 5.
  5. ^ "Mascot Pictures". Aberdeen F.C. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  6. ^ "Supporters". Aberdeen Football Club. Retrieved 2008-01-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  7. ^ "Red Ultras Aberdeen - About". Red Ultras. Retrieved 2008-01-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  8. ^ "Old boy relishes quick reunion". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-01-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  9. ^ "Population of Scotland, Statistics of Scottish City population". www.scotland.org. Retrieved 2008-01-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  10. ^ "Top 20 Scottish Football Clubs by Average Attendance - 2003/04-2005/06". The political Economy of Football. Retrieved 2008-01-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  11. ^ "CALDERWOOD: WE'RE WALKING IN THE AIR". Sporting Life. Retrieved 2008-01-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  12. ^ "Casuals: the lost tribe of Britain". Sunday Herald. Retrieved 2008-01-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  13. ^ Allan, Jay (1989). Bloody Casuals. Northern Books from Famedram. ISBN 0905489411.
  14. ^ Rivers, Dan (2007). Congratulations, You Have Just Met The Casuals. John Blake Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1844543072.
  15. ^ "Dundee United A - Z ( D ) - scroll down for the 'Dundee F.C' entry". dundeeunitedfc.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  16. ^ "The Big Read: Rangers vs Aberdeen". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 2008-01-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  17. ^ "SPL: Aberdeen vs Rangers - history and hatred". squarefootball. Retrieved 2008-01-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  18. ^ "Rae's Say: Coming Home". ESPN. Retrieved 2008-01-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  19. ^ "Scottish League - Scottish Football Archive". Scottish Football Archive. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
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