Former Aberdeen midfielder Barry Nicholson believes his old club will emerge from the coronavirus stronger after reaping the rewards of their longer term planning.
Dons boss Derek McInnes has the majority of his squad under contract for next season and Nicholson, first team coach at Fleetwood Town, insists McInnes will welcome the luxury of having stability at Pittodrie during such an uncertain period for Scottish football.
He said: “There are a few teams that will really struggle has they have had players out of contract and haven’t known what their situation was.
“Aberdeen having so many boys under contract gives them a steady squad and the guys who have been there for a few years will be bedded into the group.
“With a new chairman coming in it was looking rosy for the club, but the coronavirus has stopped all that in its tracks. Hopefully they will be okay and able to kick on again when the season starts.
“I check up on Scottish football every day and try to get a picture on what is going to happen next, but I don’t think anyone knows. It’s a bit like the situation in League One and League Two down here.”
Nicholson believes reaching the group stages of the Europa League will be the major challenge for McInnes and his players next season.
Scottish Premiership clubs have been given the go-ahead to begin training this week but with the 2020-21 European competition calendar still to be determined Aberdeen face the prospect of starting a new campaign playing domestic football before entering into the Europa League.
Nicholson, who reached the last 32 of the Uefa Cup with Jimmy Calderwood’s Aberdeen side in 2008, believes European progress will be high on McInnes’ list of priorities.
He said: “It’s really difficult to topple the big two so getting into Europe every year and trying to finish third really helps. It’s now up to Aberdeen to try to push on even further and into the group stages.
“You’ve seen it this year with Rangers doing ever so well to get out their group then play Braga and Leverkusen. There are big teams in the Europa League these days and if Aberdeen could manage to get through those early rounds and qualify for the group stages would be great.
“Getting to those stages makes a massive difference.”
Nicholson recalls his 2007-08 run with the Dons fondly, but says the strength of opposition his side faced illustrates the depth of talent in the second tier of European competition.
He said: “The run we had was incredible and the fan support was something special. It was a special time for the group I was involved in at Aberdeen. We all keep in touch and it was a fantastic time.
“Playing Bayern Munich in the last 32 was massive for us, but the Copenhagen game, knowing we had to win, and doing it comfortably to qualify, was a huge thing for us.
“You didn’t play three games at home and three away then, it was two at home and two away in a five-team group, and our performance was excellent that night.
“Pittodrie was packed and we played really well. We destroyed a really good Copenhagen team.
“Bayern played almost two different teams in the two legs. They had a lot of big names who didn’t play in the first leg, but made a lot of changes for the second leg and the calibre of players at Bayern was big.
“Even Atletico had Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan. The quality of players we faced was excellent and shows how tough it is.”
Nicholson has no idea what will happen to Fleetwood and England’s third tier
Former Don Barry Nicholson is preparing for the return of football in League One in England but do not ask him when that will be.
The Premier League is set to return next week, while June 20 has been provisionally pencilled in for the English Championship to resume action three months after play was stopped due to coronavirus.
League Two has been ended, but in League One, where Nicholson works as first team coach at Fleetwood Town, the future is uncertain.
Clubs are expected to vote this week on whether to complete the season or to call the season based on points per game and proceed straight to the play-offs.
Fleetwood Town are fifth in the division, in a play-off spot, but only two points off automatic promotion.
Whatever happens at tomorrow’s meeting the club, which also features former Cove Rangers midfielder Paul Coutts, will have a chance of winning promotion to the Championship and Nicholson is trying to prepare the players as best he can.
He said: “I don’t think anybody really knows what is going to happen.
“Our lads have been tested with a view to going back into small group training, but we don’t know what is going to happen.
“The coaches have all been going through the testing as well and there is a process which we will have to follow.”
With Fleetwood Town in a rich vein of form before the stoppage in play the club is keen to play the season to a finish but Nicholson knows that may not be possible.
He said: “The coaching staff and the players are all desperate to get back and having been on such a good run before the lockdown we’re hoping we haven’t lost any momentum.”
With so much money at stake in the Premier League and Championship in England, the push to end the season has been strong, but the situation is very different in the lower leagues and Nicholson can see parallels with the league he works in and Scottish football, which has been brought to a close.
He said: “Clubs in Scotland needed the prize money and everybody up there had to look after themselves which has made it messy. I don’t think there was any real easy way of doing, but when you see leagues now in England being played to a finish I don’t know if it would have been worthwhile waiting.”