It’s been an exciting seven days to follow Aberdeen Football Club.
In last week’s column, I shared my view the Dons had to use the money made from Calvin Ramsay’s move to Liverpool to ramp up their own transfer business.
They certainly delivered last week – with five new faces secured between Monday and Saturday evening in an exciting flurry of business, and a summer spend which has now almost hit the £1 million mark.
After reaching a £300,ooo deal to bring in right-back Jayden Richardson from Nottingham Forest on Monday, they landed centre-halves Liam Scales (loan) and Anthony Stewart (pre-contract) from Celtic and Wycombe Wanderers, respectively, on Tuesday.
Then, on Thursday, they announced the blockbuster capture of striker Bojan Miovski from MTK Budapest – a deal worth £535,000 – having already signed central midfielder Ylber Ramadani from the Hungarian outfit for £100,000 earlier in the window.
Over the weekend, the Reds announced another pre-contract, this time for Derby County goalkeeper Kelle Roos.
I was pleased to see the club’s rebuilding process accelerate.
It was right for the Dons’ transfer team – chairman Dave Cormack, manager Jim Goodwin, director of football Stephen Gunn and head of recruitment Darren Mowbray among them – to take their time and give themselves the best possible chance of getting their signings right this summer.
However, this meticulous approach had to be balanced with the growing urgency to secure reinforcements in pretty much every part of the squad, with pre-season training already under way.
We all, fans included, can now see the evidence of the work done by the likes of Mowbray in scouting players and deciding on targets over the last few months, and must trust his instincts – and the instincts of Goodwin and his team.
The signs are good.
Obviously, as a former central defender myself, I took a particular interest in the pre-contract signing of Anthony Stewart.
💪 Ready to work.
🇪🇸 Our new signings, Kelle Roos & Anthony Stewart, have joined us in Spain for our pre-season training camp.
🔴 Welcome to The Dons!@kellsroos | @A_Stewart_5 pic.twitter.com/HxuvfRdju7
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) June 27, 2022
Not having an option-to-buy built in to the Scales loan from Celtic is a divisive issue, but I still think Aberdeen are a club who have to strike a balance between permanent deals – paying fees, like for Richardson, or pre-contracts like Stewart’s – and loans.
I’m sure the Dons tried for the option-to-buy clause – and there’s still hope they’ll manage to get Scales for keeps – but, ultimately, you’d surely rather Scales come in on loan and make the grade, rather than picking up someone permanently who doesn’t.
The deal which made the biggest impact with fans was, of course, the Miovski signing.
Aberdeen have outlaid half a million pounds, but he comes with 10 international caps for a country who almost qualified for the World Cup.
Unless they are big followers of the minor European leagues, and YouTube clips aside, the Red Army won’t have seen their new forward in action at all.
But he’s the type of intriguing addition you are excited and desperate to see perform for the club for the first time. It’s the same with midfielder Ramadani.
The club’s transfer work, which is still ongoing, was required after the 10th-placed finish and disappointment of last season.
It is good to see this strong backing for Goodwin’s rebuild, with big fees being paid for the players he will have identified as the ones he wants.
Yes, the Ramsay money helps the club in this regard, but the contrast between the positive feeling at the moment around the Reds, and the feeling in January, when former boss Stephen Glass didn’t get the backing, is stark.
This week we also saw the exit of back-up goalkeeper Gary Woods, making space for Roos, and centre-back Declan Gallagher.
Aberdeen will hope the success rate on this summer’s signings is greater than last year’s, with another two of those brought in during the 2021 off-season having now exited Pittodrie.
Letting them both go is, in my view, the correct call.
Goodwin’s been quick to make clear since coming in that last season wasn’t good enough, in what he’s said and in quickly taking the scalpel to his squad, and one of the areas where Aberdeen were really poor was in keeping shut-outs.
Although there was a lack of creativity in midfield, and only one reliable goalscorer upfront, the constant leaking of goals was perhaps the most damaging trait.
For me, you need the solid foundation at the back on which to build if you want to competing at the top end of the table like Aberdeen should be.
Gallagher arrived at Pittodrie as a top player – an international player – but, having arrived with an injury, and also suffering Covid-related setbacks, he was never able to recapture the form which saw him earn Scotland recognition.
I think he’d admit it himself. If you’re low on confidence, and the team also isn’t performing at a particularly high level, it’s difficult to get back to your best.
Goalkeeper Joe Lewis managed it, after his own shaky patch, but Declan didn’t.
Goodwin clearly reasoned with the younger David Bates staying on, and Stewart, Scales and even Ross McCrorie among his centre-half options, there just wasn’t a place for the former Motherwell skipper.
Chance for Goodwin to spend 24 hours a day making Reds better
Jim Goodwin has taken Aberdeen to Alicante, Spain, this week for a pre-season camp.
It gives the manager time away from many everyday distractions to really focus on preparing his squad for the new campaign – which is now within touching distance.
For the staff and players, there aren’t going to be the usual outside matters which can get in the way, meaning Goodwin can spend 24 hours watching, analysing and improving his players.
For the manager, who is still relatively new in the door, it’s a chance to further understand the character, as well as the ability, of pre-existing members of the Aberdeen squad, as well as the new signings who will be at the La Finca Resort.
You’d hope the Dons players will come back from Spain knowing Goodwin’s system and their role within it better.
Even if Aberdeen don’t end up playing any practise matches, there’s also added value in the trip as precious team bonding time.
Those who were part of last season’s disappointment will have plenty of time after their short summer break to reflect on what went wrong, while also getting to know their new team-mates, which I’m sure will be accelerated by the aid of non-football, fun activities over the course of the trip.
The entire Reds first-team contingent should then return laser-focused on bringing supporters a much better campaign this time around.
New 1980s-inspired Aberdeen kits look fan-TACHE-tic to me
Aberdeen unveiled their new home and away strips last week, which pay homage to those worn in the 1982/83 season when the team I was part of lifted the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
The red home kit bears a striking resemblance to the one we wore against Real Madrid in Gothenburg in May 1983, and the new strips are the first, as I understand it, of many tributes to mark next year’s 40th anniversary.
I’m all for recognising the past in these ways, as clubs like Aberdeen should be proud of their history and the things achieved over the decades.
I thought the 82/83 kit was one of the most easy-on-the-eye numbers the Dons have ever had and, although I haven’t yet seen the reimagining up close, it looks great.
The kits are something which will excite the fans, and I’ve no doubt they will bring in valuable commercial revenues, with touches like the commemorative badge sure to spark healthy sales.
Perhaps they will also stir up the emotions in fans who can remember that night in Gothenburg, as well as the European Super Cup triumph – achieved in white – a few months later.
They might even help inspire the current crop of players to achieve something special of their own in the 2022/23 season.
Now – we know it looks the part, but I’ll leave it up to those fans or players who get their hands on the new 80s-inspired tops whether they want to pair them with a tache…