Former Aberdeen attacker Arild Stavrum has called on the Dons support to become the 12th man and cheer their team to a second successive League Cup final.
The Dons ended their 19-year wait to win a trophy in March last year when they beat Caley Thistle on penalties in front of 43,000 members of their own support at Parkhead on a day never to be forgotten for a new generation of supporters long starved of any success.
With the Red Army preparing to get behind their team in big numbers again at Hampden today Stavrum is all too aware of how much having a fervent backing can aid his former club’s cause.
The Norwegian, who has become a writer following his retirement from football, was back in the Granite City in September to promote his first English book, Exposed At The Back, a crime thriller focusing on the murder of a football agent.
Returning to Aberdeen brought back special memories and he enjoyed seeing the photographs of his former club’s League Cup celebrations from March last year.
He said: “The images from the cup final were incredible and any player would love to experience something like that again.
“When I played for the club in the League Cup and Scottish Cup semi-finals in 2000 the support is what I remember most.
“We had a good team, but we just could not settle in the league and we struggled, but the pressure seemed to be off in the cup competitions.
“But what I won’t forget is how passionate the supporters were.
“They got right behind the team and reaching the finals was as much for them after what they went through watching the team in the league. Aberdeen is a one club city and the people who follow the club are committed to their team. When I scored the winner against Dundee United in the League Cup semi-final I could remember the excitement in the city.
“Sadly we couldn’t win the final, but the memories of our run to the final will live with me forever.”
The Dons ended their semi-final jinx of five defeats in six years with an impressive 4-0 win against St Johnstone at Tynecastle a year ago before Saints gained revenge in the Scottish Cup semi-final with a 2-1 win at Ibrox.
Stavrum also reached the Scottish Cup final with Aberdeen in 2000, only to lose to Rangers in the final, and while the loss, along with the defeat by Celtic in the League Cup final hurt, he insists not making the final would have been worse.
He said: “We did not win the finals but at least we came close and I’ve always maintained it’s worse to lose a semi-final than a final. I did that in Norway a couple of times. Losing a semi-final is possibly the worst feeling in football as you are so near but yet so far.
“I lost my first semi-final with Brann and it was a terrible feeling.
“A semi-final is one of the most important and tense games a player takes part in.
“The expectation is on the team and it important to handle the pressure.
“Aberdeen is a huge club in Scotland and it is great they are getting back to the level where they really should be.
“A club of their size should be playing in semi-finals and finals regularly.”