A year to forget is nearing an end for Aberdeen and what a 12 months it has been.
The numbers alone tell the story. In total, the Dons signed 14 players in 2022, 11 of them arriving under Jim Goodwin’s watch in the summer.
A remarkable 22 exited Pittodrie, 15 of them as direct decisions made by the Dons boss.
Goodwin’s predecessor Stephen Glass moved seven on in the space of the first five weeks of the year before he too found himself packing up and moving on.
Yes, it truly has been a year of the revolving door down at Pittodrie – but the same problems remain.
Ruthless decisions had to be made at Pittodrie
A squad which had become bloated was in dire need of being trimmed as the year began and it resulted in half a dozen saying goodbye in January as Matty Longstaff and Austin Samuels saw their uneventful loan spells cut short, with both having made minimal impact.
They were joined in leaving the club the enigma that was Ronald Hernandez, whose non-event of an Aberdeen career was mercifully ended when he joined Atlanta United on a permanent deal.
Making up the list of departures were Jack Gurr, a summer signing from Atlanta who had failed to recover from a torturous second half display in the club’s League Cup exit at Raith Rovers earlier in the season, veteran Niall McGinn and winger Ryan Hedges.
McGinn wanted game time and it was in short supply under Glass.
Hedges was not signing a new deal and Blackburn Rovers were willing to pay a sum, so the Dons cashed in rather than lose the Wales international for nothing.
As players old and new headed out the door their place was taken by three new arrivals in Vicente Besuijen and Dante Polvara, with Adam Montgomery moving to Pittodrie on loan from Celtic.
Glass’ February departure came as no surprise
Montgomery will be the answer to the trivia question for years to come when the question “who was Stephen Glass’ last signing as Aberdeen manager?” is asked.
He had barely been in the door when a change was made, but there was no doubt it was needed.
Aberdeen’s early promise in July and August had slowly ebbed away to the point Dons chairman Dave Cormack had to make a public defence of his under-pressure manager Glass by October.
Glass, having weathered the storm thanks to an improve in results, made it to the winter break hopeful of leading a revival after the festive celebrations.
But one Scottish Cup win was all he had to show from his final matches in charge in 2022, with the cup exit at Motherwell on February 12 bringing his 11-month tenure to an end.
Week-long hunt ended with Goodwin’s arrival
Aberdeen, having opted for a rookie boss for Cormack’s first managerial appointment, wanted someone who had cut their teeth in Scottish football as Glass’ replacement.
They found him in St Mirren boss Goodwin.
The Irishman had almost six years’ managerial experience with part-time side Alloa and the Saints to his name when he arrived at Pittodrie.
He needed all of it as the size of the task he had inherited was clear from day one and it took Goodwin a calendar month to celebrate his first win as manager.
By then his captain and player-coach Scott Brown had already departed with the club agreeing to release him from his contract, after the coaching duties Glass had provided in luring the former Celtic captain to Pittodrie were removed by Goodwin.
Coaching was what lured Brown to the Dons in the first place. He has since found it after taking on his first managerial role at Fleetwood Town.
From European hopefuls to a relegation dogfight
Goodwin held out hope of a top six push from his side followed by a late charge for Europe – but it was not to be.
Perhaps, with hindsight, the number of tasks requiring Goodwin’s attention took up more attention off the field than he would have liked.
Brown’s March departure was followed by the needless mess that was the handling of club stalwart Andy Considine’s contract negotiations.
Claim and counter-claim of the wages and length of contract soured the servant’s final months in a red shirt and it was a distraction nobody at the club needed at Easter.
Both parties feel they were let down by the other.
It’s history now, but the announcement Considine would leave at the end of the season heralded more early departures in April as Michael Devlin and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas left the club.
The month ended with Goodwin’s hopes of a push for Europe replaced by a relegation dogfight and it took a penalty from Lewis Ferguson in a 1-0 win against Dundee at Pittodrie to finally ensure the Dons’ place in the Premiership.
Summer of big sales – and mass arrivals
More departures followed in May with Dylan McGeouch, Funso Ojo and Michael Ruth joining Considine in not being offered new deals, while Montgomery and Teddy Jenks returned to their parent clubs at the expiry of their loan deals.
The summer is where the fun really started and Goodwin could at last get down to reshaping his squad.
Calvin Ramsay joined Liverpool in a £6.5million deal, Declan Gallagher left for St Mirren and Gary Woods also moved on, while Dean Campbell joined Stevenage on loan.
In their place came a raft of new faces.
Ylber Ramadani was Goodwin’s first signing and the midfielder was joined by Jayden Richardson, Liam Scales, Anthony Stewart, Bojan Miovski and Kelle Roos.
The transfer activity continued apace in July. Lewis Ferguson moved to Bologna, Luis “Duk” Lopes arrived from Benfica, Callum Roberts joined from Notts County and Hayden Coulson arrived on loan from Middlesbrough.
Progress but still room for improvement at Pittodrie
It was the second summer in a row where a major revamp of the Aberdeen squad had been carried out and the early signs were promising.
The Dons cantered through their first League Cup group stage with 12 goals scored and none conceded in the four wins against Peterhead, Dumbarton, Stirling Albion and Raith Rovers.
Still Goodwin wanted more and August heralded the final two arrivals of the year in Shayden Morris and Leighton Clarkson, a loan signing from Liverpool, while Connor McLennan moved to St Johnstone on loan.
The jury is still out on the raw and inexperienced Morris but Clarkson’s eye-catching spectacular strikes have been a highlight.
Defensive conundrum still unsolved
The league campaign has been an unpredictable one.
Aberdeen have been impressive at home, scoring goals for fun.
Had they been able to come close to matching it on the road they would be hot on the heels of leaders Celtic at this stage.
But, having reached the World Cup break in third place in the league, the Dons were at least competing at the right end of the table again.
Four straight defeats since Lionel Messi lifted the trophy with Argentina, however, have not so much halted Aberdeen’s momentum, as derailed it.
The Dons have dropped to fourth and alarm bells are ringing after four straight losses.
The League Cup has been an encouraging return to form for the Dons with Goodwin and his players having a semi-final date with Rangers to look forward to at Hampden on January 15.
But questions about Aberdeen’s defensive qualities remain.
The opening of the January transfer window seems to have come at the perfect time for the manager, who still badly needs to solve the issue of the leaky defence.
The Dons have enjoyed the comforts of home, but it seems likely more defensive reinforcements will be required when the transfer window opens next week.
If Goodwin can fix the problem of conceding cheap goals – which he labelled an easy one to solve when he first arrived – Aberdeen can have a successful season.
But it is clear, despite a horrendous final fortnight of the year, the Dons are at least waving goodbye to 2022 in better shape than when they said hello.
But a corrective course of action is needed to get this stuttering campaign going again.
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