The thing about a rollercoaster is that, however exhilarating the peaks and petrifying the descents, they always end up back where they started.
Aberdeen’s season feels like it has lasted years, so polar opposite have been the distinct phases within it.
But in fact it was only August when Leighton Clarkson announced his presence with a sensational hit from distance as the Dons cruised away from ten-man St Mirren.
At that point back in the summer, that Jim Goodwin would ultimately lead his side to relegation would have seemed an implausible outcome – though there were various times in the interim where it felt disconcertingly on the cards – but that Aberdeen would end up finishing third sounded much more realistic: as it began, so it ended.
For captain Graeme Shinnie, on the other hand, the campaign ended far away from where it opened. The almost fevered look of Shinnie’s celebration of his goals suggested that he prefers where he finds himself now, and would not be averse to sticking around.
This was visibly a man who felt like he owed something to teammates he had left in the lurch during his lengthy ban.
The first player to be dismissed in consecutive Aberdeen appearances since Nigel Pepper, Shinnie knew he had to return with a bang to avoid any further comparison with his ill-fated midfield predecessor, and didn’t he just.
But the thumping of his chest was not merely an act of personal vindication; it was a spontaneous display of what the club means to Shinnie. It is reciprocated.
Having led his team into Europe, the question now becomes whether he will still lead it when it gets there. That would appear to be in the interests of all involved stakeholders. If the contract isn’t already in the fax, then it should be.
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