Like many other fans, I have been left puzzled by Aberdeen’s season – but, now is the time to get behind the players.
It has been a very strange season. I look at the team and I think it is a squad good enough to be competing at the other end of the table than we currently are.
Even with the Dons sitting in 10th and without a win in 11 league games, I look at the calibre and quality of players and still believe we can pull ourselves out of the situation we are in.
But, the players’ morale must be incredibly low.
I am an Aberdeen fan so I understand and share the frustration, but piling all the negative feeling onto the players will only have the opposite effect on what we want to see.
If players are already feeling unconfident and then taking the barrage of fan comments into consideration, it will only make them feel an inch smaller on the pitch. The opposition will feel an inch taller because they benefit from all the negative energy.
A constant doom and gloom narrative helps nobody – and certainly not the players who are the ones tasked with getting the club out of the current league situation.
We all need to try to stick together and take power from the collective unity of the club, its players and fans.
There are nine games left to be played in the league and I believe we have to draw a line under the calamity.
Time to channel frustration to help buoy Aberdeen back to league form
We saw last weekend against Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup the capabilities of this team and now we have a semi-final against Celtic to look forward to.
The cup is another opportunity to bring back some positivity and hopefully we can go on to reach our second final this season.
If we can continue to get behind the players – which fans have done by travelling home and away despite the circumstances – then I believe we will be playing Premiership football next season.
But if there is not unity, the negative feeling will only increase tenfold when we are watching our team fight it out in the Championship next term.
As fans, we might question why we are supporting the team in times like this, but we have to channel that feeling in a way to help the team get out of this rut.
I don’t believe the current standing in the league will affect the calibre of candidates who will be expressing an interest in the vacant Aberdeen mangers job.
This is a club that an ambitious manager would want to take on.
I think whoever is appointed will, of course, be disappointed if Aberdeen are not playing in Europe next season, but that is maybe not a bad thing considering how this campaign has panned out.
Playing in Europe and the demanding schedule probably impacted our league form.
It is not an excuse and, of course, we want to be playing at the highest level, but it contributed to having games in hands in the league and that clearly brought its own challenges.
It looks like a new manager coming in won’t have to factor that in next season – unless the Dons win the Scottish Cup – and maybe provides a better platform for a clean slate.
Are there too many games after the SWPL split?
The SWPL returns this weekend with the first round of post-split fixtures, but are there too many games after the league breakaway?
Hibernian captain Joelle Murray thinks so. Speaking to the BBC, she suggested teams should only play each other once after the split and talked about the risk of player fatigue.
It is an interesting point and is a discussion which could be worth having.
Compared to other top-flights across Europe, the Scottish league is near the top of the charts in terms of the number of games played.
It is maybe something to be considered because it is still a developing league which is primarily made up of semi-professional teams and players. Those players are having to balance a demanding playing schedule alongside working or their studies.
There is also a bottleneck effect because the higher up the chain you go the more likely you are to play even more games with the professional teams often being the ones reaching the cup finals.
🗣️ "From a players’ perspective and a fatigue perspective, I think post-split should potentially just be one game per fixture."
Hibs captain Joelle Murray has suggested there are too many post-split fixtures in the SWPL. pic.twitter.com/aYMsSqbrng
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) March 14, 2024
Some teams and their players could be looking at a potential 40-game domestic season across all competitions.
And some of the players in the SWPL will be featuring at youth and senior international level.
I am not sure what the solution is, but I do think the split adds value to the league. It makes games more exciting and there is more to play for at both ends of the table.
But the schedule is something which needs to looked at and potentially adapted if there are players who are concerned.
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