Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin can get his season off to a flying start if his side can take advantage of a favourable fixture list.
The fixtures for the new Scottish Premiership season are out – and the Dons have the opportunity to race out the traps if they can seize their chance.
A trip to St Johnstone gets the new season up and running, before back-to-back home games against St Mirren and Kilmarnock. The Dons will then round off August with a trip to Ross County.
There are no easy games in this league, but I’m sure if you had said to the new Dons manager he won’t have to face Celtic or Rangers until October in the league, then he would have been delighted.
It’s a new group of players in a new league in a new country, and for Thelin to have three months of working with his players under his belt before facing the Old Firm is priceless.
That work is already under way, with the players back in the fold for training at Cormack Park this week ahead of their training camp in Portugal next week.
Pre-season is hard work, but also a chance to enjoy yourself, bond with your team-mates and get to know the new lads who have joined the club.
But this summer it’s also an important time for the squad to get to their new management team and vice versa.
It’s a big season for the Dons after the disappointment of the last campaign. The league was a major let-down for the club, and at times, it looked as if the players were strangers to each other.
A bond behind the scenes is so important to what happens on the pitch. I want to see the players demanding high standards of each other.
Players must make most of their clean slate
Thelin looks to be true to his word that it would be a clean slate for everyone so far, with the likes of Vicente Besuijen and Jayden Richardson back in the fold for pre-season.
Both have been out in the cold in the last year, with Besuijen nowhere near the first-team before going out on loan, while Richardson had two loan spells.
Don’t forget Pape Habib-Gueye is also due back soon, so that’s another player I hope to see returning to the club with more confidence and some determination to prove themselves.
We don’t know what the future holds for these guys, but at least they will be given the opportunity to show they are deserving of being Aberdeen players and in the manager’s plans.
That goes for every player at the club, whether they were regulars or watching from the bench.
It’s only right the manager should assess everyone ahead of the new season. There may be players he thinks he can use differently or others who he decides are not going to be part of his plans.
But everyone will get a fair crack of the whip.
There are three new faces on board so far, but I get the impression every position is up for grabs in Thelin’s team.
It’s up to the players now to make the most of that opportunity they have been given.
New Dons women’s boss has a tough task ahead of him
The Dons have pulled off a real coup in landing former Champions League winning manager Colin Bell to take charge of their women’s team.
A vastly experienced coach, Bell will need to use all the experience he has gained though, after the loss of seven players from last season’s squad.
Former boss Clint Lancaster had a young side to work with last season as it was, but the loss of star trio Bayley Hutchison, Eilidh Shore and Jess Broadrick leaves a huge hole right through the spine of the team.
We’re talking about the league’s leading goalscorer in Hutchison, their star midfielder in Shore and a dominant centre-half in Broadrick.
They were the first three names on the manager’s teamsheet last season and they were three players who had led the way in the club’s rise up the leagues to the top-flight.
Bell has only just arrived, but already he has a big job on his hands in trying to find replacements – not just for those players, but also the other members of the squad who have moved on.
Calls for Clarke to go are ridiculous
Scotland’s Euro campaign ended with a whimper.
We didn’t lay a glove on what was a poor Hungary in our final game and can have no complaints about going out.
The Tartan Army were magnificent, but it was a really poor tournament from the team – we looked tired and nowhere near the levels we were showing nine months ago.
But the calls for Steve Clarke to go are daft.
He’s done a fantastic job and deserves another crack at leading us to the World Cup in 2026.
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