The transfer window closed on Monday night with a sigh of relief from Aberdeen fans as, with just minutes to spare, the club were finally able to announce the signing of a new striker in Oday Dabbagh.
Dabbagh might not be a household name, and I certainly saw some negativity from a section of the support online, but I would hazard a guess, like me, those “critics” have never seen the Palestinian play.
There was also some pushback from other fans, rightly pointing out Bojan Miovski did not exactly arrive with hugely impressive scoring statistics… and he did okay.
Jimmy Thelin and his recruitment team will have done their homework and the manager’s assessment of the striker sounds very positive – hopefully Oday will provide those much-needed goals.
Prior to his recruitment, the incomings consisted of three central defenders – the most recent, Mats Knoester, also arriving on deadline day – a versatile full-back and a wide man, but Jimmy desperately needed a centre-forward, and he finally got his man.
Of the other potential goalscorers at the club, Pape Gueye is inching back to full fitness, but there is no guarantee he can rediscover his form of last autumn.
Meanwhile, Peter Ambrose looks well off the mark, and Kevin Nisbet has been a huge disappointment.
I expected Nisbet to be an excellent signing, but he has not produced, and I imagine the Dons would have sent him back to Millwall in January had they had the option to do so. With the club paying a large chunk of his hefty monthly salary, they have the right to demand so much more from the striker in the second half of the campaign.
I was delighted they were able to move on Luis “Duk” Lopes.
After a decent six-month spell in the 2022-23 season, he has been a waste of time, particularly in the wake of his embarrassing exploits last summer, and has netted just twice since being allowed to return. One of those “goals” – and both came against Elgin City – did not even cross the line!
I would not have had him back at the club, but I can understand why Aberdeen did, and they have at least recouped a fairly sizeable transfer fee.
The one other piece of business done, which probably went under the radar for most Aberdeen fans, was the recall of Adam Emslie from his highly productive loan spell at Cove Rangers.
I have watched Adam throughout his 24 appearances, and his return of goals and assists has been a big part of our promotion push. He will be missed, and the Dons’ decision came as a surprise.
The 19-year-old looks to have a big future ahead of him, but still has to develop – and I can only hope he does get some game time in the coming months.
Scottish Cup lacking in giant-killings so far…
There is welcome relief from Aberdeen’s desperate league run on Sunday afternoon when Dunfermline come calling on Scottish Cup business.
Despite the slide in recent months, the Dons should still have enough to see off their Championship visitors, and if they do so, the hope will be it might have a transformative effect on their Premiership campaign.
Anything other than a Dons win does not bear thinking about!
Overall, it has largely been a tournament largely bereft of major shocks, with the main headlines being grabbed by Banks o’ Dee thanks to their impressive second-round victory at East Fife, and Fraserburgh, who eliminated Annan Athletic in the third.
The fourth round went almost entirely to form – other perhaps than Livingston coming through in extra time against Ross County – and that left a last-16 line-up consisting of eight Premiership sides and seven from the Championship.
The one exception is Cove Rangers, who were handed a trip to Almondvale on Saturday.
The team’s form has been good of late, and they are serious promotion contenders, but this will clearly be a stern challenge. Should the boys pull it off, it will be an historic win, and a first ever foray into the quarter-finals.
The odds are stacked against Cove, but the competition might just be due a huge giant-killing, and it would be great to see it.
Conversation