Performance of the Week - The fans of Aberdeen and Rangers

Fixtures between Aberdeen and Rangers have always had a turbulent undercurrent, both on and off field. Trouble between both sets of supporters made the news back in 2005 when at another game at Pittodrie, players where spat at and missiles thrown, while the game in 2002 was held up for 20 minutes when Aberdeen striker Robbie Winters was struck on the head by a coin. In that incident, riot police had to ring the pitch before order was restored and the two teams could return to finish the match.

Naturally for the police, this particular fixture causes more headaches than most other league games at Pittodrie, so it is good therefore to hear that Grampian police where able to report that no arrests where made before, during or after Saturdays game which ended in a 0-0 draw. Said Superintendent Adrian Watson "I am delighted we did not have to resort to arrests in a fixture that has caused challenges in the past."

With nothing much to say about the dire on-field performances of Aberdeen and Rangers on the field, it's good to read that both sets of supporters did not make up for the lack of entertainment on the field by taking lumps out of each other, the stadium or the players, and generally doing Scottish football fans proud in a week when the Millwall supporters, on an away day at Hull reminded us all that hooliganism still exists.

So, Performance of the Week goes to the well behaved fans of Aberdeen and Rangers.

Why Calderwood should stay

Regular readers of this blog will know that under the surface of an otherwise neutral and unbiased body of work beats the heart of a dyed-in-the-wool (if you pardon the expression) Aberdeen fan. Now, I'll be amongst the first to admit that I've not always been too supportive of the man adoringly called 'Tango' by the more cynical supporter of the Reds, indeed, on several occasions having been  known to have demanded Calderwood's resignation. 

I'm not proud of it, but there have been times, mainly around the start of the season when quite frankly Calderwood's tactics, squad selection and comments to the press have baffled. A beginning to the 2008/09 season was disastrous, the Reds not being able to buy a win at home for love nor money. Defensively poor, a lack of goals from our strikers and, to make matters worse, players coming out blaming the supporters for piling unrealistic expectations on the team did not make Calderwood a popular man around these parts. 

But give the man his dues. In recent weeks the team has changed beyond all recognition. At last we seem to be gelling - our defence has gotten its act together, Lee Miller has figured out what those two things at the end of his ankles are for and we have managed to not lose at home now for six games. The win over Celtic earlier this week was the culmination of all that change, not just on the field, but also, we suspect in the dressing room. 

For the first time in many years, I genuinely think this is the finest Aberdeen squad since the great teams of the early 80's and early 90's. Since Calderwood has taken over, he's brought in some quality players - Barry Nicholson and Jamie Langfield joined in 2005, Stevie Lovell (now with Falkirk) joined in 2006 scoring 24 goals in over 30 appearances for the club, as did Lee Miller, currently the club's top scorer. In the last year, Charlie Mulgrew, whose ability to put in a decent cross as well as his set-piece expertise has added another dimension to the team, while Sone Aluko, signed on a permanent contract from Birmingham City is proving to be a revelation for the Dons.  

Calderwood has made mistakes. Jackie McNamara never lived up to his promise, letting Barry Nicholson go was also a mistake that took a while to repair, at least until Gary McDonald and Mark Kerr arrived at Pittodrie. Calderwood has yet to find a suitable backup for Jamie Langfield, Bertrand Bossu so far failing to impress in the few outings he's had and Scott Severin belongs in midfield, not defence. The obsession Calderwood seems to have with Richard Foster is inexplicable, Foster having pace but a poor first touch and his passing leaving a lot to be desired.

For all that though, Aberdeen are currently riding high. We're in third spot, miles behind Rangers, true, but remaining there will at least meet fan expectation of another European campaign; we're also into the Fifth round of the Scottish Cup. 

In the last few days, Jimmy has been linked with the vacant spot at Norwich (a job he's unlikely to get) and, perhaps more worryingly, Dutch Premier League side FC Utrecht. Calderwood has admitted that there has been contact, although not concerning any possible moves, but speculation is rife. Calderwood has played and managed in Holland and is certainly well know and respected there. The unofficial FC Utrecht message forums seems to be keen on Jimmy also, with many posts in the forums in favour of bringing the 53 year-old back to Holland. 

In a way you can't blame Calderwood for wanting to leave. He's never going to win the league in Scotland, European football and a domestic Cup perhaps being the pinnacle of achievement. And that's not to say we wouldn't be happy with that. Not winning the league is a given if you're not a follower of an Old Firm team.

But he'll never win the league with FC Utrecht either, the Old Firm dominance in Scotland replaced with a trio of teams, Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord that  have won the league on-and-off since 1981. But it's a new challenge, perhaps something that Calderwood needs after four years at the helm at Pittodrie. 

What I'm trying to say is that for the first time I can remember for some time, it's clear we need Jimmy to stay at the club. Changing horses in midstream is never a good idea, especially when the club is doing so well. However, that may not be up to me, or the supporters. I hope that Jimmy stays, at least until the end of the season, just to get us to the promised land of non-old Firm teams - a European spot, perhaps a domestic trophy.

If we achieve that at least this season, then we can look back on 2008/09 as another good campaign.

Football Shorts

Aberdeen inch another three points closer to third spot and what will no doubt be another short European campaign. The win over plucky Kilmarnock at Rugby Park last night involved a memorable come-back from a goal down, both goals (or 'brace' to use the correct terminology) coming from Reds top scorer Lee Miller. After Miller received his December Player of The Month Award, Aberdeen gaffer Jimmy Calderwood expressed his fears about losing his on-form striker but now seems resolved to hold on to Miller mainly, we suspect, because no offers have come in for him and because Aberdeen only have Darren Mackie up front to pose any kind of threat in up-ing the 'GF' column. Opposite number Jim Jefferies is pretty radge about the defeat but then again, I cant remember him not being radge about anything these days, he is turning into the Victor Meldrew of Scottish Football.

For plucky (or crap, depends on how rose tinted your view of Scottish lower-league football is) Foress Mechanics, their dream of playing European football next season is over. Their slender 6-1 defeat at Station Park last night in the Scottish Cup put an end to their ambitions. For Forfar, future financial fortunes favour the Angus side, for they get to play Rangers, who in turn beat Division One leaders St. Johnstone 2-1 at McDairmid Park. As we highlighted the other day, it was a case of 'between the devil and the deep blue sea' for The Loons who they faced: both the Saints and the Gers inflicted 6-0 defeats in recent years but who knows, on the day they might get the breaks, the run of the ball, the rub of the green, the luck of the Iri.. Fuck no, they'll get thumped. Again.

For Rangers, the win was plain sailing, but the game was marred by a bunch of malcontents protesting at the way chairman and knight-of-the-realm David Murray was running the club. Well, we say running, but 'Massive Clearance Sale' seems more appropriate in light of recent reports. The on-going Boyd debacle - is he or is he not going to Birmingham - has called into question the financial stability of the club given the credit crunch and all that. While some at the club, notably manager Walter Smith and assistant manager Ally McCoist reckon they don't need Boyd and will still win the league without him it has to be said that everything that seems to go wrong in Govan brings with it a plethora of 'Rangers in Crisis' stories. To wit, remember last year when Rangers got put out by FBK Kaunas? They got over that defeat and the subsequent loss of Carlos Cuellar (who clearly didn't rate a good CIS Insurance Cup run as highly as a run-out in the Aston Vila first XI) pretty sharpish, buying in a few decent players and generally doing rather well in all competitions. Sure, the furore around the sanity/integrity/blue-nosedness of David Murray and his cohorts are a distraction best resolved pretty damn quick, but lets take a long-term view here: the money that Boyd's sale will bring in will ease the clubs debts, and hell, even without Boyd, Rangers will still trounce pretty much everyone anyway (except Celtic possibly). And it's not as if they're searching behind the sofa for effective strikers.

Love Street, Paisley is not dead yet! St Mirren yesterday overcame Brechin City (with the chrome-domed Jimmy Duffy in charge) meaning that they'll play either one of Inverurie Locos or, more likely, Motherwell once that game eventually gets played.

Jesus lads, did ye see the deal Manchester City are putting together for Kaka? A bid of around 100m euros, with a weekly wage of £500,000! Can you imagine how many players Murray would have to sell if they put in an offer like that? Speaking of transfers, it's been a pretty unspectacular transfer window so far in Scotland. We're about halfway through this particular window, and what has happened so far? Lets see ...

Steven Pressley, who must be nearly 70 by now has joined Falkirk, where he's joins up with other senior citizens like Jackie McNamara and Lee Bullen. Richie Byrne, who up until a few seasons ago was to be found at the back with Aberdeen has gone to Inverness together with Filipe Morais who joins from Hibs. Talk about being sent into the wilderness, but then again, Morais does hang around casinos and kick seven shades out of doormen

That's it. Got a good tip for a story? Leave us a comment!

A History of Scottish Cup Upsets

Scottish winger Kris Commons scored a cracking goal for his side Derby County last night to record a memorable victory over league, European and World Club champions Manchester United last night. His rasping drive from 30-yards out give the Championship side (relegated from the English Premier League earlier this year after winning only one game all season) a cracking win on the day new manager Nigel Clough was introduced to the fans. There's still the return leg at Old Trafford to get through of course, but nevertheless it was a result not many expected.

All of which got us thinking - as it's the Scottish Cup that takes over the league program north of the border, we thought we'd look back over some of the great Scottish Cup upsets over the years, beginning with a team that has caused it's fair share of heartache to one SPL side in particular.

Ayr United, currently second in the Scottish second division finally go through their fixture with Lochee United after the sixth attempt. A 1-1 draw in the third round forces the first of five replays which all fell foul of the weather. The Honest Men finally won 3-1 against the East of Scotland junior side just before Christmas to set up a tasty tie with SPL side Kilmarnock.  Now, Kilmarnock would do well to remember Ayr United, for their rivals from down the coast along the A77 have beaten them several before in the same competition. Beginning in 1998, Ayr won 2-0 thanks to goals from Jim Dick and Ian Ferguson, repeating the achievement again the following year when, on the 23rd January 1999, Ayr United came out 3-0 winners in a game that saw one sending off and two penalties. Clearly a scrappy affair, the Kilmarnock team on the day also featured two former Rangers legends seeing out the twilight of their careers - Ian Durrant and Ally McCoist.

In February 2000, roughly around the time when Kilmarnock where knocked out of the Cup by lowly Alloa, a Second division side, Ayr again took one of the Dundee sides to a replay before eventually going through. This time it was the turn of the dark blue half of Dundee to get a taste of some Ayrshire humble pie. A drab game that finished goalless at the end of ninety minutes, Gavin Rae put SPL side Dundee ahead pretty much straight from the kick-off extra-time, before Neil Duffy scored ten minutes later. With no more goals, the dreaded penalty kicks followed which, happily for Ayr United, they won 7-6. Their reward? Another tie against SPL opposition, this time in the shape of Motherwell.

Despite some pretty hefty defeats to the Old Firm that season (in particular Rangers, who beat them 4-1, 6-2 and 5-1) and that epic 5-6 defeat at home to Aberdeen, Motherwell where doing alright. They'd finish the season in fourth place, helped by veteran keeper Andy Goram in goals. Clearly then, the odds where stacked in the Steelmen's favour when Ayr United come to town. A cracking game unfolded in which six goals where scored before half-time. Gary Teale opened the scoring for Ayr in the 8th minute, before Lee McCulloch and Don Goodman restored Motherwell's pride. Two penalties followed shortly after  (Teale again converting from the spot) before Ged Brannan put Motherwell's nose out in front again. The lead would not last long: Neil Tennant equalised for Ayr just before half-time, meaning the teams went in to the break three goals a-piece.

The 5,000 spectators inside the grounds must have been grateful for the 15 minute break to catch their breath again, but 10 minutes after the restart Neil Tennant popped up again to give the visitors an unlikely lead. Despite playing most of the half with only 10 men (forward Michael Reynolds having been sent off), Ayr held on for the win - and another SPL scalp. Check out the highlights below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGUxmgxlo8

In 2002, Ayr once again managed to eliminate two SPL sides. The first, the Fourth round victory over Dunfermline (managed at the time by Aberdeen gaffer Jimmy Calderwood and featuring former Aberdeen player Barry Nicholson and Falkirk defender Lee Bullen) came courtesy of goals from James Grady and John Robertson as well as an own goal from (current St Mirren manager) Gus McPherson. In the next round Ayr United again played Dundee United and again took them to a replay. The 2-2 draw at Tannadice was followed two weeks later by a splendid 2-0 win for Ayr thanks to goals from Scott Crabbe and Paul Sheerin. Check out the highlights below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcXxfgfPw-w

So, all in all, Ayr United have a pretty good record against SPL sides in the Scottish Cup: Kilmarnock, Dundee, Dundee United, Motherwell and Dunfermline.

Another SPL side, one with a bit more of a track record has also had it's fair share of upsets. By the time they reached the semi-final, Celtic had worked their way through Clydebank (5-0), Hibs (2-0) and eventual league champions Rangers (2-0) before they faced First division Falkirk. The Bairns (who would finish in the lower half of the table that season) had an easier route to the semis (Berwick, Dunfermline and Raith) and no one expected them to get much from the game. But a 1-1 draw at Parkhead in April (Kevin James scoring eight minutes from time for Falkirk) meant the teams would have to do it all over again. For Falkirk it meant another pay-day at Parkhead: just over 45,000 saw the first game and another 35,000 would see Falkirk's Paul McGrillen score in the 19th minute to put the Bairns into the Scottish Cup Final. They'd lose to Kilmarnock, but that win over Celtic would go down as a definite Cup upset.

The other half of the Old Firm may have a world record 51 league titles and have won more major trophies than any other football club in the world, but there's been at least one cringe-worthy moment.

Back in 1967, Berwick Rangers (also known as ''The Wee Rangers") where part of the old Second division (we'd call it the Third nowadays) while Rangers where then, as now, a top team in Scotland. Having finished runner-up to Celtic in the previous season (the win that would start their memorable 9-in-a-row series), their Scottish Cup win in April 1966 was their only silverware and, naturally, they where keen to hold on to it. Surely for a team that could field John Greig, Willie Henderson, Willie Johnston and Alec Smith, wee Berwick would prove no problem?

Berwick had a young goalkeeper playing for them at the time who would, in later years, have a big influence on Rangers. His name was Jock Wallace, and he was kept busy for most of the game, especially as, against the run of play (and logic), Sammy Reid scored for Berwick.

Despite much pressure from the Gers to equalise, Berwick held out for a famous victory. They would go out to Hibernian in the next round, while Rangers striker Jim Forrest and centre-forward George McLean, deemed responsible for the defeat - where transferred out of Ibrox shortly afterwards as result of this game. There was some good news for Rangers though - while they didn't win the league that season, they'd reach the Cup Winners Cup final that year where they lost to Bayern Munich.

In January of 1959, Highland League outfit Fraserburgh beat Dundee 1-0 in the Scottish Cup.  Dundee, at that time one of the top teams in Scotland had Bill Brown and Doug Cowie  back from the ‘58 World Cup Finals as well as future Everton star Jimmy Gabriel in the side. Gas Board clerk Johnny Strachan scored the goal that sent the Dee’s packing and Dundee still regard this as one of their most embarrassing moments.

And another Highland League side, Buckie Thistle, beat Queens Park in a 4th round replay in 1954, making them the only non-league side ever to have won a Scottish Cup game at Hampden.

Right, that sums up our look at some great Scottish Cup upsets. If you know of any others, drop us a comment.