Premier League, Celtic Park.
The start of the match is as good as upon us, give or take twelve hours. But still.
Niall McGinn, Jonny Hayes and Gary Naysmith have been snaffled during the âsummerâ and look like fairly reasonable additions - give or take some low-level anxieties as to how much Naysmith may have left in his legs - although these signings do nothing in themselves to dispel the lingering irritation felt at the loss of Fraser Fyvie to Wigan.
His (Fyvieâs) contract was due to expire in January, so we must assume that the club did well to receive an âundisclosed feeâ before running the risk of losing him for absolutely nothing.
As an aside: how on earth are football clubs not forced to divulge such information immediately? What chance transparency in the realms of the âundisclosedâ? Why the need for secrecy and from whom does this information need to be (presently) hidden? The fans? The tax man? Confident-sounding rumours estimate this undisclosed fee to have been in the region of £600,000, although, in the absence of concrete verification, it seems reasonable enough to imagine the figure was closer to £6m. (It should be noted that the extent of my research (and interest) into the amount Aberdeen received from Wigan was a passing glance at an article on the BBC website which said theyâd sold Fyvie for an âundisclosed feeâ. But thatâs not the point.)
Anyway, in their three pre-season games in Germany, Aberdeen whacked VfB Alstätte 12-0, lost 1-0 against Werder Bremen (credible) and drew 1-1 with St Pauli (also credible).
This feels like reasonable enough preparation as we lurch towards the home of our champions, Celtic, and the unfurling of the flag and a spitefully reconstituted kick-off time to get the domestic season underway. Iâm not sure how (or who) theyâve been playing pre-season, but just noticed the score from their Championâs League qualifier against HJK Helsinki.
A winâs a win, right enough, and Iâll admit to being surprised (and pleased, obviously â just so long as the job is completed in Helsinki) that they managed to beat the Finns in Glasgow, but we can maybe hope that the fraught balance of the tie will see Celtic minds elsewhere today and that Aberdeen brutally capitalise on these greedy euro distractions and sweep them aside in a scintillating display of carefree attacking football.
Aberdeen have not won any of their last 13 matches against Celtic and the last time Celtic lost their first league match of a new a season was way back in 1997/98 (against Hibs), apparently. This is all about to change, guaranteed.
Prediction: Celtic 1 Aberdeen 3 - a victory for the morally upright.
Further prediction(s): Aberdeen will finish 3rd in the league and will score more than fifty goals whilst doing so (itâs not too much to ask for, surely) and will also (finally) reach a cup final. Home attendances (in the league) will be up and will average over 10,000.
Such optimism normally disgusts me, especially when it comes from other people, but I canât seem to shake it off (yet).
The start of the match is as good as upon us, give or take twelve hours. But still.
Niall McGinn, Jonny Hayes and Gary Naysmith have been snaffled during the âsummerâ and look like fairly reasonable additions - give or take some low-level anxieties as to how much Naysmith may have left in his legs - although these signings do nothing in themselves to dispel the lingering irritation felt at the loss of Fraser Fyvie to Wigan.
His (Fyvieâs) contract was due to expire in January, so we must assume that the club did well to receive an âundisclosed feeâ before running the risk of losing him for absolutely nothing.
As an aside: how on earth are football clubs not forced to divulge such information immediately? What chance transparency in the realms of the âundisclosedâ? Why the need for secrecy and from whom does this information need to be (presently) hidden? The fans? The tax man? Confident-sounding rumours estimate this undisclosed fee to have been in the region of £600,000, although, in the absence of concrete verification, it seems reasonable enough to imagine the figure was closer to £6m. (It should be noted that the extent of my research (and interest) into the amount Aberdeen received from Wigan was a passing glance at an article on the BBC website which said theyâd sold Fyvie for an âundisclosed feeâ. But thatâs not the point.)
Anyway, in their three pre-season games in Germany, Aberdeen whacked VfB Alstätte 12-0, lost 1-0 against Werder Bremen (credible) and drew 1-1 with St Pauli (also credible).
This feels like reasonable enough preparation as we lurch towards the home of our champions, Celtic, and the unfurling of the flag and a spitefully reconstituted kick-off time to get the domestic season underway. Iâm not sure how (or who) theyâve been playing pre-season, but just noticed the score from their Championâs League qualifier against HJK Helsinki.
A winâs a win, right enough, and Iâll admit to being surprised (and pleased, obviously â just so long as the job is completed in Helsinki) that they managed to beat the Finns in Glasgow, but we can maybe hope that the fraught balance of the tie will see Celtic minds elsewhere today and that Aberdeen brutally capitalise on these greedy euro distractions and sweep them aside in a scintillating display of carefree attacking football.
Aberdeen have not won any of their last 13 matches against Celtic and the last time Celtic lost their first league match of a new a season was way back in 1997/98 (against Hibs), apparently. This is all about to change, guaranteed.
Prediction: Celtic 1 Aberdeen 3 - a victory for the morally upright.
Further prediction(s): Aberdeen will finish 3rd in the league and will score more than fifty goals whilst doing so (itâs not too much to ask for, surely) and will also (finally) reach a cup final. Home attendances (in the league) will be up and will average over 10,000.
Such optimism normally disgusts me, especially when it comes from other people, but I canât seem to shake it off (yet).
... but actually, I'll probably be sluring my verbs around the same time tonight after flying home to attend the aul fella's half-centenary celebrations.)
