Britain’s most northerly football league ground, Elgin’s Borough Briggs is a dangerous place to go for a team spooked by heights.
Aberdeen beat Rangers 2-1 last October to draw level with champions Celtic at the summit of the Premiership. While Philippe Clement’s side succumbed to another bout of chronic travel sickness, Jimmy Thelin’s team kept their acrophobia in check a little longer
When the dizzy turn came, they fell from a great height and kept on falling. Dismantled by Celtic in the semi-finals of the Premier Sports Cup, altitude began to mess with their heads.
Losing 2-1 to St Mirren in the league, they travelled to Easter Road and dropped more points.
Until Hibs defender Rocky Bushiri scrambled home a 96th-minute equaliser, the Dons were heading for joint top of the table with 34 points. They’d have been a whopping 26 clear of a David Gray team boxed in and broken at the foot of the table.
Seven weeks later, Hibs are surging up the league table as Aberdeen tumble faster than the silhouette in the opening credits of Mad Men.
Jimmy Thelin must hope his Aberdeen side survive a banana-skin tie against Elgin
Aberdeen lost to minnows Darvel in a now famous Scottish Cup clash in 2023
Elgin’s Borough Briggs could host another giantkillling if Thelin’s Dons don’t improve
The best start to a season in their 122-year history has been followed by their worst-ever points tally over 11 games. The collapse has been as dizzying and unexpected as the ascent which electrified Pittodrie and gave Scottish football a shot of adrenaline.
Without a win in 12 games, the Pittodrie outfit have slipped to fourth in the league. Energised by that 3-3 draw last November, Hibs are now shaking an angry fist in the rear view mirror, a mere six points dividing the teams.
Despite fielding new faces Kristers Tobers, Jeppe Okkels, Alfie Dorrington and Alexander Jensen, the contrast between an inept midweek defeat to Rangers and the 2-1 win over the same opponents last October was staggering. When a team can’t defend, pass the ball or score goals, they can hardly expect to win games.
Elgin City made the leap from the Highland league to the senior leagues in 2000 and they’ve never really threatened to scare the horses. Borough Briggs has a fixed capacity of 4,520, with the 478 seats in the main stand donated by Newcastle United.
A game which would have given Jimmy Thelin no sleepless nights at all during the heady days of summer now feels like a test of nerve. Elgin have a real chance to leave Dons directors shuffling uncomfortably in the seats which once filled the Milburn Stand at St James’ Park.
Devoid of the predatory instincts of a Jackie Milburn, an Alan Shearer or a Hughie Gallacher, Aberdeen can’t seem to buy a goal.
When the rejuvenated Pape Gueye succumbed to a long-term injury early in the season, the likes of Kevin Nisbet, Topi Keskinen and Peter Ambrose were usually good for a late winner.
After one goal in the last 540 minutes, the Dons strike force now look like a confidence-shorn rabble who’d struggle to strike a barn door with a beach ball.
Darvel defeat spelled the end for Dons boss Jim Goodwin, now in charge of Dundee United
Thelin’s players appeared shorn of confidence during the 3-0 defeat at Ibrox in midweek
Thelin looked in a daze after the 3-0 loss to Rangers made it 12 games without a win
A team which looked compact, organised, solid at the back, aggressive and capable of springing lightning-quick counter attacks now looks porous and dead on its feet.
Players are not robots. And a relentless run of fixtures, with no winter break, is clearly taking its toll.
A stand-out in the early weeks of the season, Sivert Heltne Nilsen looked every one of his 33 years when he gifted Rangers the opening goal the other night. An outstanding captain, it’s hard to recall Graeme Shinnie having a poorer night than he did at Ibrox.
Crippled by injuries, his side running on empty, Thelin has been spared of any blame for the woeful run. Supporters accept that the manager has inherited the same unreliable group who nudged Jim Goodwin, Barry Robson and Neil Warnock towards the exit.
After a 2-0 defeat to Kilmarnock last February, Warnock claimed Aberdeen had too many ‘nice’ players and lacked physicality. When the Red Adair of British football couldn’t douse the flames, it was asking a lot of a Swedish newcomer to come in and put out the fire.
After a promising start, Shinnie and Co have now reverted to type and Thelin needs his new signings to make them better. If they can’t, all those credits banked in the opening weeks of the season will drain fast.
After a dismal performance at Ibrox in midweek, 800 Dons supporters stayed behind to applaud the manager and players. Their patience and loyalty will be stretched to the absolute limit if a Scottish Cup trip to Elgin becomes another Darvel.
Data no match for Pleat’s eyes and ears
David Pleat turned 80 on Wednesday. At an age when most pensioners are doing the crossword, watching The Chase or running for President of the United States, Celtic want the former Tottenham boss to run an experienced eye over the English transfer market on their behalf.
You can almost hear the data hipsters chuckling into their club tracksuits in condescension.
An old-school football man with vast know-how and a contacts book to die for, Pleat might not fit the prototype of the modern football scout.
He doesn’t spend his days in a darkened room poring over video clips, facts and figures. He wouldn’t dream of spending millions on a player without clapping eyes on him in person.
Nevertheless, Spurs informed their former manager last summer that the skills which uncovered Jan Vertonghen, Dele Alli and Ben Davies were no longer required.
‘I was called in and informed: “It’s all data driven now, we don’t need eyes and ears’ he told the Telegraph. ‘What nonsense. Data is all well and good when it enhances eyes and ears, not replaces them.’
Celtic have raised eyebrows by employing 80-year-old David Pleat as a scout
Pleat played a key role in bringing players such as Jan Vertonghen and Dele Alli to Tottenham
No one disputes that data is an invaluable tool for the modern football scout. As yet, however, it can’t replace the evidence seen by the naked eye or the instincts and experience which can only be honed and sharpened after years of muttering into a recording device by the side of a pitch.
Numbers tell you nothing about a player’s heart or determination or reaction to adversity – or how he relates to team-mates when his side are 3-0 down with half an hour to play.
Data should inform decisions on players and not drive them. It’s still game scouts like David Pleat, with their intuitive understanding and love for the game, who should offer the final recommendation on a multi-million pound player investment. Not a software programme on a laptop.
Consultants should make the call over Rangers B-team
Rangers brought in external consultants to begin an operational review of their football activities last Monday.
By Thursday night, reports emerged of technical director Nils Koppen reaching a decision to scrap the club’s B team and spend the cash that was saved on the first team instead.
That’s all well and good. But Rangers have acknowledged that their football department is failing.
And it surely makes more sense to let the expensive consultants make a recommendation over what happens to the B team – rather than place the decision in the hands of a figure who is clearly part of the problem.
