ABERDEEN have tried their very best to take attention away from their own failings this week.
Emotions, rightly, can run high when the passionate determination to succeed gets the better of players, managers and supporters.
But the attack on the performance of Steven Nicholls has left a sour taste in the mouth.
I was not at Easter Road last Saturday but, having watched the highlights from the match several times, what is blindingly clear is that the referee got the big decisions spot on.
Aberdeen players Chris Maguire and Maurice Ross deserved their punishment. Hibs player Ian Murray’s tackle on Fraser Fyvie was hard, but fair.
A player more experienced than the Aberdeen teenager would have known what was coming and got out of the way.
This orchestrated campaign against the match official was wrong, ill-advised and may well come back to haunt those who pull the strings at Pittodrie.
To accuse an official of being the 12th man for a team is extremely dangerous.
Nicholls will not take action. For that, Aberdeen’s directors should be more than grateful.
We have been here before, and recently.
Former Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson was at Meldrum House on Wednesday. I wonder if those in charge of his former club took the time for a lesson on how the mind games really should be played.
Early last month, Manchester United failed to beat Sunderland in a Premier League match at Old Trafford.
Ferguson’s team needed an injury-time own goal to secure a 2-2 draw but, rather than focus on the failings of his team, Ferguson vented all his fury on referee Alan Wiley.
“I was disappointed with the referee,” said Ferguson. “He didn't add on any time for the goal. He played four minutes and two seconds.
“He was also walking up the pitch for the second goal needing a rest. He was not fit enough for a game of that standard. The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. He was not fit. It is an indictment of our game.
“You see referees abroad who are as fit as butchers’ dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn't fit. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. He was needing a rest. It was ridiculous.”
Three paragraphs of quotes thrown to the press pack. A thousand headlines and no attention paid to the performance.
The victim? Wiley, who, like Nicholls, was fed to the wolves.
Two episodes which should not be repeated.