It’s now a year since Jimmy Thelin arrived at Pittodrie as the Aberdeen boss – and what a 12 months it has been.
The Swede was confirmed as the man to permanently replace Neil Warnock in April 2024, with first-team coach Peter Leven taking the team until the end of that season.
A sensational start from the ex-Elfsborg boss helped the Dons rack of 15 league wins and a draw from their opening 16 Premiership games.
A nosedive in results came, however, with a 6-0 loss to Celtic in the League Cup semi-final followed by 14 winless league matches.
The Dons recovered and ended with a fifth-placed finish to secure Conference League football.
To then go on and win the Scottish Cup with their shoot-out final triumph over Celtic last month means they have a shot at the Europa League where a play-off victory will take them into group stage ties until at least January.
At worst, if they lose their Europa League play-off on August 21 and 28, they’ll contest the Conference League ties until December.
For that, Aberdeen require as many qualify players as possible, and they’ve wasted no time to strengthen their squad already.
Aussie trio – goalkeeper Nick Suman, winger Nicolas Milanovic and striker Kusini Yengi – as well as German left-back Emmanuel Gyamfi were all signed with quick pace.
Dons must build for improvement at home rather than European contests
However, as exciting as European football is, I think we can’t get too focused on that.
I know there’s big money to be made – around £5million from UEFA income – from competing in Europe, but I think the squad must be bolstered first and foremost to ensure Aberdeen at least finish “best of the rest” in the Premiership.
Hibs finished third and Dundee United fourth, so Aberdeen have to aim to get above anyone else in the race for third next year.
Let’s show that – outside the Old Firm – Aberdeen are the best in the country.
Europe will take care of itself. Aberdeen are not building a team to win a European trophy, they must get back to finishing in third position.
I see European football as a real bonus as Dons fans travel to various countries and for the players to sample different football, but they’re not going to go deep into these competitions.
‘We will now start to see the real Jimmy Thelin team’
Jimmy Thelin looked as if he needed a holiday at the end of last season – he could never have imagined having experienced anything like that within his first year in charge.
To start the season the way they did, then capitulate then come back again to finish by winning the Scottish Cup – it really was amazing.
If you’d asked any Aberdeen fan would you have taken that at the start of last season, there would be no question – especially with it being the manager’s first job in Scotland.
He’s done remarkably well.
Ahead of the cup final, many people – myself included – were fearful of what might happen against a Celtic team going for the treble on that big Hampden pitch. Everything was in Celtic’s favour.
It’s a lesson, even for someone like me, that you can’t ever be sure what will happen in games like that.
Most of the time, you’d be right what will happen, Celtic will beat Aberdeen most times, but Aberdeen held their nerve in the final and took their chances with the penalties and took the cup back home.
If you were writing a school report card on Jimmy’s debut season here, it would certainly be pass marks.
I like how he’s hit the ground running with his signings. He lost a number of players, but he’s got his business done early.
We will now start to see the real Jimmy Thelin team. It’s no longer someone else’s squad. I can’t wait to see what the team will look like next season.
Trio of top signings shows County mean business after relegation
Dundee United captain from last season, Ross Docherty, has joined Ross County as Don Cowie’s third summer signing following their relegation to the Championship.
With eight players moving on, Don Cowie is ensuring quality arrivals replace them in the shape of ex-Dundee United, St Mirren and Aberdeen defender Declan Gallagher and attacker Gary Mackay-Steven from Kilmarnock already signed up for next season.
I look at Gary Mackay-Steven, at the age of 34, and he’s not had a lot of game-time lately, but he’s always been fit and nimble.
If the ex-Celtic, Dundee United, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock player gets a good pre-season under his belt, you’ve a lad who has won three titles and a League Cup and he could be a really big signing for Don.
There’s no doubt County are gearing up for the big push to bounce back to the Premiership straight away.
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