Dons fans can reasonably make the case Aberdeen’s trip to Tynecastle tomorrow is the biggest game the club has played in the last 25 years.
After all, can you think of a more important one?
The League Cup final in 2014 was a great day out and a memorable one which ended 19 years of hurt. There have been other finals along the way which have ended in painful defeat for the Red Army while few will forget the sentimental and romantic rematch against Bayern Munich in the Uefa Cup under Jimmy Calderwood.
But we’re talking about a league championship here and the chance to become the first team since Sir Alex Ferguson’s all conquering team of 1985 to bring the title back to Pittodrie.
P&J columnist Alex Smith came close on May 11, 1991, a date ingrained on every Aberdeen supporter’s mind. It was the last great what if for the Dons faithful and title challenges, have been few and far between since.
Willie Miller’s Dons side finished runners-up to Rangers in all three competitions in 1993 and it has been a long way to feel that anticipation of a championship win running through Aberdeen supporters’ veins since.
That’s why the game at Hearts has such huge significance. A win for the Dons would be their third straight league win against the Jambos, the third placed side in the league, this season and would also bring them to within two points of the summit.
It would also pile on the pressure on Celtic ahead of their lunchtime trip to Fir Park to face Motherwell, a team in fine form who no side fancies playing at the moment as the Dons found to their cost just last month.
Defeat for the Dons and a Celtic win, however, will have the champagne on ice at Parkhead. That’s why games don’t come any bigger for Aberdeen than this one.
But Aberdeen’s hopes of challenging for the title rest not just on their own team but on the SPFL too and, specifically, the post-split fixtures.
We know the Dons will be going to Parkhead after the split but beyond that nothing is clear.
A home tie against Hearts should be on the cards while Celtic are due to go to Tynecastle. Again, those fixtures will be huge in determining the outcome of the title.
But after that? Who knows? Looking at the table now the Dons should be at home to Motherwell, away to Dundee and St Johnstone.
If Partick Thistle or Ross County make it into the top six at the expense of Dundee, Saints or Well they should be pencilling in a trip to Pittodrie too after the split.
But there are no guarantees. Aberdeen had three away post-split games last season, giving them an even 19 home and 19 away season.
As we reach the split they have played 16 home games and should be looking for three home games after the split. But it doesn’t always work that way.
One thing’s for sure, there are going to be clubs left bemoaning an unfair finish. For the sake of sporting integrity, here’s hoping it is not the teams going for the title who suffer.