Aberdeen FC
Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the Scottish Premiership and have never been relegated from the top division of the Scottish football league system since they were promoted in 1905, despite twice finishing within the relegation zone. Aberdeen have won four Scottish league titles, seven Scottish Cups and six Scottish League Cups. They are also the only Scottish team to have won two European trophies, having won the European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup in 1983.
Formed in 1903 as a result of the amalgamation of three clubs from Aberdeen, they rarely challenged for honours until the post war decade, when they won each of the major Scottish trophies under manager Dave Halliday. This level of success was surpassed in the 1980s, when, under the management of Alex Ferguson, they won three league titles, four Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup, alongside the two European trophies. Aberdeen were the last club outside the Old Firm to win a league title, in 1984–85, and also the last Scottish team to win a European trophy. The team has enjoyed less success since this golden era, though a 19-year wait for a major trophy was ended by winning the 2013–14 Scottish League Cup, followed up by multiple second-place finishes behind Celtic in the league during the 2010s.
Aberdeen have played at Pittodrie Stadium since their inception. The ground currently has a capacity of 20,866 and was the first all-seated and all-covered stadium in the United Kingdom. Pittodrie was also the first football stadium to feature a dug-out, an invention of player and coach Donald Colman.
The club's colours have been primarily red and white since 1939; before this, they played in black and gold vertical stripes. In modern times, Aberdeen have almost exclusively played with all-red strips with white detailing. Aberdeen attract support from the city and surrounding areas, as they have no geographically close rivals. Lacking a local competitor, Aberdeen have instead developed rivalries with more distant opponents such as Dundee United (collectively known as the "New Firm" in the 1980s) and Rangers.
The current Aberdeen F.C. was formed following the merger of three clubs based in the city—Aberdeen, Victoria United and Orion—in 1903 The new club played its first match on 15 August 1903: a 1–1 draw with Stenhousemuir. That first season produced a win in the Aberdeenshire Cup, but only a third-place finish in the Northern League. The club applied for membership of the Scottish League for the following season, and were elected to the Second Division.
In 1904, the club were managed by Jimmy Philip. At the end of its first season, despite having finished seventh out of twelve teams, Aberdeen were elected to the new, expanded First Division. They have remained in the top tier of Scottish football ever since. From 1906, the club made steady progress, with a Scottish Cup semi-final appearance in 1908 and another in 1911. In that season of 1910–11, Aberdeen recorded their first victories over the Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers, and led the league for a time, but finished the season in second place
Wartime affected the club as much as any other; despite spending cuts and other economies, by 1917 the situation became untenable. Aberdeen dropped out of competitive football, along with Dundee and Raith Rovers. Senior football returned on 16 August 1919, and Aberdeen resumed with a fixture against Albion Rovers. Philip was still in charge, and continued to oversee a team capable of isolated good results, but never quite able to sustain a challenge long enough to win a trophy. In 1923, Aberdeen were drawn against Peterhead in the Scottish Cup, and posted their record score—a 13–0 victory. Philip retired a year later, and was replaced as manager by Paddy Travers.[9] He presided over the team's first Scottish Cup final in 1937.
Travers' "trainer"—first team coach in modern parlance—was former player Donald Colman. Colman conceived the dug-out, a covered area set slightly below the level of the playing surface to better aid his observations. Everton visited Pittodrie soon after its introduction, and exported the idea to the English leagues, from where it spread throughout the football-playing world. Travers left to become manager of Clyde in 1939.
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