This week's Hearts game brings the curtain down on 2011 for Scottish football and it is fair to say it has not been a year that will be too fondly remembered by fans in general and Aberdeen supporters in particular.

From my own professional point of view far too much time was spent discussing matters that should have absolutely nothing to do with football, those topics ranging from sectarianism in the game through political interference to the kind of financial mishaps best dealt with only by those with the most senior accountancy qualifications, none of which I am in any way comfortable dealing with. Sadly, those issues had to be debated because for a large part of the year they clouded the sport and deflected us all from the stories that really should matter.

My one overriding hope for 2012 is that we can get back to basics and talk football more often, although I am not holding my breath on that one!

As for the game itself, the Old Firm continued to dominate, but there were some positive signs for the future outwith the Glasgow giants, particularly the continuing introduction of some of the young talent around the country that shows considerable promise. Those kids, allied to the style of football on show from the likes of Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Motherwell on occasion, have been the highlights.

There is also I believe some reason to be a little more hopeful on the international front. I know Craig Levein doesn't have universal backing from the Tartan Army, but I do genuinely think there are good signs there, and results, after the opening stage of the qualifiers, improved to the extent that we came close to making the play-offs. The pool of players is better than it has been in recent years, and although the campaign for World Cup 2014 looks a tough one, the squad is there and I feel unusually hopeful that our long absence from Finals tournaments might just be about to come to an end.

From a Dons point of view it was really once again a bit of a struggle. We began the year riding a bit of a wave of optimism following the improvement in results in the wake of Craig Brown replacing Mark McGhee, but that tailed off, and with SPL survival ensured the second half of the league season quietly petered out.

There was the joy of two national semi-finals and the chance at last to see Aberdeen once again running out at Hampden Park, unfortunately that joy crushed by two heavy defeats at the hands of Celtic, thus extending our desperately long run without trophy success.

As for this season, up until recently the SPL campaign has been a major struggle, one which had me seriously contemplating a first relegation in the club's history, and we have had inflicted upon us yet another embarrassing Cup shock.

Crowds are dwindling, there are still rumblings of discontent about the move to the new stadium, and the limited finances available mean there is no quick-fix solution.

Some fans have I know taken to leaving AFC coffins around the city proclaiming the death of the club. We are not quite there yet though, there is still life in the old patient, and our salvation may well lie in the kids, a number of whom have already impressed at first team level, with other younger ones getting closer to making the big breakthrough.

It is difficult to genuinely be anything other than apprehensive at the moment, but we all know how quickly football fortunes can change; maybe 2012 will be the year when the Dons finally start to climb back up that ladder again!

Happy New Year!