Friday night’s programme is special tribute to Neale Cooper.

The cover was brilliantly recreated by artist in residence Dolly Digital. The photo is actually from the Dons’ pre-season tournament against West Ham and Southampton which Aberdeen won.

Neale scored the fifth goal in the 5-1 rout of a Southampton side that included a few notable names; Ivan Golac, Dave Watson, Steve Williams, Kevin Keegan, Mick Channon, Alan Ball, Charlie George and Steve Moran.

The programme though was from the Aberdeen v Hibernian game on Wednesday March 10th 1982. For the record, Aberdeen won the game 3-1, their first victory in five as goals had been hard to come by. Incredibly, Neale scored after only 35 seconds that night! He hit a shot from 25 yards which rebounded off the back stanchion at such a pace it required the linesman to confirm the ball had actually gone in.

Inside the programme, in the manager’s notes entitled ‘Leader’, Alex Ferguson had this to say about his young players: “It has been a season of progression on the playing side. We have established players such as Simpson, Hewitt, Cooper and Black as members of the first team squad, youngsters who have worked hard to win their opportunities and their development speaks highly for the Aberdeen scouts and coaching staff who have steered them into the most competitive level of football in Scotland.”

As for the new look RedMatchday Issue 01, we will have a 76 pages packed with tributes to Neale plus features and interviews with the current team and also plenty of information and stories on our opponents WBA, as this will be the first meeting between the two sides.

You can order your copy online here: www.curtis-sport.com/Aberdeenfc

RedMatchday Magazine is available to buy from programme sellers in and around the ground, plus the Pittodrie Club Shop.

We hope you enjoy RedMatchday 2018/19.