The new league campaign is suddenly upon us as The Dons face Rangers at Pittodrie this Sunday. We take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the opening day fixtures of years gone by. 

For football fans, there’s nothing quite like the opening day of the league season. The interminable weeks of the close season finally draw to an end and the anguish of looking on as Scotland are once again left uninvited to the World Cup party is over. At last, the weekend anchor of club football returns. Age old football rituals are resumed, new ones initiated, scarves and replica kits are dug out from the bottom of drawers and the scent of hot pies begins to course over the terraces once again.

Aberdeen open the 2018/19 season with a home clash against Rangers in what promises to be an enrapturing encounter in front of another large crowd. A real blood and thunder game coupled with the pensive, optimistic atmosphere amongst supporters provides the perfect theatre to kick league proceedings off.

Aberdeen have enjoyed plenty of compelling introductions to league campaigns over the years. Primarily of note for historical significance, the inaugural match of Aberdeen Football club. Aberdeen welcomed Stenhousemuir to Pittodrie on the 15^th August 1903 in a Northern League fixture in what was the club’s first ever outing. Over 8,000 turned out to watch the game in which Dons captain Willie MacAuley opened the scoring before Stenhousemuir equalised. The match finished 1-1 and with it, Aberdeen had officially announced themselves to Scottish Football.

One of Pittodrie’s finest opening days came on the 13^th August 1977 as Billy McNeill took charge of his first Dons game, humbling visitors Rangers by three goals to one.  A double from Drew Jarvie and the other coming from none other than Joe Harper, got McNeill’s reign off to the perfect start. If McNeill hadn’t endeared himself to the Dons faithful by strolling into the dugout sporting a red shirt before the game, his team ensured he certainly had by the end.

Where McNeill had great success in his opening day fixture, the man that succeeded him, Alex Ferguson, followed suit. A tricky trip to Tynecastle presented itself for Ferguson’s Dons managerial debut in 1978, but it proved to be anything but. A resounding 4-1 victory signalled the beginning of Ferguson’s legacy at Aberdeen, but it would be safe to say nobody expected what was to unfold in the years to come.

Into this century and it is slightly easier to cherry pick some positive opening day results. Aberdeen 4-0 Hamilton at the start if the 2010/11 season will stand out, not for the score line but for the unique manner in how the goals were scored. New signing and club captain Paul Hartley grabbed a hat-trick with all three goals remarkably coming from the penalty spot, the first time it had happened in Scottish football for 37 years. The victory also marked the first time the Dons had prevailed at home on the opening day since 1994.

The most memorable league opener of this current era under manager Derek McInnes would be the victory down at Tannadice in 2015. Aberdeen had just returned from Almaty – the longest journey ever made by a club in European Competition – and travelled an hour down the A90 to kick off their league campaign. A late flicked header from the now departed Kenny McLean was enough to seal the victory for the Dons, kickstarting a run of eight straight victories that rocketed the Dons to the top of the table.

There’s no better confidence booster for supporters than a victory on the first day of a new season. Optimism and buoyancy for the season ahead uproots and replaces the despair from the year before. Scarves now take pride of place over stair banisters while match programmes proudly adorn coffee tables up and down the nation. Football is back and there’s nothing quite like it.