The Red Matchday team have produced a bumper 84-page edition for this weekend’s Scottish Cup Quarter Final. The programme will still be priced at £3.50.

We have exclusive interviews and Q&As, plus an extensive Scottish Cup history section.

Red Matchday Issue 20 is available to buy from in and around the ground from the sellers and also in the AFC Club Shop. You can also buy your copy online and have it delivered direct to your door by clicking here

COVER STORY 

Saturday’s brilliant retro cover by Dolly Digital is inspired by the 1954 Scottish Cup final programme. Aberdeen were regulars at Hampden Park in the mid ‘50s and those experiences helped raise the expectation levels at the club …

by the Aberdeen FC Heritage Trust 

1952/53 | Struggling Dons Crack Title Challengers

To say that Aberdeen were up against it in 1952/53 would be an understatement. They started the season with a winless run of 14 matches but then scored a barrowload of goals in their next few games. Inconsistency and defensive frailty were commonly used words in the press coverage that season, and Aberdeen were regarded as serious contenders for relegation.

The salvation of the season came by way of a Scottish Cup run that would take the Dons all the way to the final at Hampden Park. Even this Cup run was a bit shaky at times. It started off with a 2-0 home victory against St Mirren, but each of the remaining ties, including the final, went to replays.

The most attractive of the ties came against Hibernian, who were hot favourites to be in at the death in the League title race. Before that the Dons had to deal with the Cup holders, Motherwell and that involved a staggering 5-5 draw at Pittodrie followed by a 6-1 midweek victory at Fir Park. Each of those matches attracted crowds above 20,000, but those numbers paled compared to the massive crowds that watched when Hibs took on the Dons at Easter Road and then Pittodrie.

On March 14 1953, 47,585 ‘enthusiasts’ thronged the slopes at the Edinburgh ground. In a match described by Norman MacDonald of the Evening Express as having “cracking pace and terrific strain” Aberdeen surprised everybody when, thanks to a goal by Ian Rodger after ten minutes, they took a lead that they would hold onto until eight minutes from the end. None of Hibs’ Famous Five were able to find the net and it was left to Buchanan to save the blushes of this prolific goalscoring team.

With excitement running at fever pitch, four days later, 41,880 souls from all over the north-east squashed into Pittodrie Park for the replay. What an afternoon – yes, a Wednesday afternoon, no floodlights in the early fifties. Wednesday afternoon in the city was ‘half day closing’. Most of the shops and factories closed as they were open on a Saturday morning.

The match programme on the following Saturday said: “Wednesday’s match had caught the imagination of the football loving public up here and there was an amazing turnout for a mid-week game. “

And it was a match that had all the thrills and entertainment that the most demanding of fans could have asked for. Hibs may have been without one of their talisman players, Gordon Smith, but the Dons didn’t care as they turned on an outstanding display of teamwork from back to front. George Hamilton scored both of the goals that took the men in red through to a tie against Third Lanark, but every player did his job and helped to make it a game to remember. And they did it despite having to go down to ten men for eight minutes after Tony Harris was injured in a collision with Jack Allister. The Dons dominated throughout and even the Edinburgh based Scotsman newspaper had to admit that Aberdeen were worthy winners.

Next up came a tightly contested semi-final at ‘neutral’ Ibrox Park against Third Lanark, with scores of 1-1 and 2-1 seeing the Dons through to the final against Rangers where once again a replay was required with Aberdeen only going down by the odd goal in three.

That Cup run did little to boost the League form, and by the end of the season, Aberdeen were only two points ahead of relegated Motherwell. Perhaps it goes to show that league and cup form are two entirely different beasts.

1953/54 | Dons Return to Hampden

This was the season that in many ways changed Aberdeen, creating a belief that the Dons could compete at the top’ on a regular basis. The league season started as the previous one ended, and it looked like the Dons would be in another survival race after a poor start. But in the autumn, they surged up the table and maintained a challenged for the title until the final month or so of the campaign, when they slipped dramatically down the table.

As with the previous season, 1953/54 was to be remembered chiefly for Aberdeen’s assault on the Scottish Cup. It was another incredible run. After Duns were defeated 8-0, Hibs were again knocked out, as were fellow Edinburgh rivals Hearts, who at the time were top of the table. That victory still provides Pittodrie with its record attendance as a crowd of 45,061 watched Aberdeen win 3-0. Despite winning league titles in the 50s both Hearts and Hibernian failed to beat Aberdeen in both domestic cups.

The semi-final win was equally historic – a first Scottish Cup win over Rangers. Joe O’Neil was the hero, scoring a hat-trick three weeks after suffering a depressed fracture of the skull. Aberdeen would go on to win 6-0, a remarkable scoreline. This was maybe the day where the club finally believed it belonged on the big stage. Saying all that, it was a below par Aberdeen – without O’Neil and Yorston – who lost a disappointing final against Celtic, this after having beaten the Glasgow side three times already that season. The 2-1 scoreline was also a repeat of the 1937 final, where again the Dons had failed to turn up.

After the disappointment though of losing a second cup final, the Dons would go on and win a first league title the following season.