In the final edition of Red Matchday in 2024, the team have produced another bumper edition.
Throughout the season we will have the biggest and best interviews with the first team squad members and former players.
There is an exclusive interview this week with Jamie McGrath.
“We’re going into 2025 in a better shape than we came into this year. We’ve had that big unbeaten run, which was the main highlight when you look back, coinciding with Peter Leven taking over and then Jimmy coming in. Things really took off when he arrived, and we have been playing in front of packed-out crowds every week since then. There have been some games recently at Pittodrie that as a player you will always remember.
“I was looking forward to seeing how the new manager would be, what we could learn. It’s been amazing since we went to Portugal, which was my first week back in training. The ideas and principles were there from day one. As a player it’s great to have that laid out clearly for you. Whenever times get tough, you can just revert to them. You know that if you do the basics the manager wants you to do, it’s half the battle.”
“It’s going to be a work in progress, it’s not going to happen overnight. Although we’ve had a great start, there’s going to be ups and downs, but as time goes on you’ll see it’s getting better and better.
Also in this edition there is a special interview with former Aberdeen assistant manager Pat Stanton. Earlier this year Pat celebrated his 80th birthday and also sat down and spoke to Moira Gordon for Red Matchday Magazine about his time in the North-east:
While 1983 will always be remembered as something special, one of the most pivotal campaigns in the club’s history came three years prior to that and it is a period that Pat Stanton will never forget.
It was in that unlikely yet remarkable league success that solid foundations were laid, and belief burgeoned as Alex Ferguson won over a talented and strong-willed group of players, and fostered the siege mentality that served them so well throughout his spell as manager.
“And, I was lucky, because I had a front row seat to it all,”
… “He is a very clever, bright person, who was very good at weighing people up.
“It was only when you were in his company for a while that you noticed that but there wasn’t a lot that got past him, and as things cropped up you saw how he handled them. He was a really good listener. A lot of people might not think that but he was. He would put his views forward but he was also listening to you. A lot of people tell you what they think but then don’t ask you. Alex did.”
For all Ferguson’s strengths, he was fortunate to be surrounded by people who shared his will to win and who had his back.
“Going up there, you could see the potential was there. The club and the background people, the chairman, a lot of it felt right.
“The chairman Dick Donald would come down to the training ground most days, and Alex and him would go for a walk round the track to discuss things.
“I suppose there were times they used the boardroom but so much of the time you would just see them walking round the track. You would look over and wonder what they were talking about but no-one would know because they would walk as they talked and it was just the two of them.”
That dynamic gave Ferguson the authority to overhaul things, according to Stanton.
“He changed things completely there. He arrived and it was clear there was a new sheriff in town.
“While we were up there, he knew everyone’s name. The lady who made the tea, the groundsman, everybody. He had a tremendous memory for things. Things you and I might forget. He was sharp. I would just watch and learn.”
Plus columns from the manager and Graeme Shinnie and the U18 Q&A is with Cooper Masson. And all the usual features – Pittodrie from the Past, Tales from the Trust, Goals of the Century, Season Review, Past Programme, Around this Day and much much more.
Please note, ahead of our final fixture of 2024, we will ask all Aberdeen supporters to take a moment to pay our respects to all members of the Dons family who have sadly passed away throughout this year. The names of supporters who have passed are included in the programme.
How to purchase
Priced at £4.00 Red Matchday Magazine is available to buy from in and around the ground on Saturday from the sellers and is also available in the AFC Club Shop now. Please note if you can’t make the game, you can order a copy online and have it delivered direct to your door by clicking here.
