GRAEME SHINNIE
The skipper previewed the Dons opening game of the season in RedMatchday Magazine:
“It will be a big moment for me personally because it’s a big honour to be made captain of such a great club. I’m really looking forward to the challenge ahead, starting with another big European night here at Pittodrie.
“We want to try to make progress in the competition and on righting a few wrongs from the last couple of years because I felt the last two seasons, we went out to teams we should have beaten.
“Maribor last year, the game out there did not help in terms of how it went and with some of the decisions, but even then I thought we had some good chances, we created opportunities and had control of the game. I felt myself and Ryan were overrunning them in the middle of the park, the wingers were getting on the ball, the defenders were doing their job and looking solid. It was really disappointing not to get through.
“Maybe the home leg cost us when we lost the away goal when we did.
“We need to learn from that experience. We are getting used to playing in Europe, how to set up playing away from home. It is different to playing away to teams in the Scottish League. These are games we are expected to win. You don’t always know what you are getting when you go away to these European teams. Although we are well prepared, it is still a new experience. You always know you are going to get a hard game. We know within ourselves what we need to do to progress and the next step for us is getting through to that play-off for the group stages.
“I think it is really important on Thursday that we get a clean sheet and limit their opportunities.
“If we can go into the game next week with a clean sheet and a few goals, it helps. We can then concentrate on trying to sneak an away goal. That is the ideal scenario but football doesn’t always work out the way you want it so you have to adapt. You get into different scenarios within the game and it’s up to us to come up with the answers. Over the last couple of years, we have had some great results in Europe and hopefully we can enjoy another good journey this year.
“I think the fans have been brilliant on these European nights, selling the place out. The fans enjoy seeing teams that they maybe don’t know.
“They give the players great backing. The Rijeka game, when they pulled in back to 3-2 on aggregate and there was a bit of nervousness in the team, the crowd stuck with us and we got the goals to see the game out. They have a massive part to play on Thursday and throughout the whole year.
“Overall, as with every new season, the aims are to be better than we were last season.”
Plus ANDREW CONSIDINE
The defender is once again looking forward to another European campaign and hopes the experience the club have gained over recent seasons will help us:
We know it will be a tough game, that the first game back is always tough. It will be even harder this season because we are going straight into the second round and playing a team who have already played two more competitive games than we have.
“With the experience we have got in the team, along with the new recruits, I’m confident we will be prepared and able to handle it. We know it is going to be a very tough tie. We watched their game over in Kazakhstan before the Arbroath pre-season game and we could see that they are a very good outfit. We are going to have to be on our toes.
“We have been to some extremely tough places and we know that going over to Bosnia will also be very tough. However, we have pulled off some incredible results over the past few seasons in Europe, especially away from home, so we know what we are capable of doing. We have had some good runs in Europe and hopefully we can have another one this season.
There are also interviews with Manager Derek McInnes, Ryan Christie, Greg Stewart, Nicky Maynard and a Q&A with Greg Tansey.
This season marks 50 years since the Dons were first involved in European football back in 1967 – there’s plenty more about that in Thursday night’s special programme with articles from our columnists:
DEREK RAE
The game that meant most to me that season was the meeting with Bayern Munich. In addition to being a budding commentator, I was also a thoroughly obsessed student of German language. Thanks to the city's proximity to the North Sea, the signal from NDR Radio in Hamburg would come through loud and clear most evenings. On many a night I would lose myself listening to the 'ARD Bundesliga Konferenzschaltung' and Bayern represented pure footballing class and professionalism in my young mind.
So I did what 16 year olds do. I reached for the stars, penning a letter to the Bayern press department, requesting an interview with one of the Bayern players during their time in Aberdeen. Much to my surprise, I received a reply from Markus Hörwick (who would go on to be one of the most respected press officers in world football), asking me to call his office. Another chance to test out my German and I'm convinced to this day, being able to speak the language, won me my interview.
RICHARD GORDON
In keeping with the theme throughout this evening’s publication, I am taking a trip down memory lane. I may not quite be able to go all the way back to that first European tie against KR Reykjavik, but not far off it.
My first taste of continental opposition came three years later, in September 1970, when our reward for winning the Scottish Cup a few months earlier was a first round visit from Honved. The Hungarians seemed impossibly glamorous and I vividly remember that night – the gleaming all-white strip they wore, the disappointment of losing an early goal and the fight-back which followed, Stevie Murray netting a late goal to clinch a 3-1 win that set us up nicely for the return. Sadly, it was not to be, the Budapest side reversing the score and progressing on penalties, the Dons in the process becoming the first side ever to be knocked-out of a European competition by that method.
and one off features:
THROUGH THE DECADES
European football has been around in competitive competition since 1955 and from then on, success in Europe has been the Holy Grail for many clubs. While Aberdeen did not enter Europe until 1967, it could have been so different had the Dons not been overlooked in the first ever European Cup in 1955. As League Champions, the club expected the call, but that never came. In that competition, for the first season only, entrance was by invitation. That loophole was soon closed but too late for Aberdeen who were scandalously overlooked by the authorities…
Still available for only £3.00 – offering you our readers great value for money.
RedMatchday Issue 01 is available from sellers in and around the ground. There will be copies available to buy in the club shop plus you can buy all the AFC programmes online here: www.curtis-sport.com
RedMatchday Issue 01 is available from sellers in and around the ground. There will be copies available to buy in the club shop plus you can buy all the AFC programmes online here: www.curtis-sport.com
