ABERDEEN
IT came as no surprise to learn of an outbreak of madness on the appropriately named Aberdeen Mad website following Ricky Foster's switch to Rangers.
In fact such a reaction from the north east was as predictable as it was pathetic and just about summed up a sizeable section of those who follow Aberdeen.
It also, perhaps, illustrates just how the club has changed from the era when it was a pleasure for any Glasgow based journalist to visit Pittodrie in the days of shrewd old Dick Donald and the friendly and intellectually formidable Chris Anderson.
Even before Foster's move to Rangers sparked off the usual spewing of vile bile from many Dons devotees, I was pondering events at Pittodrie and trying to fathom just what was going on at a club which still appears to be living with the regret of its treatment of Jimmy Calderwood.
Firstly, there was the strange television appearance of manager Mark McGhee a week ago. McGhee appeared to be bouyed by starting the season with three straight wins, and when asked - as all SP managers were in the wake of Celtic, Motherwell and Dundee United being kicked out of Europe - how Scottish clubs could improve at that level, he launched into a strange tirade.
According to McGhee, all that is needed for success is money. It was, he insisted in what appeared to be dogmatic style, one thousand per cent down to money, adding that if he was given enough he would guarantee Aberdeen winning the Champions League.
That was indeed strange as when Rangers spending went wild they couldn't even get out of the sections, and nor could Celtic when their wage bill was higher than that of two thirds of of the Premiership teams.
Yet, in an era of Old Firm budget cuts, Alex McLeish blazed the trail as Rangers became the first Scottish team to reach the knock out stages of the Champions League, followed by Gordon Strachan's Celtic, twice, before Walter Smith steered Rangers on a march to the UEFA Cup Final.
And didn't Porto win the Champions League a mere six years ago? And without spending the sort of money in either transfer fees or wages lashed out by Dick Advocaat or Martin O'Neill.
Nearer to home Chelsea have been the big spenders of English football - before being overtaken by Manchester City. Yet we have yet to see the Champions League trophy at Stamford Bridge.
While City, whose outlay in the recently closed transfer window amounted to more than a third of all the cash spent in the Premiership, will struggle to win the English title.
McGhee's stoutly held belief is shown to be wrong. Cash of course plays a part, but it is not, never has been, and never will be, the be all and end of all of soccer success, especially at the very top level.
Perhaps McGhee was having a bad day. Perhaps the question caught him on the hop. These things happen.
But, when McGhee's Aberdeen were beaten by Kilmarnock 24 hours after his Euro outburst, more was to follow from the Pittodrie manager.
He turned his blazing guns on an unfortunate 18-year-old striker, who had come on as a substitute for Chris Maguire and whose mistake contributed to the late Kilmarnock winner.
Mitch Megginson is the kid's name, and McGhee was reported in the local evening newspaper as saying that he hoped the player had sleepless nights, staring at the ceiling. He added , he hoped Megginson felt terrible.
It was around about then that my mind's eye conjured pictures of Dick Donald and Chris Anderson, chairman and vice chairman of a three man board at a time when Aberdeen were winning titles and cups at home and in Europe.
McGhee was a player at Pittodrie when these two giants of Aberdeen and Scottish football history were around, and I wonder if he took a moment to reflect on what their reaction may have been to his outspoken and public attack on an 18-year-old laddie.
And what they - especially old Dick, who was a true canny Aberdonian, though as hospitable a man as I have ever had the privilege of meeting - would have thought about his cash-cures-all-theory.
These are questions which Aberdeen supporters would do better to address, rather than indulging in a blind hatred at all things Rangers, and telling proud son of the Granite City, Foster that he is no longer welcome back in his home town.
I have no doubt at all just what Dick Donald and Chris Anderson's reaction to that sort of nonsense would have been.
posted by leggoland @ 10:08
18 Comments
18 Comments:
Reading your story today I found a name jumping into my head - David Robertson. A great defender who served Aberdeen well while on their books yet, after transferring to Ibrox to further his career and better look after his family, the same fans who cheered him in the red of Aberdeen made his life unbearable with threats towards the health of his family suddenly the norm. His wife couldn't walk up the street with their wee bairn without being spat at and verbally abused. As your story tells, during the eighties Aberdeen were a proud club building a reputation in Europe that surpassed what the Old Firm had achieved in many a year. Unfortunately in recent years they have sunk to even greater lows than most of their fans should want to remember. The rot started, for me, with the Simpson episode which most clubs fans would have wanted to bury into the darkness of time, but no, the moronic animals at Pittodrie wrote a song about it to be sung to Rangers' fans at every opportunity.
As a 55 year old bluenose I'm slowly coming to the point where I detest the Sheep more than I detest the dhims from the east. Anyone who knows me will know that statement speaks volumes.
Dear Mr Laggat..... instead of trawling through our discussion board in a lazy manner searching for a meaningless story to once again in flame the Sheep-Huns issue why dont you go and check out your brethrens site Follow follow and report on that outburst of bile. You meantion the days when you could come to Pittodrie and it was a pleasure to deal with Dick Donald etc.... probably about the same time the hordes from Mordor were running amock in King Street smashing windows and punchingt kids (me beign one of the victims). I have no time for Rangers and whilst our board does contain some bile that is unsavoury you cannot forget decades of abuse and violence directed at Aberdeen fans...... same as the Orcs and Dhims cnat seem to forget a battle over 400 years ago.. when they finally stood up, the ASC were the scourge of Scottish football, continuously slated by folks like yourself.... you may forget the infamous Hampden final...... very rarely brought up these days by journalists like yourself. I suppsoe we came to expect the one sided stories , a throw back to the 80's when your beloved Glasgow Giants (ha ha) were getting pumped at every time by Sir Alex's team...... I suppsoe at the end of this my main commetn is , we oudl all be journalists these days by using tthe internet, away and earn your money properly. STAND FREE
A large section of the Aberdeen fans are bitter twisted hate filled types. Their club had a great deal of success beginning in the 70s and ending at the onset of the 90s. Rather than reflect happily on these past glories they instead prefer to perpetuate a hatred of all things Rangers. Where did all this begin, was it with Neil Simpson's criminal assault on Ian Durrant. I remember when it was a pleasure to visit Aberdeen for football and pleasure. I last visited Aberdeen for football when we won the league up there in 1987. I've visited sincee, on business, and even ineverydayay life there are a lot of Aberdonians who have, at best,aantagonismsm towards Glasgow generally and The Rangers in particular.
It doesn't end there, these bitter twisted individuals seem to have exported their poison into the soi-disant 'Tartan Army'. At Scotland games in Glasgow you can here many an attack on Rangers and its players raised in a voice whose origin is in the North East.
Maybe it is the only thing that keeps these sad people going, a kind of substitute for silverware or even rivalry. For it is indeed a couple of decades since Aberdeen could be considered as anything like 'rivals' to The Rangers.
Another fine piece, Mr. Leggatt and as per usual, right on the money.
Aberdeen what can i add, Dour little town (i wont call it a city as that would hint at some culture)and even dourer people. They had a modicum of success away back in the Eighties but it took a man from Govan in Glasgow to do it for them. That's where it rankles me thinks,just keep the oil flowing Sheepies your football stop flowing eons ago. When the oil does finally stop you can always take up the fishing again (sorry that's went the way of your football club)or go back to your first love, Sheep breeding. lol
Wonderful how the huns leaving comments are the ones bringing up the Simpson/Durrant incident.
It was a 50/50 challenge and both players were going in hard with studs showing, Da runt bottled it and got clobbered. A bad tackle right enough, but the ensuing vilification of Neil Simpson by the West Coast hacks was overboard and typically unbalanced.
From the very same Aberdeen Mad:
Please tell me this is the same David Leggat who was trapped in a toilet for four days?!
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Washed up alky hack who got punted by the Express.....the very same
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"Nearer to home Chelsea have been the big spenders of English football - before being overtaken by Manchester City. Yet we have yet to see the Champions League trophy at Stamford Bridge."
The most stupid point I have ever read. Thinks Chelsea have not won and they have invested £100s of millions hahahahaha. No mention of penalty kick defeats and semi final losses to Barca with questionable referring awards.
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He got punted by the Daily Express....so he doesn't have an editor any more
He's got his own sub Follow Follow standard bog...sorry blog ca'ed 'Leggo Land' which Der Bun laps up....dinna feed the mankit alky Hun Troll by giving him site hits.
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I think we can draw a line under Leggat's article (whoever he is). He's comparing fitba 30 years ago with fitba now, and uses exceptions to back up his Rizla-thin argument rather than rules. The ramblings of a care-home inhabitant, I'm surprised anyone is giving it any credence whatsoever.
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ha ha ha the hun scum are raging. pyoor deid brylliant as they say in weegiestani.
mon the dons, f@ck the hun scum.
Aberdeen is a footballing backwater. It always has been, save for a glorious period about two decades ago. The club and its stadium is a ramshackle, decrepit midden, and the supporters are vile, twisted, bitter, hate filled maggots who're totally and utterly obsessed with a manic, unhinged hatred of Rangers FC. Dons fans can't handle the fact that they need to dig out a Betamax VCR so they can watch their glory years. Rangers fans, and the vast majority of other football fans in Scotland, laugh at their pathetic antics and their club's ineptitude on and off the park.
Dear Mr David Leggat,
I read your article this evening with great interest.
Do you not find it ironic that you write an article about Aberdeen having a hatred of Rangers, only to be met with replies from 'Gers supporters trying to take the moral high ground? A moral high ground which none of them managed, instead resorting to spewing out their own hatred of Aberdeen.
Mr Leggat, do you seriously entertain the notion that the rivalry between Aberdeen and Rangers is all one way?
Try being an Aberdeen fan visiting Ibrox on matchday, and witness the home support in true form - many of whom spend their 90 minutes staring straight at the away end, prefering to put the importance of letting the Dons support know how much they are unwelcome in Govan above supporting their own side.
Also take into consideration why Aberdeen fans are locked in for ten minutes after games for their own safety. It certainly isn't because 800 fans manage to terrorise 49,000 home supporters.
Ask the many fathers who refuse to bring their children to Aberdeen/Rangers games, because they are fed up with the bile that emanates from those clad in red, white and blue, even in this day and age.
Some of the message board vitroil aimed at Ricky Foster was out of order, and you're right to pick up on it, and I for one do not condone nor deny that Aberdeen have plenty of supporters whose hatred of Rangers sometimes goes too far.
However, your one sided argument which, to use your own phrase was "strange", was how you managed to counter that into a dig at Mark McGhee, at Aberdonians in general, and what also appeared a dig at Stewart Milne too.
What you didn't hide, was your own dislike of Aberdeen. You're entitled to an opinion, but spare us the mock outrage for ill feeling when you feel it the other way yourself.
Your article also conveniently forgot the many examples of the hatred of all things Aberdonian from your own support, though the replies to your blog will perhaps serve to remind you of that.
Had you read FollowFollow.com on the evening the Foster-Velicka swap happened, you would have read many examples of Rangers fans pouring out their own twisted thoughts on the transfer. For every Aberdeen fan declaring Foster was not welcome back at Pittodrie, there was a Rangers fan suggesting that "We shouldn't be doing any business with those c*$ts."
You, and the Daily Record, were happy to be indulged on what a certain Aberdeen forum was saying. However neither of you were so keen to point out that Applebear1976 "feels the need for a shower after our great club did business with THAT club", or 'im_a_good_bluenose' posting "what grates me the most is rangers football club doing business with that mob...........my opinion is we shouldnt do business with those mutton molesters EVER".
What was more alarming, was that before the transfer had even been confirmed, posters had managed to work out what school and town he had been brought up in, in order to work out whether he had a protestant or catholic background.
Mr Leggat, no support in Scotland holds a candle to either of the Old Firm when it comes to outrageous reactions following a transfer not going their way. Mo Johnston anyone?
Perhaps instead of trying to tar all Aberdeen fans with the same brush as a few over excited keyboard warriors, perhaps your own energy should be directed towards the up and coming Manchester United-Rangers clash. One which is causing both Greater Manchester and Strathclyde police a lot of angst, due to an expected reply to the moronic actions of many hundreds, and perhaps thousands, or so-called Bluenoses who ran amock just two years ago.
Your energies would be better served trying to proclaim peace ahead of a potentially explosive clash, instead of painting your own support with an innocence many simply do not have.
I am a season ticket holder and when we play Aberdeen there fans are a disgrace, you are right to point this out David
I am a season ticket holder at Pittodrie and when Rangers fans visit they are a disgrace.
Why don't you point this out, Leggo?
I quite like the responses from the dons fans, obviously it hurts when they hear the truth.
Generally they don't hear the truth much because Aberdeen FC haven't warranted much attention from the media in a long time.
Their hatred is a strange thing, it's not really reciprocated because we don't see them either as important or a threat.
I also found it funny that the AFC fan quotes behaviour of Rangers fans running amock on King street scaring the poor wee aberdonians.
A true story, the last game game I went to at Pittodrie was the Durrant game. I vowed after that game I wouldn't go back because of the hatred I saw that day.
What I saw that day? I was too young to go to the pub with the bigger lads, so me and a friend who was older went for a wander round town before the game. My friend was a timid chap, wouldn't hurt a fly type (god rest his soul), so it pained me to see some mongrel 'casual' (marginally retarded for want of a worse term), exit a pub and see my friend and myself walking past with our proud Rangers colours.
I knew it was coming, the vacant look of intelligence on his face which matched what seemed to be the majority of their support.
He headbutted my friend and tried to kick me (I was 13 yrs old at the time).
At the stadium, golf balls were thrown at us and after the game more mongrel types chased women and children over the graveyard.
The hatred started well before the Durrant game.
It's a myth that casuals in their day were in anyway respectable, they're no different to the types that stab and rape on the average weekends of today. Much like the CCS, though they were 'better'.
Aberdeen's seasons consist of playing Rangers 4 times and in essence, that's all they have to live for. The hatred that Ferguson managed to install in them to conquer the west of scotland still remains, it's the last remnants of interest they still have in football.
Aberdeen will never match the achievements they had under Ferguson, they won't even come close.
It still rankles the Hun hordes that Aberdeen have a greater record of achievement in Europe than Rangers do.
A European Cup Winners Cup and a European Super Cup.
Rangers fans are ugly anyway.
Check out the nick of Leggat - his neanderthal foreheid is gargantuan. I never realised that being a jaikie swelled yer bonce.
I find myself with a feeling of cheapness at responding to your pathetic, ill-informed rants but you got me to bite. Well done - mission accomplished.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/7136288.stm
When Aberdeen fans start mailing letter bombs, or tearing city centres apart in an orgy of drunken violence... like Rangers fans have, then you'll have room to talk about pathetic and predictable.
Understand?
No, probably not.
That's because you're a fucking idiot.
what a heap of shyte you speak, no wonder the hatred from Aberdeen fans continue, when alkie wallopers like you print crap like this......take a look in your own back yard before spouting off about any other teams...it's tools like you who generate the hatred every time these teams play each other...stop printing this, and the bitternss and violence might fade away.....hopefully like you
bigot free since 1903
Graham
Still pissing the bed David? (wasn't it your ex-wife that 'was sick of waking up soaked in your urine'?? Aye, certain matters might escape the paper media but they live forever if u look;) Stinking wee bassa, can almost smell the stale whisky piss through the screen such is the patchyness of your face. A real piss-head alcoholic. No one gives a toss what you write, you only got journo jobs thanks to some very 'loyal' friends in places...and even that couldnt save you. David, the only folks that carry any positive view of your scribblings are absolute retards that are more often found lying on pavements covered in vomit and piss as they take a day off from wife-beating to watch an orange march, or follow rangers to manchester, barcelona or wherever. Aberdeen fans, even with their old-skool casual element are still far more welcome anywhere than rangers fans would ever be and we dont look anywhere near as ugly. And YOU David, epitomose the very ethos of all that is so very, very wrong and backward with rangers, as an institutuon and to a fan. You are a fuckin muppet.
Oh, David. How did you managed to get trapped in a bowling clubs toilet for 4 days?? You fuckin retard!
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