Tenement, I remember Steve Coppell a couple of years ago objecting to all the press speculation about Reading's chances of getting into Europe. He said something along the lines of them being nowhere near good enough to compete for the trophy, so no point entering, althought he also said that he was trying hard to get them to a level where they could compete.
I found his view refreshing, and what you might expect from a sportsman with a winner mentality. The club accountants and fans might not agree, but as regards AFC, we took 4 points from a possible 15, which was probably as good as we might have expected. Of course we're nowhere near good enough to get even close to winning it, and last 32 was probably the maximum we might have achieved. It's a measure of how far behind the rest of Europe that we as a club have fallen.
This season has been a first for many younger Dons fans. Three or four times as many Dandies made the trip to Munchen than 25 years ago. The difference this time was no-one expected us to get through at Bayern's expense. We all knew it was never going to happen, despite a fantastic first leg.
1. Winning mentality, 2. Expectations - realistic or otherwise, 3. Ambition - these are the keys. I think it's a shame that some younger fans can rate this season as a success, principally because of adventures into Europe, adventures which did, and were bound to, end in failure. The board and management of Aberdeen do not necessarily have the ambition and desire that we fans have.
The business of football is a totally different world of course nowadays, but winning mentality is free, and we don't seem to have it. I always suspected that our chairman wasn't passionate about success for AFC plc on the park - this is not his overwhelming desire, it's not the most important thing in his life. It's also difficult to argue that our manager has a winning mentality, as winners tend to win something sometime, and JC's not won anything in his whole life, and is happy and doing remarkably well to be picking up a wage. If Miller and calderwood don't live and breath with realistic expectations for the club, and aren't fired by ambition and desire to be the best they can be, chances are the players aren't going to be burning with it either. Their form on the pitch this season would suggest they too aren't fuelled with the killer passion.
But if the fans accept the mediocrity that we've had to endure for well over 10 years now, then we really are in trouble. Whilst we still have the Scottish Cup to play for, to not only salvage this season, but make it one of the best in living memory for most of the young fans, then this is not the time to be negative or critical. I sincerely hope that JC proves me wrong, and finally does make it onto the winner's podium, but getting beat in a final is a horrible feeling, and I simply do not understand the acceptance of second best. Making a final and then losing is never a positive achievement in my book. When I went to Parkhead, I didn't necessarily expect to win, but I saw enough in the first game to believe we could do it, as we were tremendous that day, and Celtic were pretty poor. It's just i haven't seen enough consistency, both of fight and quality, to believe that we have got the right ingredients to go and win the cup this year, but I'm trying real hard to be positive.
The league table never lies, and what it tells me, is that we're really struggling to be top half, with Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee Utd, Motherwell and Falkirk all above us, at the start of April. That is a shocking indictment of how far we've slumped, and that's why I wanted to offer an alternative view. Mediocrity should never be acceptable, and as the original post title says, I think not making top 6 is inexcusable for Aberdeen FC.