btr, spot on!
I can remember being the only kid with a Dons top in Thurso in the late 70s, and I fear that's where we're going to be again. A bit of a "joke" team with at least some past glories (Hibs anyone?) but back to season after season of mid-table mediocrity with the occasional (I hope it's occasional) relegation scare thrown in. Wins against the of will become a cause for clebration due to rarity rather than because "We're the famous Aberdeen" and we'll be looking to keep pace wi the clubs from Embra, Dundee, Motherwell and, in all likihood, ICT.
Will that diminish my support?
No!
Will it affect crowds?
Yip!
The knock on effect.......Hartley will probabky be the kast "name" we sign for a long time, managers will come and go, each time being a (probable) step "down" unless we get really lucky and unearth another gem.......and we'll be the club that fosters (no pun intended) the young talent that goes on to achieve elsewhere.
Please God I'm wrong, but I can still remember the fall-out after 1970 and how long it took to repair the damage (and we were so lucky to have found some manager gadgie called, err, Ferguson!)