User:Watty1962/Aberdeen F.C.

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Aberdeen Football Club (also known as The Dons, The Reds, or less commonly The Dandies (from Dandy Dons)) are a Scottish professional football team based in Aberdeen. They compete in the Scottish Premier League and have historically been one of the more successful Scottish teams, having won four Scottish League titles and seven Scottish Cups as well as being the only Scottish team to have won two European trophies.

Formed in 1903 due to the amalgamation of three clubs from Aberdeen, they only rarely challenged for honours until the 1950s, when they won each of the major Scottish trophies under manager Dave Halliday. This level of success was surpassed in the 1980s, when, under the management of Alex Ferguson, they won three league titles, four Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup, alongside the European honours. Aberdeen's league record is jointly the third-best alongside Hibs and Hearts, and they were the last club outside of the Old Firm to win a league title, in 1984–85.

Aberdeen have played at Pittodrie Stadium since their inception. The ground currently has a capacity of 22,199 and was the first all-seated and all-covered stadium in the UK. Pittodrie was also the first football stadium to feature a 'dug-out', an invention of player and coach Donald Colman. The club's colours have been primarily red and white since 1939; prior to this, they played in black and gold vertical stripes.

Having been historically the only senior team within a wide area, Aberdeen have tended to attract a sizeable support from the city and surrounding areas. This has been eroded somewhat in recent years, but a loyal core support remains, and important games still often sell out the stadium. Aberdeen have no geographically close rivals; their nearest neighbours at the same level are in the city of Dundee, with Dundee United having been their principal rivals in the New Firm in the 1980s. Rangers supplanted Dundee United as rivals in the late 1980s, but the rivalry, while fierce, does not approach that of the Rangers - Celtic divide.

Superfluous refs - may be used elsewhere
League champs

Stadium capacity

All-seated and all-covered

Dugout

The club mascot is Angus the Bull.

Supporters
Aberdeen's supporters, known as the 'Red Army' are listed in the team squad list as wearing the number 12 shirt - a reference to the supporters being the '12th man'. In 1999, a group of supporters founded the 'Red Ultras' supporters club with the express aim of improving the atmosphere at Pittodrie - the club's supporters had a reputation as being undemonstrative, even during the periods of success: Alex Ferguson having once remarked thatYou can tell when they are annoyed - you hear them rustle their sweetie wrappers. The group have organised coordinated displays and enormous flags and banners, particularly in the Richard Donald stand at home games, but also on occasion at away games. The group share a name with many Ultras groups elsewhere in the world, but disassociate themselves from any elements of hooliganism.

Aberdeen are the only senior team in the third largest city in Scotland &mdash; a city which is relatively geographically remote from other large population centres&mdash;and as a result have a large catchment area of potential supporters. However, attendances in recent years have not reflected this situation, with the club having the fifth largest average attendance in the SPL in the four seasons from 2003-04. Important games will, however, still see Pittodrie sold out

In the 1980s, a minority of the club's supporters had a reputation as one of Britain's most prominent Casuals groups. The rise of the Aberdeen Casuals coincided with the most successful period in the club's history, and has been chronicled in more than one published account.

Aberdeen have rarely played in the same division as their geographically closest rivals: Peterhead, Brechin, Montrose, Arbroath and Forfar, so rivalries have tended to come from further afield. In the early 1980s, owing to the success both domestically and in Europe of Aberdeen and Dundee United, the pair were known as the New Firm; however, Dundee United have their city neighbours Dundee as close rivals, and the antagonism was not always reciprocated to the same degree. The same situation applies to Aberdeen's rivalry with Rangers, in that Rangers have their own much older and well-known rivalry with Celtic, but there is a genuinely strong antagonistic feeling between both sets of supporters, and there have been a number of incidents arising from this since at least 1979.

Managers
''Correct to the end of the 2006-07 season. Only competitive league matches are counted.''