A-Z: Ultimate Aberdeen Squad and Team from your lifetime
At the risk of being ridiculed and starting a thread that dies on its arse, I thought I'd suggest an alternative distraction to the 4 word story (which I'm loving by the way) while we otherwise waste our days away googling stuff to do with the C word.
Basic idea is that you need to build your ultimate 25 man A-Z Aberdeen squad (plus manager) and from it a starting 11 with 5 substitutes. The rules are:
1. You're allowed only one person for each letter of the alphabet (surname basis). So if you choose Miller you can't have McLeish, McKimmie or Mackie :p So you'll end up with maximum 26 names in total (A-Z) from which you'll choose 17 (starting 11, 5 subs and manager) for matchday.
2. They can only be players/managers who played for Aberdeen during your footballing lifetime (no need to have seen them in the flesh - you don't need to be a Top Red to play). So for me given my first footballing memory is 1978, that's where things start. Much as I might like Zoltan Varga as my 'V' or Martin Buchan as my 'B' I can't have them. But on the other hand, although by the time I saw Joe Harper his glory days were over, I can still have him at his peak.
3. If you can't find someone who played for or managed Aberdeen during your lifetime whose surname starts with X, for example, then that's a blank in your roster
4. You can pick whatever formation you like. Auld mannies like me can have 4-4-2. If you fancy yourself as the new McInnes or Levein you can make up any weird stuff you like, so long as there's only 11 players on the pitch.
5. It has to be a genuine squad so you need cover for each position, including on your bench. Obviously if you were to choose Andy Considine then as we all know he can play centre back, left back, striker, etc. Utility players are fine.
6. AberDNA members are allowed 2 extra players of their choice. (That one was a joke by the way)
It's not as easy as it sounds. For one thing, you can only have one M, and that includes Mcs and Macs. For another, you need to balance the team, so you can't just fill the squad with strikers. There's some hard choices to be made. In thinking about it a bit, you might need to swap a true great for a lesser player in order to get 3 or 4 centre backs in your squad or whatever.
Anyway, if this doesn't die right off the blocks hopefully it will inspire some debate, misty eyed reminiscence, ridicule, etc. Feel free to explain why you chose someone or who you purposefully overlooked in their place.
Your final entry should look something like this:
A - Archibald, Steve
B - Bett, Jim
C - Clark, Bobby
...
Starting 11:
Manager - Ally MacLeod
GK - Bobby Clark
LB - ...
Substitutes:
John Hewitt (for obvious reasons)
...
...
If nothing else, I'll get one reply as I'll do one. Might take me a day or two though.
Apologies to those whose football life started post-Alex Miller. Might be a tough task...
