The 2021–22 Aberdeen F.C. season is Aberdeen's 109th season in the top flight of Scottish football and the ninth in the Scottish Premiership. Aberdeen competed in the Scottish Cup, the League Cup and in qualifying for the inaugural season of 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League.
Summary May Player-coach Scott Brown arrived from Celtic in July. Scotland International defender Declan Gallagher signed a pre-contract from Motherwell. Striker Jay Emmanuel-Thomas signed from Livingston. Goalkeeper Gary Woods permanently joined from Oldham Athletic after his loan spell last season.
June Young winger Teddy Jenks joined from Brighton and Hove Albion on a loan deal, Jack Gurr joined from manager Glass' former club Atlanta United on a free, and American International Christian Ramirez signed from Houston Dynamo for an undisclosed fee.
July The club announced all pre-season fixtures were to be played behind closed doorsAberdeen Fc | Dons Confirm Closed Door Pre Season Schedule but two matches were cancelled due to COVID-19.Aberdeen FC | Pre-Season 2021 | Match against Reading FC off Scott Brown was announced as Team Captain with goalkeeper Joe Lewis becoming the Club Captain.
August Aberdeen were knocked out of the League Cup by Championship side Raith Rovers. This followed with being knocked out of Europe by Azerbaijan side FK Qarabağ in the Play-off round.
September Lewis Ferguson was called up and made his debut for the Scotland national team. The club however suffered a miserable September, losing all three matches in the Premiership. Niall McGinn and Lewis Ferguson were both called up for their respective countries for the October internationals.
October Having lost five league games in a row, Glass was under pressure but was eased with wins against both Edinburgh clubs and were unlucky not to win at Ibrox.
November On 20 November, the Dons lost to Dundee United, however off the pitch player Funso Ojo was assaulted by a United fan and was sent off for a second bookable offence. The fan was later charged and banned from football. Ojo himself also assaulted a separate United fan after the match. He was later charged for the incident
December After three wins, the Dons lost at Easter Road to a Ryan Porteous goal, but during the match he was involved in an incident with Dons forward Ramirez for which he was later given a three match ban. Young full back Jack MacKenzie signed a new contract. The year ended prematurely due to the COVID variant Omicron and the club were forced to play in front of 500 fans against Dundee on Boxing Day as the Dens Park side struggled to field a team.
January Midfielder Matty Longstaff returned to his parent club after a disappointing spell with the club. Austin Samuels also returned to his parent club. Promising young American College player Dante Polvara signed a contract for the club. The club signed Dutch forward Vicente Besuijen on a four-and-a-half-year contract.
February After a poor run of results including a fifth-round defeat in the Scottish Cup to Motherwell, Stephen Glass left the club on 13 February. He was replaced by Barry Robson as interim manager. The club appointed Jim Goodwin as manager on 19 February Before the match with Dundee United, a statue was unveiled of their most successful manager to date, Alex Ferguson.
March It was announced that Team Captain and player-coach Scott Brown had left to pursue his coaching career elsewhere. For the second time during the season The Dons went 10 matches without a League win. Jim Goodwin's first win as manager came in a 3–1 home win against Hibernian on 19 March. The club descended to 10th place in the league.
April It was revealed that long-serving defender and former Club Captain Andrew Considine would leave at the end of the season after rejecting the offer of a new deal on reduced terms. Michael Devlin and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas had their contracts terminated and left the club. A home defeat to Ross County consigned Aberdeen to a place in the bottom 6 of the league, failing to qualify for European competition for the first time since 2012–13. The team's first clean sheet in the league since December 2021 came in a 1–0 win against bottom placed Dundee.
May
Aberdeen secured their place in the Premiership with a draw at Hibernian. Gaining just 2 points from a possible 9 in the last month of the season, the club finished the league in 10th place. Andy Considine made his final appearance for The Dons at home to St Mirren in the season finale. Dylan McGeouch, Funso Ojo and Michael Ruth left the club on conclusion of their contracts, whilst Adam Montgomery and Teddy Jenks returned to their parent clubs at the end of their loan.
Results & fixtures
Pre-season
Scottish Premiership
Scottish League Cup
Aberdeen enter the Second Round of the League Cup where they will play Raith Rovers. Stephen Glass made seven changes for the match and subsequently were knocked out.
Scottish Cup
UEFA Europa Conference League
Aberdeen qualified by finishing in fourth place in the 2020–21 Scottish Premiership and entered in the second qualifying Round. They knocked out BK Hacken 5–3 on aggregate to enter the third qualifying Round against Breiðablik. They also knocked them out 5–3 on aggregate but lost the play-off round 4–1 on aggregate to Qarabağ.
Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Play-off round
Squad statistics Appearances
|colspan="17"|Players who left the club during the season
Goalscorers As of 7 May 2022 RankingNationNumberNameScottish PremiershipConference LeagueLeague CupScottish CupTotal1 19 Lewis Ferguson11401162 9 Christian Ramirez10302153 11 Ryan Hedges220154 7Marley Watkins300035 8 Scott Brown2000227David Bates2000220 Teddy Jenks2000217 Jonny Hayes2000210Vicente Besuijen200026 4 Andrew Considine0100118 Connor McLennan010012 Ross McCrorie100013 Jack MacKenzie1000122 Calvin Ramsay1000114Jay Emmanuel-Thomas0010116Funso Ojo10001TOTALS40111456
Team statistics League table
Results by round
Transfers
Players in DatePosPlayerFromFee 21 June 2021 DF Jack Gurr Atlanta United Free 28 June 2021 FW Christian Ramirez Houston Dynamo £180,000 1 July 2021 MF Scott Brown Celtic Free 1 July 2021 FW Jay Emmanuel-Thomas Livingston Free 1 July 2021 DF Declan Gallagher Motherwell Free 1 July 2021 GK Gary Woods Oldham Athletic Free 26 August 2021 FW Marley Watkins Cardiff City Free 29 August 2021 DF David Bates Hamburg Undisclosed 8 January 2022 MF Dante Polvara Georgetown Hoyas Free 24 January 2022 FW Vicente Besuijen ADO Den Haag Undisclosed 12 February 2022 GK Craig Samson Hibernian Free
Players out DatePosPlayerToFee 17 May 2021 DF Ash Taylor Walsall Free 17 May 2021 DF Tommie Hoban Crewe Alexandra Free 17 May 2021 DF Greg Leigh Morecambe Free 1 July 2021 FW Bruce Anderson Livingston Free 27 July 2021 DF Shay Logan Cove Rangers FreeLogan & Anderson Join Cove | Cove Rangers FC 5 August 2021 MF Miko Virtanen Hamilton Academical Free 19 November 2021 MF Ethan Ross Raith Rovers Free 19 January 2022 DF Jack Gurr Sacramento Republic Free 24 January 2022 FW Niall McGinn Dundee Free 30 January 2022 MF Ryan Hedges Blackburn Rovers Undisclosed 8 April 2022 DF Michael Devlin Released 12 April 2022 FW Jay Emmanuel-Thomas Jamshedpur Free
Loans in DatePosPlayerFromFee 14 June 2021 MF Teddy Jenks Brighton & Hove Albion Loan 23 August 2021 FW Austin Samuels Wolverhampton Wanderers Loan 27 August 2021 MF Matty Longstaff Newcastle United Loan 31 January 2022 DF Adam Montgomery Celtic Loan
Loans out DatePosPlayerFromFee 24 June 2021 MF Mark Gallagher Forfar Athletic Loan 13 July 2021 MF Jack Milne Brechin City Loan 15 July 2021 MF Tyler Mykyta Formartine United Loan 22 July 2021 MF Kevin Hanratty Formartine United January Loan 3 August 2021 MF Connor Barron Kelty Hearts January Loan 6 September 2021 FW Michael Ruth Falkirk Loan 16 September 2021 DF Kieran Ngwenya Kelty Hearts Loan 25 September 2021 GK Tom Ritchie Huntly Loan 28 September 2021 FW Ryan Duncan Peterhead January Loan 3 January 2022 DF Evan Towler Elgin City Loan 7 January 2022 DF Mason Hancock Stirling Albion Loan 12 January 2022 MF Kevin Hanratty Elgin City Loan 3 February 2022 MF Dean Campbell Kilmarnock Loan
See also List of Aberdeen F.C. seasons
Footnotes
References