Celtic Fans Know We Need A Better Challenge In Scotland. This Year, The Hope Lies With Aberdeen.

As we wrap up the second week of the Scottish Premiership, Celtic sits comfortably on six points, leading the pack. But there’s another team matching that pace: Aberdeen.

This is more than welcome. Especially when you look elsewhere.

The Edinburgh clubs are struggling already.

Hearts’ decision to stick with Steven Naismith looks increasingly farcical, and Hibs’ appointment of an inexperienced manager looks nothing short of disastrous. One of my recurring nightmares was of Celtic appointing Henrik Larsson as manager, almost certainly ruining every good memory I have of the guy. David Gray should forever be the scorer of that cup winning goal … he doesn’t deserve the near-certain fate that awaits him as boss.

Hearts may still scrape a third-place finish, as many predict, but their shaky start—with just a draw and a loss—doesn’t inspire confidence. Hibs, with zero points from their first two matches, were utterly outclassed by Celtic this weekend, especially in the first half, and as brilliant as we were in that 45 minute, they don’t look like they’re equipped to compete seriously this season. If they don’t get sorted soon they’re relegation fodder.

In contrast, Aberdeen shows promise without being brilliant.

With a new manager, Jimmy Thelin, at the helm, they’ve looked solid in their early matches, including that very respectable 3-1 victory over St. Mirren at the weekend. They aren’t going at it all guns blazing like we are, and if the highlights are anything to go by they were defensively suspect in that match, but they are dogged, they are committed and they got the result.

Scottish football has long needed a genuine challenger from outside Glasgow, and Aberdeen, with their infrastructure, passionate fanbase, and historic standing, should be that team. Bad decision making in their own house and a rash of terrible managerial decisions have left them behind the curve. But we know that a good manager can swiftly turn that around.

Under their new leadership, Aberdeen has the potential to mount a challenge. Maybe not a serious challenge, and we’re still in early days, and they’ve yet to face the toughest opponents, but the signs are encouraging. They are a hard-working and industrious team and they have goals in them, and that’s always important to note.

I’d like to think they could push the team in second harder than anyone has in recent years. Whether they’re good enough to overtake our Glasgow neighbours is doubtful, but the gap between second and third place should be a lot narrower than last season.

Every year, a non-Glasgow team starts strong, raising hopes that they might finally disrupt the duopoly. And every year, those hopes are dashed as that team falls apart after a few promising games. But I remain optimistic, especially when a team shows early promise under new management, with goals coming from all over the pitch.

Scottish football desperately needs this.

It has needed it for several years now. While I believe Celtic will continue to dominate, unless they make some catastrophic errors in-house – which is not out of the question by any manner of means – it is not as difficult for a side outside of Glasgow to mount that challenge as some people think.

In fact, all it will really take is for a team outside the city to rise above the rest—not just occasionally, but consistently. When that day comes, the Glasgow clubs will be vulnerable.

Even the best teams drop points; historically, even the Glasgow clubs, for all their dominance, do so eight or nine times over a 38-game season. The problem for teams like Aberdeen is they often squander their momentum, losing heavily to mid-table teams and then struggling to recover. They lack the resilience of a team like ours, one that can take a defeat on the chin and then put together another winning run. Part of it is establishing the right mentality.

But if a team can break that cycle, if they can consistently beat the teams around them and bounce back quickly from setbacks, we could see a league campaign that truly excites Scottish football fans.

It might be too much to hope for; I’ve been saying this for years, and it hasn’t happened yet. Still, I remain hopeful that this could be the year. With the Edinburgh clubs looking poor, and Kilmarnock not yet firing on all cylinders, all eyes are on Pittodrie.

Is this the team? Is this the year?

One year, it will be. And we live in hope.