The Scotsman insults Aberdeen fans by insisting they are focussed on Sevco and not Celtic.

Today, The Scotsman published a piece with such a ridiculous premise that I actually felt insulted reading it. It tackled a subject I’d already planned to cover—Aberdeen’s impressive season so far—and promoted the superb encounter between our clubs after the international break.

Aberdeen fans are the most confident they’ve been in years, and rightfully so. Twelve matches, twelve wins. While some in the mainstream media are quick to dismiss it with the tired old line of “they haven’t played anyone yet,” the fact remains that they’ve faced twelve different teams and beaten each one. In their league games these are the same teams everyone else will face throughout the season, and on that stage Aberdeen’s record is played seven, won seven.

The media narrative doesn’t interest me; Aberdeen’s run is nothing short of outstanding. Their manager and squad have done everything asked of them. As I’ve often said on this blog, a team doesn’t need to reach our standards—or even the Ibrox club’s—to mount a title challenge. It just needs to be better than the rest, and Aberdeen’s seven wins prove they’re capable of maintaining the consistency required to challenge for honours.

And that’s what matters most—consistency.

However, The Scotsman’s article irked me for another reason. Not only has it insinuated that Aberdeen’s achievements are insignificant—seven wins dismissed as if they were easy to come by – but it then suggests something even more insulting: that Aberdeen fans care more about the upcoming match against the Ibrox club than their game at Celtic Park.

Only a complete fool would make such a claim.

If Aberdeen leave Celtic Park with even a draw, people will start talking about them as genuine title contenders. Should they manage a win, then there’s no doubt about it; they are contenders. Yet, according to this clown at The Scotsman, the game their fans are most eager for is against a side they’re already five points ahead of in the table.

For the first time in a long while, Aberdeen supporters don’t need to fear playing either Glasgow side. This isn’t about thinking they should beat the Ibrox club; it’s about coming to Celtic Park with confidence. If they can hold their own at our ground, they have nothing to fear from anyone else. So, the notion that their focus is on the Ibrox club’s game is absurd. Celtic Park is where the true test lies, especially with what’s to come later in the season.

If Aberdeen can handle Celtic Park, they’ll have no reason to worry about going to Ibrox or facing us at Hampden for a spot in the League Cup final.

On the surface, the Ibrox game might appear the easier of the three upcoming fixtures. But if Aberdeen are serious about being contenders, they won’t be thinking in such terms. They’ll see the match at Celtic Park as their proving ground.

If they get success there the home game on 30 October against the Ibrox club takes care of itself. If they finish the first quarter of the season with a result at Celtic Park and a win against the Ibrox club, having beaten everyone else along the way, they’ll demand to be taken seriously by everyone—fans, media, and opposition alike.

The significance of the three games at three different grounds—Celtic Park, Hampden, and Pittodrie—is that they will define the kind of season Aberdeen can realistically aspire to. If they emerge from these matches with the same confidence they have going into them, they can dream big. They can think about a generational achievement.

If the writer at The Scotsman meant that Aberdeen fans are looking at the Ibrox game as the one that confirms they’re good enough to finish second, well, that logic doesn’t hold either. Because if they can come to Celtic Park and leave with a result, they’ve already proved they’re good enough for second place, haven’t they?

And that’s why The Scotsman’s article is so absurd.

If Aberdeen come to Celtic Park and get anything at all, they’ll have nothing left to prove. Not to the media, not to their fans, not to other clubs, and not to themselves. They can take on anyone, anywhere, and head to Hampden knowing they can get a result. And they’ll be able to point back to the Celtic Park game as the proof of that.

There’s no bigger game this season for Aberdeen than the one that’s coming up after the international break. Their fans know this.

But once again, the Scottish media can’t see beyond their narrow, one-dimensional view of football fans. They peddle this nonsense about obsession with minor rivalries, but in truth, Aberdeen fans now have a reason to believe in something much bigger. And if they’re going to believe, they may as well believe in it all.