# 2021–22 Aberdeen F.C. season

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 doors but two matches were cancelled due to COVID-19. 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

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### 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.

### 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.

#### Play-off round
## Squad statistics
### Appearances

    As of 7 May 2022
| No. | Pos | Player | Premiership | Premiership | Conference League | Conference League | League Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | Joe Lewis | 32 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 0 |
| 2 | MF | Ross McCrorie | 29 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 1 |
| 3 | DF | Jack MacKenzie | 12+6 | 1 | 4+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 25 | 1 |
| 4 | DF | Andrew Considine | 2+1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | Declan Gallagher | 19+1 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | Marley Watkins | 15+5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 3 |
| 9 | FW | Christian Ramirez | 33+3 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 0+1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 45 | 15 |
| 10 | FW | Vicente Besuijen | 13+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 2 |
| 11 | DF | Adam Montgomery | 3+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | Dylan McGeouch | 9+6 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | Funso Ojo | 25+3 | 1 | 5+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 1 |
| 17 | MF | Jonny Hayes | 23+9 | 2 | 4+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 2 |
| 18 | FW | Connor McLennan | 5+13 | 0 | 0+5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
| 19 | MF | Lewis Ferguson | 34 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 0+1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 43 | 16 |
| 20 | MF | Teddy Jenks | 7+11 | 2 | 1+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 2 |
| 21 | MF | Dante Polvara | 1+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | Calvin Ramsay | 20+4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 33 | 1 |
| 25 | GK | Gary Woods | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | David Bates | 30+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 2 |
| 28 | FW | Michael Ruth | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 29 | DF | Connor Barron | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 33 | FW | Matty Kennedy | 3+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Players who left the club during the season |||||||||||||
| 6 | DF | Michael Devlin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Scott Brown (c) | 23+1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 2 |
| 14 | FW | Jay Emmanuel-Thomas | 8+7 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | Niall McGinn | 1+8 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | Ryan Hedges | 16 | 2 | 3+1 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 5 |
| 21 | DF | Jack Gurr | 3+1 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | Austin Samuels | 3+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | Dean Campbell | 7+5 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | Kieran Ngwenya | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | DF | Mason Hancock | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | MF | Matty Longstaff | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |

### Goalscorers

As of 7 May 2022
| Ranking | Nation | Number | Name | Scottish Premiership | Conference League | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Total |
| 1 | | 19 | Lewis Ferguson | 11 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| 2 | | 9 | Christian Ramirez | 10 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| 3 | | 11 | Ryan Hedges | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | | 7 | Marley Watkins | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | | 8 | Scott Brown | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | | 27 | David Bates | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | | 20 | Teddy Jenks | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | | 17 | Jonny Hayes | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | | 10 | Vicente Besuijen | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | | 4 | Andrew Considine | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | | 18 | Connor McLennan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | | 2 | Ross McCrorie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | | 3 | Jack MacKenzie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | | 22 | Calvin Ramsay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | | 14 | Jay Emmanuel-Thomas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | | 16 | Funso Ojo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | 40 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 56 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 8 | Hibernian | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 38 | 42 | −4 | 45 | |
| 9 | St Mirren | 38 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 33 | 51 | −18 | 44 | |
| 10 | Aberdeen | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 41 | 46 | −5 | 41 | |
| 11 | St Johnstone (O) | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 24 | 51 | −27 | 35 | Qualification for the Premiership play-off final |
| 12 | Dundee (R) | 38 | 6 | 11 | 21 | 34 | 64 | −30 | 29 | Relegation to Championship |
* ↑ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | A | H |
| Result | W | W | D | D | L | L | L | L | L | W | D | W | L | L | L | W | W | W | L | W | D | L | D | L | L | D | D | D | L | L | W | D | L | L | W | D | L | D |
| Position | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 |

## Transfers
### Players in

| Date | Pos | Player | From | Fee |
| 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

| Date | Pos | Player | To | Fee |
| 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 | Free |
| 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

| Date | Pos | Player | From | Fee |
| 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

| Date | Pos | Player | From | Fee |
| 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 |