Why have Aberdeen not won the Scottish Cup in 31 years?
- Published
It was a familiar tale of woe for Aberdeen last season when they were knocked out by Celtic in the semi-final
Celtic 11 times, Rangers nine times, Hearts three times, Dundee United twice, Motherwell, Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and Hibernian.
That is the Scottish Cup roll of honour since Brian Irvine's penalty - the 17th of the 1990 final against Celtic - clinched Aberdeen's last Scottish Cup. They have suffered 31 years of hurt since.
Of the current top-flight teams to have won football's oldest trophy, only St Mirren have had a longer drought. So why have Aberdeen not managed to emulate far smaller clubs in the last three decades?
The Pittodrie men began their quest to end the drought by beating Dumbarton in the third round on Saturday. But can they go further?
Period in the doldrums
Aberdeen regularly failed to punch their weight for the first 23 years after that 1990 win. In fact, that triumph marked a gradual decline in the club's standing.
The Pittodrie club finished in the bottom half of the Scottish top flight 13 times in the 24 seasons from 1990-91 until recently-departed manager Derek McInnes took charge for the 2012-13 term.
Perhaps understandably, then, Aberdeen reached the last four only six times in that period.
One of the few highlights was in 1999-2000 under the late Ebbe Skovdahl, who led them to both domestic finals despite finishing bottom of the SPL.
However, they lost the Scottish Cup final to Rangers (with striker Robbie Winters forced to go in goal after three minutes) and the League Cup showpiece to Celtic.
Missed opportunities
Despite many years in the doldrums, there have been plenty of seasons when Aberdeen were good enough to challenge for cups, but simply threw away their opportunity.
The most infamous came in 2007-08 during Jimmy Calderwood's fourth season, when they faced First Division side Queen of the South in the semi-final. Despite being heavy favourites, the Pittodrie side lost 4-3, coming from a goal down on three occasions, only to almost immediately concede each time.
Eventual winners Rangers, drained from their run to the Uefa Cup final, would have been their final opponents. A Rangers side that Aberdeen beat on the last day of the league season - two days prior to the final - to hand Celtic the title.
Aberdeen were humiliated 4-3 by Queen of the South in 2008
Another big opportunity was in 2013-14, when neither Celtic nor Rangers reached the last four.
McInnes' men had knocked out the former, and faced a St Johnstone side in the Ibrox semi-final who they had already beaten 4-0 on their way to winning the League Cup, and who had not managed to score against them all season.
However, they succumbed to a 2-1 loss having taken the lead and dominated the first-half. Two Stevie May goals proved their undoing and St Johnstone went on to beat Dundee United and lift the trophy.
Old Firm in their way
While there have been many sub-par performances, Aberdeen have also come up against superb Old Firm sides and never quite managed to pull off a shock - like Hearts against Rangers in 1998, or Dundee United against the Ibrox side four years earlier.
Aberdeen were runners-up to a treble-winning Rangers in every competition in 1992-93, and again to Celtic's invincible side in 2016-17, with Tom Rogic scoring in the dying seconds to clinch the Scottish Cup for Brendan Rodgers' side.
Similarly, Celtic did for them at the semi-final stage last season.
