Aberdeen Football Club (also known as The Dons, The Dandies or The Reds) are a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen. They compete in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the most successful teams in their country, having won four league titles and seven Scottish Cups, including a record three in a row during the 1980s, the only time a team other than Rangers has done this since 1882. They are also the only Scottish team to have won two European trophies, both in the same year, and are one of only 3 Scottish teams that have never been relegated from the Top Division. Despite competing in both the 1999-2000 Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup finals, they have not won any silverware since 1995.
Formed in 1903 as a result of the amalgamation of three clubs from Aberdeen, they rarely challenged for honours until the 1950s, when they won each of the major Scottish trophies under manager Dave Halliday. This level of success was surpassed in the 1980s, when, under the management of Alex Ferguson, they won three league titles, four Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup, alongside the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, both in 1983. Aberdeen were the last club outside of the Old Firm to win a league title, in 1984/85, and also the last Scottish team to win a European trophy.
Coordinates: 57°09′09″N 2°06′36″W / 57.1526°N 2.1100°W / 57.1526; -2.1100
Aberdeen i/æbərˈdiːn/ (Scots: Aiberdeen listen (help·info); Scottish Gaelic: Obar Dheathain [ˈopər ˈʝɛhɪn]) is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 29th most populous city, with an official population estimate of 220,420.
Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeen's buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, whose mica deposits sparkle like silver. The city has a long, sandy coastline. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, other nicknames have been the Oil Capital of Europe or the Energy Capital of Europe. The area around Aberdeen has been settled since at least 8,000 years ago, when prehistoric villages lay around the mouths of the rivers Dee and Don.
Aberdeen received Royal Burgh status from King David I (1124–53), transforming the city economically. The city's two universities, the University of Aberdeen, founded in 1495, and The Robert Gordon University, which was awarded university status in 1992, make Aberdeen the educational centre of the north-east. The traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeen's seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world and the seaport is the largest in the north-east of Scotland.
Peter Ian Pawlett (born 3 February 1991 in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire), is a professional footballer currently playing for Scottish Premier League club Aberdeen.
Pawlett was brought up in Aberdeen since a young age and made his Aberdeen debut in February 2009, coming on as a substitute in a 5–0 Scottish Cup victory over East Fife. He made his SPL debut for Aberdeen as a substitute in a 3–1 loss to Celtic on 2 May 2009, and he made his first league start in a 2–1 loss to Rangers two weeks later.
In January 2010 Pawlett sustained a knee injury which required surgery. A month later it was reported the injury will keep him out of action for the remainder of the 2009–10 season.
On 30 April 2011, Pawlett scored his first goal for Aberdeen in a 1-0 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Despite being born in Hull, Pawlett was selected for the Scotland under-19 team in November 2009. This selection followed a rule change by the four Home Nations that allows British passport holders to play for any of the Home Nations, provided that they have been at a school for at least five years in that nation; Pawlett was educated in Banchory.
Adam Rooney (born 21 April 1988) is an Irish footballer, who plays as a striker for Championship side Birmingham City. He previously played for Stoke City, spent spells on loan at Yeovil Town, Chesterfield and Bury, and was a regular first-team member for Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Rooney signed for Stoke City in the summer of 2005. In his first season at Stoke, Rooney made his debut at academy and reserves levels, before making his first team debut as a second-half substitute against Tamworth in the FA Cup. Rooney scored his first goal for Stoke against Reading on 17 April 2006. In only his second full start for Stoke City, he scored a hat-trick against already relegated Brighton & Hove Albion in the final fixture of the 2005–06 season to become Stoke's youngest ever hat-trick scorer.
On 16 March 2007, it was announced that Rooney had joined Yeovil Town on loan for a month. The loan was later extended until the end of the season. However he returned to Stoke on 9 May 2007, after making 1 start and 2 substitute appearances for Yeovil.
James "Jamie" Robert Langfield (born 22 December 1979 in Paisley) is a Scottish professional football goalkeeper who currently plays for Aberdeen.
Langfield started his career as a youth player at Dundee and went on to play for Partick Thistle,Raith Rovers (loan) and Dunfermline Athletic before moving to Aberdeen in 2005. He took over from Esson as first choice and during season 2006–07, Aberdeen finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup.
In May 2007, he rejected a move to Glasgow club Rangers, preferring the option of more first-team opportunities at Aberdeen. In June 2007, while enjoying his stag party on holiday in Magaluf, he had a drunken argument with Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood after bumping into him in a chance encounter. His Aberdeen future was in doubt.
Langfield signed a three year extension to his contract on 21 December 2007 which will keep him at the club until 2011. During February 2008 Langfield experienced a drop in form. This started on 5 February when Aberdeen lost to Dundee United in the CIS Insurance Cup 4–1.