1978–79 Aberdeen F.C. season

Aberdeen F.C.

1978–79 season
Chairman	Dick Donald
Manager	Alex Ferguson
Scottish Premier Division	4th
Scottish Cup	Semi-Finalists
Scottish League Cup	Runners-up
European Cup Winners' Cup	Second Round
Top goalscorer	League: Joe Harper (19) All: Joe Harper (32)
Highest home attendance	24,500 vs. Rangers, 18 November 1978
Lowest home attendance	6,000 vs. Hearts, 2 May 1979
Average home league attendance	12,478

Results

Scottish Premier Division

Match Day	Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Aberdeen Scorer(s)	Attendance
1.	12 August	Heart of Midlothian	A	4–1	Archibald (2), Harper, Davidson	11,500
2.	19 August	Morton	H	3–1	Harper (3),	14,500
3.	26 August	Dundee United	A	1–1	Harper (2),	10,000
4.	9 September	Motherwell	H	4–0	Archibald (2), Harper (2),	12,200
5.	16 September	Rangers	A	1–1	Sullivan	27,000
6.	23 September	Hibernian	A	1–2	Jarvie	12,086
7.	30 September	Partick Thistle	H	1–1	Archibald	11,100
8.	7 October	Celtic	H	4–1	Archibald (2), Harper, Jarvie	24,000
9.	14 October	St Mirren	A	1–2	Harper	10,973
10.	21 October	Heart of Midlothian	H	1–2	Harper	12,750
11.	29 October	Morton	A	1–2	Jarvie	6,500
12.	5 November	Dundee United	H	1–0	Harper	13,850
13.	11 November	Motherwell	A	1–1	Scanlon	5,448
14.	18 November	Rangers	H	0–0		24,000
15.	25 November	Hibernian	A	4–1	Harper (2), Fleming, Sullivan	13,250
16.	9 December	Celtic	A	0–0		24,000
17.	16 December	St Mirren	H	1–1	McMaster	11,700
18.	23 December	Heart of Midlothian	A	0–0		9,500
19.	30 December	Morton	H	1–2	Harper	8,700
20.	20 January	Hibernian	A	1–1	Harper	4,100
21.	24 February	St Mirren	A	2–2	Archibald, Strachan	11,500
22.	28 February	Partick Thistle	H	2–1	Archibald, McMaster	11,500
23.	3 March	Celtic	A	0–1		26,000
24.	17 March	Dundee United	H	0–2		10,200
25.	26 March	Motherwell	H	8–0	Harper (2), Archibald (2), McMaster, Sullivan, Strachan, Davidson	6,300
26.	4 April	Morton	A	1–0	Cooper	6,500
27.	7 April	Hibernian	H	0–0		10,000
28.	14 April	Partick Thistle	A	1–0	McGhee	6,000
29.	18 April	Motherwell	A	1–1	McLeish	2,672
30.	21 April	Celtic	H	1–1	Strachan	18,400
31.	25 April	Rangers	H	2–1	Archibald, McGhee	19,000
32.	28 April	St Mirren	H	1–2	Archibald	10,400
33.	2 May	Heart of Midlothian	H	5–0	McGhee (2), Strachan, Scanlon, Sullivan	6,000
34.	5 May	Dundee United	A	2–2	Jarvie, Strachan	7,822
35.	7 May	Rangers	A	0–2		30,000
36.	11 May	Partick Thistle	A	2–1	Harper, Sullivan	4,000

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
2	Rangers	36	18	9	9	52	35	+17	45	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
3	Dundee United	36	18	8	10	56	37	+19	44	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4	Aberdeen	36	13	14	9	59	36	+23	40
5	Hibernian	36	12	13	11	44	48	−4	37
6	St Mirren	36	15	6	15	45	41	+4	36

Source: Statto and RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

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
Ground	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	H	H	A	A	A
Result	W	W	D	W	D	L	D	W	L	L	L	W	D	D	W	D	D	D	L	D	D	W	L	L	W	W	D	W	D	D	W	L	W	D	L	W
Position	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	5	2	3	3	2	3	3	3	3	3	4	2	2	4	4	5	5	3	5	4	3	4	4	4	4	4

Source: Statto.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Scottish League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Aberdeen Scorer(s)	Attendance
R2 L1	30 August	Meadowbank Thistle	A	5–0	Sullivan, Jarvie, Kennedy, Archibald, Fleming	1,600
R2 L2	2 September	Meadowbank Thistle	H	4–0	Harper (2), Archibald, Scanlon	6,850
R3 L1	4 October	Hamilton Academical	A	1–0	Scanlon	5,000
R3 L2	11 October	Hamilton Academical	H	7–1	Harper (4), Rougvie, Sullivan, Kennedy	10,000
QF L1	8 November	Ayr United	A	3–3	Harper, Sullivan	6,300
QF L2	15 November	Ayr United	H	3–1	McLelland, Harper, Archibald	13,000
SF	13 December	Hibernian	N	1–0	Kennedy	21,048
F	31 March	Rangers	N	1–2	Davidson	54,000

Scottish Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Aberdeen Scorer(s)	Attendance
R3	27 January	Hamilton Academical	A	2–0	Miller, Harper	9,400
R4	21 February	Ayr United	H	6–2	Scanlon (2), McMaster, Archibald (2), Harper	11,500
QF	10 March	Celtic	H	1–1	Harper	23,000
QFR	14 March	Celtic	A	2–1	Davidson, Archibald	36,000
SF	11 April	Hibernian	N	1–2	Archibald	9,387

European Cup Winners' Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Aberdeen Scorer(s)	Attendance
R1 L1	13 September	Marek Dimitrov	A	2–3	Jarvie, Harper	20,000
R1 L2	27 September	Marek Dimitrov	H	3–0	Strachan, Jarvie, Harper	21,100
R2 L1	18 October	Fortuna Düsseldorf	A	0–3		10,000
R2 L2	1 November	Fortuna Düsseldorf	H	2–0	McLelland, Jarvie	16,800

References

• Kevin Stirling. Aberdeen A Centenary History 1903-2003. Desert Island Books 2002. ISBN 1-874287-49-X.