Last autumn I found myself in the unusual situation where the occurance of something beyond my wildest dreams was causing me a slight problem.
The ‘something’ in question was Aberdeen Football Club’s amazing unbeaten run of games from around August – November 2024, which had put them on equal points with Celtic at the top of the league. They’d managed to win every game except for a remarkable 2-2 result in Glasgow against Celtic, after coming back from 2-0 down at half time and even having a late goal disallowed which would have won the game. I remember my son relaying the score to me while driving home from holiday, feeling like I was floating.
For those unfamiliar with Scottish football, it’s worth saying that no fan of any team outside the two big Glasgow teams (Rangers and Celtic) ever realistically expects to see their team achieve anything close to what Aberdeen managed up until that point last year. The two ‘Old Firm’ teams in Glasgow have vastly superior wealth, likely more than the rest of Scottish football combined. This makes the league and cups in Scotland a procession, particularly when one of the big two, Rangers, are quite a bit behind just now due to going bankrupt through financial mismanagement.
And that brings me to the forementioned ‘problem’, which was that earlier in 2024 I’d penned a song, The Act of Levitation, about supporting a Scottish football team outside of Glasgow’s double act. It’s also about my unfailing love for the underdog, and the trials you go through because of this. It closely reflects my own life given that my oldest son has become a Dons fan, leaving me feeling immensely proud if a little guilty. You probably don’t even need to listen to the song to guess that Aberdeen doing so well didn’t fit well with the lyrics. Of course, I thought of it as a nice problem to have and, if Aberdeen had somehow went and won the league, I’d not have cared a jot about my song.
As it turns out, after that 2-2 draw at Celtic Park, Aberdeen went on another remarkably consistent run, this time of defeats. Order was restored and I could at least console myself that my song made sense once again. In a final, happy twist, my son and I both attended the Scottish Cup final in May this year, where Aberdeen unexpectedly beat Celtic on penalties to lift the trophy for the first time in 35 years (yep, I remember the last time too).