1970–71 Aberdeen F.C. season

Aberdeen F.C.

1970–71 season
Chairman	Dick Donald
Manager	Eddie Turnbull
Scottish League Division One	2nd
Scottish Cup	Quarter final
Scottish League Cup	Group stage
European Cup Winners Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Joe Harper (19) All: Joe Harper (27)
Highest home attendance	36,000 vs. Rangers, 20 February 1971 36,000 vs. Celtic, 17 April 1971
Lowest home attendance	1,200 vs. Airdrieonians, 22 August 1970
Average home league attendance	17,029
Home colours
← 1969–70 1971–72 →

The 1970–71 season was Aberdeen's 58th season in the top flight of Scottish football and their 60th season of Club. Aberdeen competed in the Scottish League Division One, Scottish League Cup, Scottish Cup, and European Cup Winners' Cup.

Aberdeen finished second in the league behind Celtic and became the first club to be knocked out of European competition in a penalty shoot-out when they lost to Hungarian club Honvéd.^[1] Goalkeeper Bobby Clark achieved a record by going 1,155 minutes without conceding a goal in the league, which was surpassed in 2009 by Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar.^[2] On 6 February, a fire destroyed part of the Main Stand at Pittodrie. The Scottish Cup trophy was saved by firemen, but many historical club artifacts and items of memorabilia were destroyed.^[3]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Division One		Scottish Cup		League Cup		Europe
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	DF	DEN	Henning Boel	45	4	34	2	4	1	5	1	2	0
	MF	SCO	George Buchan	14	1	12	1	0	0	1	0	1	0
	DF	SCO	Martin Buchan (c)	46	2	34	2	4	0	6	0	2	0
	GK	SCO	Bobby Clark	46	0	34	0	4	0	6	0	2	0
	FW	SCO	Jim Forrest	44	12	32	8	4	3	6	1	2	0
	FW	SCO	Arthur Graham	43	5	31	5	4	0	6	0	2	0
	FW	SCO	Jim Hamilton	9	2	6	2	0	0	2	0	1	0
	FW	SCO	Joe Harper	42	27	31	19	4	2	5	5	2	1
	DF	SCO	Jim Hermiston	43	1	31	1	4	0	6	0	2	0
	FW	SCO	Derek McKay	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	MF	SCO	Tommy McMillan	37	1	27	1	4	0	6	0	0	0
	DF	SCO	George Murray	13	0	5	0	2	0	6	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Steve Murray	44	9	33	6	4	0	5	1	2	2
	FW	SCO	Davie Robb	44	13	32	9	4	1	6	3	2	0
	FW	SCO	Ian Taylor	20	5	16	4	4	1	0	0	0	0
	DF	SCO	Jim Whyte	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
	DF	SCO	Billy Williamson	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Alex Willoughby	25	2	19	2	4	0	1	0	1	0
	DF	SCO	Willie Young	10	0	9	0	0	0	0	0	1	0

Own goals in italics

Match Day	Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Aberdeen Scorer(s)	Attendance
1	29 August	Airdrieonians	H	1–1	Harper	9,000
2	5 September	Dundee	A	2–1	Harper, Hamilton	8,000
3	12 September	St Johnstone	H	0–0		10,000
4	19 September	Kilmarnock	A	4–0	Arthur, Boel, Hamilton, Harper	6,000
5	26 September	Hibernian	H	3–0	Robb, Forrest, Harper	13,000
6	3 October	Greenock Morton	A	0–2		7,000
7	10 October	Dunfermline Athletic	H	3–2	M. Buchan, Graham (2)	10,000
8	17 October	Rangers	A	2–0	Jackson, Harper	39,763
9	24 October	St Mirren	A	3–1	S. Murray, Forrest, Robb	3,000
10	31 October	Dundee United	H	4–0	S. Murray, Robb, Harper (2)	10,000
11	7 November	Clyde	H	3–0	Harper (2), Hermiston	13,000
12	14 November	Ayr United	A	1–0	Harper	11,000
13	21 November	Heart of Midlothian	H	1–0	Harper	13,500
14	28 November	Motherwell	A	2–0	Boel, Taylor	10,000
15	5 December	Cowdenbeath	H	7–0	Harper (3), Kinnel (2), S. Murray, Graham	14,000
16	12 December	Celtic	A	1–0	Harper	63,000
17	19 December	Falkirk	H	1–0	Harper	19,000
18	26 December	Airdrieonians	A	4–0	Harper (2), S. Murray, Taylor	8,000
19	1 January	Dundee	H	3–0	S. Murray, McMillan, Graham	24,000
20	2 January	St Johnstone	A	1–0	Forrest	21,500
21	9 January	Kilmarnock	H	3–0	Willoughby, Robb, Forrest	18,000
22	16 January	Hibernian	A	1–2	Robb	23,400
23	30 January	Greenock Morton	H	3–1	Taylor (2), Harper	18,000
24	6 February	Dunfermline Athletic	A	0–1		9,000
25	20 February	Rangers	H	0–0		36,000
26	27 February	St Mirren	H	1–1	Forrest	15,000
27	10 March	Dundee United	A	2–0	M. Buchan, Forrest	7,000
28	13 March	Clyde	A	2–1	S. Murray, Forrest	4,500
29	24 March	Ayr United	H	4–1	S. Murray, Forrest, Robb, Graham	18,000
30	27 March	Heart of Midlothian	A	3–1	Robb (3)	13,500
31	3 April	Motherwell	H	0–0		13,000
32	10 April	Cowdenbeath	A	2–1	Bostock, G. Buchan	4,000
33	17 April	Celtic	H	1–1	Willoughby	36,000
34	24 April	Falkirk	A	0–1		8,000

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celtic	34	25	6	3	89	23	+66	56	Champion
2	Aberdeen	34	24	6	4	68	18	+50	54
3	St Johnstone	34	19	6	9	59	44	+15	44
4	Rangers	34	16	9	9	58	34	+24	41
5	Dundee	34	14	10	10	53	45	+8	38

Aberdeen failed to qualify from section 4 of the League Cup.

Round	Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Aberdeen Scorer(s)	Attendance
1	8 August	Airdrieonians	A	1–1	S. Murray	3,500
2	12 August	St Johnstone	H	2–1	Robb, Harper	13,500
3	15 August	Hibernian	H	1–1	Robb	16,000
4	19 August	St Johnstone	A	1–0	Forrest	3,300
5	22 August	Airdrieonians	H	7–3	Boel, Robb, Harper (4), Jonquin	12,000
6	26 August	Hibernian	A	0–4		24,900

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Hibernian	6	4	2	0	16	7	+9	10
Aberdeen	6	3	2	1	12	10	+2	8
Airdrieonians	6	2	1	3	10	15	−5	5
St Johnstone	6	0	1	5	3	9	−6	1

Aberdeen, the defending champions of the Scottish Cup, were knocked out by Rangers in the quarter-final.

Round	Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Aberdeen Scorer(s)	Attendance
R3	25 January	Elgin City	H	5–0	Taylor, Forrest (2), Harper (2)	24,136
R4	13 February	Dundee United	A	1–1	Forrest	24,000
R4 R	17 February	Dundee United	H	2–0	Boel, Robb	29,000
QF	6 March	Rangers	A	0–1		65,000

Aberdeen made history by becoming the first club to be knocked out of European competition on penalty kicks.

Round	Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Aberdeen Scorer(s)	Attendance
R1 L1	16 September	Honvéd	H	3–1	S. Murray, Harper, Graham	21,500
R1 L2	30 September	Honvéd	A	1–3	S. Murray	18,500

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