Aberdeen captain admits club are not too big to be relegated
Aberdeen captain Paul Hartley has admitted that relegation from the Scottish Premier League is a real threat after the Dons lost 2-0 to leaders Rangers on Saturday 13 November.
The visitors went into the game hoping to stop a run of three straight league defeats, including a 9-0 thumping at the hands of Celtic, which left them in 11th place in the table.
However, they could not overcome the considerable challenge posed by the defending champions. In fact, Aberdeen were lucky to leave Ibrox having only shipped two goals after a strong Rangers performance.
Kenny Miller and Vladimir Weiss both scored for the home side, but Miller had a penalty saved while Steven Naismith and Gregg Wylde also came close to extending the lead.
Hamilton Academical's 3-1 loss at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle meant that the Dons did not slip to the foot of the table, but Hartley admitted that the fear of relegation was increasing around Pittodrie.
He told reporters that if English giants such as Newcastle United and Leeds United could be relegated, so too could Aberdeen but he added that everyone at the club was responsible for making sure that did not happen.
Hartley said that: "You hear people saying we're too big to go down but that's just talk, isn't it? It has happened before with big clubs, especially down in England. Aberdeen flirted with relegation about 12 years ago. It's a thing we don't want to talk about
but we have to now to help get ourselves out of it.
"There's a long way to go and I believe in the players we have here. But we have to set standards at this club. We're all in it together, the squad, the management, the board. We all take the responsibility, there's no hiding from it.”
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