Aberdeen completed another signing this morning with the capture of goalkeeper John Bateman. The 18 year old has signed a one year deal and will be part of the U19 squad. Neil Cooper only had Ross Gibson on his books so there was a need to sign another keeper.



Greg Kelly is too old to play for the 19s and will act as cover for Derek Soutar and Jamie Langfield.



John, who played for the final 20 minutes in the friendly against Inverurie on Tuesday night, was originally with West Brom. He was a regular in the Academy team last year and played 5 reserve games as well. For some of our older readers his great uncle was Len Millard who was the West Brom captain of the great FA Cup winning side in 1954.



He was up training with the Youth Academy teams last week, and impressed so much that he stayed on so goalkeeping coach Jim Leighton could work with him this week.



John joked “I only come up for a few days and have been here two weeks! And am going to be here a while longer. It seems a really friendly club and everyone has made me very welcome. I am looking forward to showing people what I can do.”



Meanwhile Richard Foster become the first of the 10 out of contract players to resign. Jimmy Calderwood was delighted. “It is great news that Richard has signed a 2 year extension and hopefully this will be the first of many. He had a phenomenal season and he is such a versatile player, basically playing well in whatever position I put him in. He may not find himself playing in the left back position like he did much of last season but he can use his experience there as a starting block to build on things.”



Meanwhile the Dons begin their 2007/08 season at Tannadice tomorrow.



Dundee Utd looked very impressive in their narrow defeat against Barcelona. However they looked less impressive earlier in the week against Livingston. Lee Wilkie is suspended. Although the United rearguard has been strengthened with the addition of Darren Dodds from Inverness. He is likely to be partnered by Youth International Garry Kenneth, who was away in Canada with our own Andrew Considine.



In midfield influential midfielder Mark Kerr is out for a month or so with an injury. Barry Robson will again be the player to watch. He was outstanding in the last two performances against Aberdeen last season which led to two wins for the Tannadice side. Upfront the underrated Noel Hunt will be leading the line. Levein has few options in attack as Hunt is the only one fit striker who can be considered as being an experienced first-team man. Though they do have youngster David Goodwillie like our own Chris Maguire he is likely to make the break through this season.



United look like a side that will not lose many goals as Craig Levein has shored up the defence. A top six place could be on the cards this year for them if he can bring in another experienced striker before the transfer deadline.



Jimmy Calderwood is well aware of the challenge Saturday brings. “ Its changed days at United since Craig has come in. I’m pretty sure he will be aiming high for this season but the expectation up here is always slightly more. Craig is unbeaten against us since he started at Utd. Michael got sent off in one game and the other game was one of the craziest I have witnessed. I doubt if there will be as many goals on Saturday.”



Unlike Craig, Jimmy has a full squad to pick from except Richie Byrne. Calderwood has admitted that his team selection this week has been one of the hardest since coming to Pittodrie. Even just deciding who he puts on the bench will be interesting. It is a long time since an Aberdeen manager has had that luxury.



In defence it is between McNamara, Mair, Hart, Diamond, Considine and Foster. In midfield it is between de Visscher, Clark, Smith, Nicholson and Severin. Upfront it is between Lovell Mackie and Miller.



Despite his selection dilemmas Jimmy is looking forward to the big kick off.



“It will give us all a great amount of confidence if we can win the first game against Utd and it will be a great boost going into the games we have against Hearts and Celtic.”



“It is going to be a very high paced game. It’s the local derby and both teams will be giving it everything and battling for every last ball.”



“There is a lot of history between the two clubs and its set to be a very good game. No hatred between the two but certainly a lot of respect and hopefully on Saturday we will give our supporters a game to enjoy.”



“I would have liked to have a few more days after the Rangers game to contemplate what we had achieved but the way it worked we didn’t. Everyone is still on a bit of a high after last season but I think that’s a good thing.”



“This season I’m hoping to win one more game than last season and hopefully we will get something out of the cups.”



“The problem I have at the moment is picking the team out of the squad. It’s the kind of problem that I would like to have week in week out!”



“It could be said that we could not have had a much harder start to the season but we will just have to get through it and take from it what we can. A win on Saturday will make things a little bit easier.”



“On the last day of the season it seemed like the entire city was buzzing. I have never seen Pittodrie like it was on the day of the game against Rangers and then in town after, if we can repeat that for another year it would be brilliant.”



During the whole time of the SPL the Dons only have 2 opening day wins. The victories coming away to Dundee when Eoin Jess scored the first ever SPL goal and when we beat Hibs 2-1 in 2002. Chris Clark scored the winner 6 minutes into injury time.
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