This is a football book with a difference. It isn’t actually about football, it’s about you, the fans.

It’s the experience of following the game from a fan’s perspective.

By Author Steve Finan

Most often when you read about football, you read about the experiences of players and managers, or you get the opinions of journalists from their perch in a cosy press box, with their free half-time nibbles [Oh really? – Ed].

But 99% of the people who go to Pittodrie aren’t on the pitch nor managing nor paid to be there. They are fans who find their own way to the stadium, who trudge through the rain, who support the club week in, week out and decade in, decade out. Who tells their story?

This book does. Players, managers, even owners come and go. They might become heroes, they might be hounded out for their useless lack of effort. But, one day, they leave.

The fans don’t. The fans are always there. The Red Army march along with the club forever.

This book celebrates that fact. You can change your job, your wife, even your gender — but you can’t change your team.

There has never been a book that focuses solely on Dons fans. There are around 220 photos in the book, but hardly any that show the game being played. It barely has any photos of players, either. Instead, there are pictures of loons and quines with red and white hearts.

There are photos from long ago, in which you might spot your father or grandfather. There are up-to-date photos, so you will probably see yourself on the pages.

A book about Dandies has to reflect all aspects of being a fan. There is a whole chapter dedicated to the St Clair, but there is also a (short) chapter showing the pain of losing games. While there are many glory songs of victory, there are also dirges of defeat.

There is a chapter about rivalries. A football fan knows what it is like to walk through another city and wonder whether the sound of running feet is an attempt to get to the ground quickly or a portent of danger. There are a few old photos of the ASC on their travels.

There is a chapter on the Fergie years, of course — a wealth of photos showing various pieces of silverware paraded down Union Street, and the footsoldiers of Fergie’s forces enjoying Red victory at Hampden Park. And, of course, there is Gothenburg. There had to be Gothenburg!

The Red Army trooping the colours at Pittodrie is celebrated, Red Army invasions of Europe are shown, and the addition of far-flung regiments of The Red Army gets a chapter too. Inverness Reds, Golspie Reds, Broch Reds, they’re all here.

One of the “truths” of The Red Army is its tradition of travelling in huge numbers. Those occupying campaigns, when other Scottish football grounds are packed out with Dandies, also gets a chapter. Away-days with your mates are always great days out, aren’t they?

And the proud tradition of the Red Family remembering its fallen is treated with respect, but also celebrated. Dons fans are particularly good at acknowledging the contributions of their own. There is many a bereaved family who felt just a little bit better with the knowledge that they didn’t stand alone in their grief at the passing of a loved one.

There is a chapter that goes back and looks at the days of huge attendances squeezed into Pittodrie. There is that incredible picture of a seething mass of flat-capped fans queueing down the Merkland Road from 1935. You might have seen it before, it’s one of the great Scottish football photos of all time.

But there are many photos that you haven’t seen, because the negatives have lain in newspaper and magazine archives for decades, untouched, forgotten, gathering dust. No one has seen them for 70 or 80 years. There is an Aberdeen-Rangers crowd at Pittodrie from 1929 that is breathtaking.

There is a 40,000-strong crowd shot from the 1930s that is also quite stunning. The crowd looks dangerously tightly packed, with youngsters spilled out seven or eight-deep to sit on the cinder track. Iconic pictures, changed days.

To be a football supporter, you need a sense of humour. Not just because some of the efforts on the field are comical (sometimes darkly comical!) but because there is a real wit and a sharp edge to the banners held up.

Dandies have always done a good line in the funny, and provocative, banner. There are a few in here.

The foreword is by Richard Gordon, whose credentials as a Dandy need no introduction. He has written a warm, honest foreword that gets to the red-and-white heart of what it is to follow our football team.

Though I say so myself, it is a braw Christmas present for any Don, especially your dad, or grandad, or Uncle Jock, who usually get a five-pack of socks. This is a book they’ll genuinely enjoy. It is a hardback, with 300 pages, and big enough to use as a picnic table if you ever had the need of such a thing!

Aye, The Red Army. It’s a good book. You’ll like it. You’re in it.

The Red Army: Celebrating Dons Supporters is £17.99 and available from all good bookshops. There will be signed copies and (if there are any left) free posters if you buy from the Journal’s shop on Upperkirkgate.