There are no shortage of eye-catching statistics which serve to illustrate the seismic impact Jimmy Thelin has had on Aberdeen since taking charge this summer.
The ten consecutive victories the Swede has presided over in all competitions is now the second-longest winning run in the club’s 121-year history.
Defeat League Two Spartans in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final this weekend and the Dons will move within four games of equalling the record set in 1970-71, with the run of eight straight league wins at the outset of 2015-16 also now coming under threat.
The improvement in the side’s fortunes under Thelin is further illustrated in the time it’s taken them to accrue 15 Premiership points; only when they defeated Hearts on December 9 did they reach that mark last year.
As impressive as the numbers currently being crunched in the Granite City are, though, they alone cannot quantify the feeling of euphoria which is currently gripping the place.
Hopes were high when Thelin was finally lured from Elfsborg, after six years during which the side rarely regressed. But no one quite saw this coming. Aberdeen are a club reborn.
Thelin will be targeting an 11th straight win when Aberdeen play Spartans in the League Cup.
Aberdeen’s spectacular start to the season has been built on a sense of pride and togetherness.
Defender Slobodan Rubezic is one of many Aberdeen players who have improved this season.
When the Dons faced Motherwell last season, firstly under Neil Warnock then Peter Leven, they attracted crowds of 15,290 and 14,794 respectively. Saturday’s attendance against the same opponent was 17,155.
For a club whose crowds have held up well during lean times, that is a spectacular percentage gain.
It wasn’t just the greater number of fans emptying from the bars in the hour before kick-off last Saturday and filing past the statue of Sir Alex Ferguson which spoke to the good times returning.
With flags and pyrotechnics in abundance at both ends of the stadium, the old place crackled with pride and expectation. No one knows where all this might lead to, but the sense of togetherness Thelin has quickly fostered can take you an awful long way.
The Swede is not a man given to boasts or soundbites. When asked specifically what would represent success when he was unveiled in June, he replied that he ‘wanted to create something special’.
Naturally, what Aberdeen fans really want is silverware. You need the buy-in of all concerned to achieve that and Thelin has at least put a tick in that first box.
The willingness of some observers to talk down his record to date on account of a generous run of fixtures is curious.
There was a time when Aberdeen could not take any lower-league team for granted in cup competitions (see Stenhousemuir, Queen of the South and Darvel for details).
So, while Thelin’s side would naturally have been expected to beat the Palmerston outfit, East Kilbride, Airdrie, Dumbarton and Queen’s Park to tee up a clash with Spartans, they deserve credit for stepping over those banana skins.
Similarly, while a Premiership schedule comprising of St Johnstone, St Mirren, Kilmarnock, Ross County and Motherwell is certainly agreeable, any side chalking up five straight wins in the top division is to be commended.
It will soon get a lot tougher. With all due respect to Spartans, a trip to Dens Park at the end of this month should prove more taxing.
October will see the Dons take on Hearts (home), Celtic (away), Dundee United (home) and Rangers (home). If the bandwagon is still rolling after all of that, then we can start to talk seriously about a title challenge or, more realistically, splitting the Old Firm.
But with Aberdeen already 14 points ahead of Hearts, third place already looks like a worst-case scenario.
While Thelin will hope to take the Dons back into Europe next season, he’ll privately be grateful that he won’t have to endure the six Conference League matches soon to be coming the way of Steven Naismith’s men.
Those free midweeks will mean more time spent on the training field rather than departure lounges. That should mean better on-field connections, fresher legs and, likely, better results.
Thelin has managed to immediately stamp his identity on to the team. Compact out of possession, they work like fury to get the ball back then go forward at pace.
This is how we were told it would be by those who watched him take Elfsborg to within a hair’s breadth of the Swedish title.
The testimony of those who claimed Thelin’s calmness was a constant in his work has been backed up by those close to him in his three months at Pittodrie.
He’d sooner swim back across the North Sea than lose the rag at half-time. He simply reminds his charges of what they have worked on and implores them to have faith in the plan.
His signings to date have hit the ground. Dimitar Mitov is an upgrade in goal for Kelle Roos. Finland international Topi Keskinen and Norwegian Sivert Heltne Nilsen have added craft and quality. Gavin Molloy is a tough, composed defender. Kevin Nisbet scored on his debut at Dingwall. Ante Palaversa has looked the part in his two appearances to date.
But it’s been the improvement in the players the manager inherited that have been most eye-catching.
Slobodan Rubezic looks a far calmer figure beside Molloy. Shayden Morris’s pace on the outside is now routinely troubling defenders. Vicente Besuijen looks to have rediscovered his early promise.
Pape Gueye, the forgotten man of the club when he went out on loan to Kristiansund last season, now leads the scoring charts.
Last week, the club announced that Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes was back off the naughty step and ready to atone for going AWOL when trying to force a transfer.
Other managers may have discarded the forward, fearing that a bad apple could spoil a barrel.
With each passing week, though, we are seeing demonstrable evidence that Thelin is not just any other manager.
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