Formed in 1903 as a result of the amalgamation of three clubs from Aberdeen, they rarely challenged for honours until the post-war decade, when they won each of the major Scottish trophies under manager Dave Halliday.

Lacking a local competitor, Aberdeen have instead developed rivalries with more distant opponents such as Dundee United (collectively known as the "New Firm" in the 1980s) and Rangers.

Philip was still in charge, and continued to oversee a team capable of isolated good results, but never quite able to sustain a challenge long enough to win a trophy.

[11] Colman conceived the dug-out, a covered area set slightly below the level of the playing surface to better aid his observations.

Travers was replaced by former Yeovil Town manager Dave Halliday, one of more than a hundred applicants for the role, and the club moved from their black and gold strip to red and white.

[15][16][17] Halliday had barely begun his work when World War II halted competitive football in the United Kingdom.

[15][18] Halliday's place in the Aberdeen Hall of Fame was secured after the war when he became the first manager to bring national trophies to Pittodrie.

[15][19] Though league winners, the club did not participate in the first European Cup competition—Scotland's place was awarded to Hibernian, who took part by special invitation.

During this decade, Aberdeen had five managers: Eddie Turnbull, Jimmy Bonthrone, Ally MacLeod, Billy McNeill and Alex Ferguson.

In the first round of the 1984–85 European Champion Club's Cup Aberdeen lost to East Berlin side BFC Dynamo in a penalty shoot-out 4–5, following a 3–3 on aggregate in regular times.

[36] After Ferguson moved to England to manage Manchester United in November 1986, Aberdeen struggled to compete with Celtic and a resurgent Rangers.

However, the club ended the 1994–95 season second-bottom, and had to rely on a play-off victory over Dunfermline Athletic to retain their Premier Division status.

[41][42] Aberdeen's first foreign manager, Ebbe Skovdahl, was appointed in 1999 and his time in charge coincided with some of the heaviest defeats in the club's history.

[44][45] The play-off never happened though, as one of those clubs (Falkirk) did not meet SPL stadium requirements, and Aberdeen retained their top flight status.

[47][48] In March 2003 he failed to attend a home game against Dundee due to being too hungover after a night of drinking prior to the match.

[52] This set up a meeting with German giants Bayern Munich,[53] which they lost 7–3 on aggregate[54] after a 2–2 draw which saw Aberdeen lead twice in the first leg.

[56] McGhee controversially dismissed Aberdeen legend and goalkeeping coach Jim Leighton in August 2009 and replaced him with Colin Meldrum.

[60] Aberdeen failed to produce better results under Craig Brown's tenure, and in March 2013 he announced his retirement to take up a non-executive director role on the club's board.

[62] In McInnes' first season as manager, Aberdeen won the 2013–14 Scottish League Cup after defeating Inverness 4–2 on penalties, their first trophy in 19 years.

[63][64] Aberdeen finished third in the Scottish Premiership, and began the next season by coming through the early rounds of the Europa League, beating Dutch club FC Groningen before eventually being eliminated by Spanish side Real Sociedad.

In recent seasons' Europa League competitions, they were defeated in the third qualifying round four times: In 2015–16 by FC Kairat,[68] in 2016–17 by NK Maribor,[69] in 2017–18 by Apollon Limassol,[70] and in 2019–20 by HNK Rijeka.

[95] This arrangement has continued to the present day, with several variations in design, in common with most senior clubs as the replica shirt market has expanded.

Later design changes included significant amounts of blue,[91] and a one-season reversion to white shorts, although the all-red scheme returned in 1997.

[93][99] For the 2007–08 season, the change strip was all-white, with a third kit of yellow and black halves available if needed for European games, or in the event of a clash involving both red and white.

On 15 August 1903, 8,000 spectators turned up to watch the new Aberdeen draw 1–1 against Stenhousemuir, the first game played at Pittodrie by its amalgamated tenants.

The training facilities are named after chairman Dave Cormack, due to the significant financial investment he made to realise the completion of the project.

[121][122][123] The move was delayed by a year in May 2012 due to problems with land ownership, and suffered a serious setback the following August, when the council rejected a joint application by Aberdeen and Cove Rangers to build a community sports centre at nearby Calder Park.

[129] Although the project overcame legal challenges from local residents,[131][132] progress stalled due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.

[139][140] Whilst numbers have steadily declined with the introduction of Football Banning Orders preventing hooligans from travelling to games, the Aberdeen Casuals still appear at big fixtures often away from home and in the UEFA Europa League.

[164] Chants and songs include "The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen"[165] and "Stand Free", the latter of which is set to the tune of "Lord of the Dance".