Having taken some time out to ensure that there was no anger or depression-related over-reaction, I have finally decided to put fingers to keyboard and provide a post-match opinion on last week's cup defeat... and it took so long, that another game happened in between.

Superficially, an away draw against Hibs is at best a good away point and at worst a missed opportunity considering our third-place rivals dropped points — although not as many as we might have hoped for, as they were playing the Old Firm.

However, not many Dons fans were thinking league points that at the weekend. Despite the split closing in and the battle for Europe being tough and tight, the games are now secondary in many Dons' fans' minds to where the club is at under Jimmy Calderwood.

In last week's Scotsman Fanzone, I suggested that Jimmy will hopefully be turning the more cynical fans thanks to making less media gaffes and getting the team back on the rails after a poor spell of results.

That very evening, Calderwood made me and others who have reluctantly supported him in recent times look like fools, as Dunfermline dumped a tactically bankrupt and confidence-free Dons out of the cup with a simple defensive performance that even a manager who has been in the job for two months could mastermind.

Yes, cups can provide shocks. Yes, Aberdeen has no divine right to be in cup finals. And yes, the gap between the top of the First Division and the SPL is not huge.

But it is now crystal clear that Jimmy Calderwood has singularly failed in the domestic cup competitions; the only competitions AFC can realistically win.

We have only played Rangers, Celtic and Hearts once each in cup competitions — the only clubs that have more spending power that us — so it is arguably fair to say that in general cup draws have been good to us, even though we have had slightly more away draws than home ties.

But look at Calderwood's record: out of 10 cup runs, three have been ended by lower-league teams, four have been lost by 3 goals, and five have seen the opposition score 4 goals against us.

This is abject failure, not the odd one-off cup shock.

Coupled to this, the football has been poor and the wins have dried up in the SPL — one in the last eight games — and if this continues, we will not qualify for Europe. We will certainly not finish above third, and as usual at this stage of the season, we are not quite safe in the Top Six.

In other words, it is exactly the same as it has been in the last five seasons.

If we do not qualify for Europe this season — and arguably even if we do — Aberdeen must find a new manager to take the club on to the next level because we have officially, statistically and completely stagnated.

Stand Free Ed