THERE'S a curious breed of football fan at Pittodrie, usually found populating the Main Stand. They're defined by their pensionable age and utter joylessness; they thrive in failure. Each misplaced pass and ballooned shot is met by spluttered choruses of told-you-so disdain for the players' efforts. When Aberdeen score, they struggle to muster a limp clap and mutter that "They'll still throw it awa'." The most animated they get is in moments of real footballing ineptidude, when they lean back, then lurch forward and deliver a spittle-festooned "CRAP!" As Aberdeen completed a staggering comeback against Bayern Munich in 1983, their instant reaction was probably to complain about the noise that greeted John Hewitt's winner.

But then football fans in general are a peculiarly sour bunch. You only have to visit internet message boards to see more Main Stand moaners in the making. The tedium of the SPL in the last 10 years has been enough to make any non-Old Firm grind their teeth to stumps, so you'd have thought Hearts' attempts to split Celtic and Rangers would be meet by some enthusiasm across the land; not so. I'll stick to my own team's fans, but their reaction is not entirely untypical. Here's a selection of comments on the BBC website sent the way of Hearts fans today (some of whom, it has to be admitted, stir things up with their newly discovered brand of Old Firm-like triumphalism): "Dear god i really hope Hearts end up 3rd in the League"; "Typical arrogant jambo"; "Hearts are well known throughout the world...for being crap and losing".

The fans of most teams have to put up with years of failure interspersed with tantalising glimpses of glory. Decades of curdled hope can reduce even the most cheery of personalities into mean-spirited carping.