Club - Aberdeen Voice

Reminiscences Of Gothenburg: Prize Competition Question

Aberdeen City, Featured, History, Sport 3 Responses »

May 092013

Reminiscences of Gothenburg 1983 are appearing everywhere this week, and quite right too. At the time we thought such success would be forever. Now we know better but we have vivid, rainbow-hued, life-affirming memories never experienced by the plastic pretenders who would crow over us now.

It was quite a week thirty years ago. Here’s what David Innes remembers.

On Monday 9 May I went to the old Odeon cinema to see Local Hero, then just out but still relevant today when events just north of Balmedie are taken into account.

As I emerged blinking into the afternoon sun, the headline on the Evening Express mannie’s billboard proclaimed that Thatcher had called for the dissolution of Parliament.

Although the dissolution didn’t actually happen until Friday 13 May (feeling lucky, punk?), I still maintain that the Dons greatest triumph DIDN’T take place under the Tories since she’d already decided to go to the country. It’s just a pity that she didn’t go to one far far away from here.

We flew to Gothenburg early in the morning of Wednesday 11 May via one of the fleet of charter planes that Britannia Airways had laid on.

The airport was jam-packed with Dons fans, the duty free shop had queues a hundred yards long and all everyone seemed to buy was dreadful gold-canned Carlsberg and half bottles of Whyte and Mackays. It did the trick.

This was my first time in the air, unless you count the times that clogging midfielders of opposing Division V amateur teams dealt with my silky skills by decking me. Or maybe it was the other way round. Anyway, somewhere above Great Western Road, a gap in the cloud appeared. Through it, I saw an Alexanders yellow service bus looking like a Matchbox toy. I wasn’t happy, but a giant swig of the duty free worked wonders.

Gothenburg was overcast. It was still mid-morning local time. A few Real fans greeted us as we came off the airport bus. One of them was El Bombo, the geezer with the drum in the Ullevi later on. One of our crew swapped his Dons scarf for El Bombo’s purple and white Real one.

We had Carlsberg for lunch and went to explore the city. Reds awye, the strains of Here we go, here we go, here we go and The Northern Lights seeming to be in the air everywhere, along with that dreadful European Song.

It began to rain. Hale water. Hosing it doon. It was like every Monday holiday of the year rolled into one. I’m not sure that it’s stopped yet. My trainers are still sipin.

In the hotel, I changed into my new Dons shirt, bought in Simpsons Sports at the weekend. “A special one, wi writin on it”, the Simpsons’ shop quine had announced. I still have it. It’s worth a fortune due to its rarity, but it no longer fits me. I guess it must have shrunk in the wash. Or something.

Something historic and emotional and ace and fab happened out on the pitch

We gathered in the bar to await the bus to the stadium and got a rebuke from the BBC’s Gordon Hewitt who we’d accused of being an Old Firm gloryhunter. He wasn’t. He’d paid for his own trip as a Dons fan and had taken his nephew from Oldmeldrum with him.

We bought him beer after the game as an apology. He waxed lyrical about our full backs Rougvie and McMaster, both playing out of position, but his heroes of the evening.

It was raining outside. We smuggled our half bottles into the stadium. Others were allowed to bring in their entire beery carry-outs when the Swedish Police saw, “how much that beer means to you sir” as thrifty Reds decided to neck a dozen cans there and then rather than dump them in the skip. I was the beneficiary of my old friend from Keith, Beel Murdoch’s stash of McEwans Export, a welcome change from bloody Carlsberg.

Something historic and emotional and ace and fab happened out on the pitch, I think. Bedlam broke out around me at the final whistle. I removed myself from the mass greet-along, tear-athon terracing cuddle being simultaneously enjoyed by 12000 delirious Reds just to soak (aye…) it all in, to take a mental photo of the mental goings-on and the spectacular denouement taking place out there.

My sister’s kitchen still has a blurry Instamatic photo of the scoreboard reading Aberdeen 2 Real Madrid 1 in pride of place. It still gives me an emotional tug every time I see it.

Back in the hotel we drank Swedish beer, commiserated with the Real fans who were very decent people, celebrated with the locals who had taken the Dons to their hearts and asked about getting a shottie in the swimming pool, politely turned down. Maybe the hotel staff thought we were wet enough already, on the inside as well as the outside.

We stayed up all night drinking bloody Carlsberg, reliving the triumph, planning excitedly for future trips to European Cup finals and ended up playing football on a disused railway line across the motorway from the hotel at 0500.

A couple of hours sleep and off we headed to the St Machar Bar to celebrate with something other than bloody Carlsberg

Gothenburg Airport was like Merkland Road East. The spirit was akin to “the first Hogmanay aifter the war” as Scotland The What? Might have put it.

We greeted friends we’d only seen a couple of days before like heroes returning from El Alamein. We tried to offer them a drink. “Nae bloody Carlsberg?” they enquired before refusing politely.

We flew home and got to Dyce only half an hour after we’d left due to the time difference.

All the papers were bought, even the scummy sleazy salacious tabloids and right wing loonypress. They’re still in my loft. A couple of hours sleep and off we headed to the St Machar Bar to celebrate with something other than bloody Carlsberg. Jim Alexander, the licensee, even stood his hand, almost as remarkable as the Dons’ win.

Then we raced to Pittodrie and waited hours to see our heroes, who had taken forever to wend their way through the suburbs and a city centre crammed full of north-easterners delirious at the triumph.

We celebrated for weeks. Cans of Carlsberg seemed to multiply in the hastily-discarded kitbags we brought home. I doubt that another can of the goddam vile brew was ever drunk by anyone who returned with any.

We thought that this high would last forever, but it didn’t. Ach weel. We had our few years in the sun, skelping arses all over Europe, dominating at home and generally just being ace.

We’re still ace, of course. We are the chosen ones.

Now, about that something historic and emotional and ace and fab that happened out on the pitch…

Richard Gordon has written beautifully about the entire history of that battle campaign in The Glory of Gothenburg, and thanks to Black and White Publishing, we have two paperback copies to offer as prizes to readers of Voice.

Answer me this, Reds – Who tripped as he dashed from the dugout at the final whistle in the Ullevi Stadium and was trampled all over by his fellow occupants of the dug-out?

Post your answer to competition@aberdeenvoice.com .

The first two correct entries will get the books.

Please include your name and postal address when you respond to us, it’s really difficult for the postie to deliver to an e-mail address.

Come on you Reds.

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S’miles Better With AFC In The Community

Aberdeen City, Sport No Responses »

Apr 182013

With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

AFC is now travelling in style, thanks to the Club’s official vehicle supplier Morrison Motors, who have very kindly donated a brand new Volkswagen Golf for AFC in the Community staff as they travel the length and breadth of the north-east.

Head of AFC in the Community, Ally Prockter commented:

“We’re really indebted to Morrison Motors for what is a fantastic gesture. The guys run up a huge mileage travelling to and from courses, training camps and other events and the new vehicle is going to be a tremendous asset. The branding is great too and you most certainly can’t miss it! It’s basically a mobile advert for AFC on the Community and we’ve already received numerous positive comments as we drive around.”

Eddie Morrison of Morrison Motors added:

“As a long standing partner of Aberdeen Football Club, we work extremely closely with the Club and we were more than happy to supply the vehicle which will assist in delivering the much lauded community programmes that AFC are involved in throughout the area.”

*Picture shows Brian Morrison (Morrison Motors), Steven Sweeney (AFC), Mark Astridge (Morrison Motors), Max Stewart, Aaron Chapman, Leyton Boyd, Reece Maryan, Lauren Chambers who all attended the recent holiday programme at Turriff Sports Centre.

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Peace And Quiet

Creative Writing, Opinion No Responses »

Mar 072013

By Bob Smith.

Div ye lang fer peace an quiet
In iss modern warld o oors
Fin noise is aa aroon us
The silence it fair soors
.
Ye gyang intae a shoppie
Winrin jist fit tae buy
Yer lugs are seen bombardit
Bi Rihanna or yon McFly
.
Ye meet a freen fer a chat
In some funcy coffee hoose
Ye fin yersel suroondit
Bi mobile users on the loose
.
Waak doon the main street
In ony o oor gweed toons
Music blarin oot the windaes
O cars driven bi bliddy goons

Pubs turn up the music din
So fowk canna hae a newse
The purpose is a think
Tae mak fowk buy mair booze
.
Peace an quiet ye can fin
If in the hills ye waak
Ye marvel at the silence
An nae hae yakkity yak
.
A wis brocht up on a fairm
Twa mile fae the main road
Peace and quiet wis aa aroon
As aboot the parks a strode
.
So maybe a wis lucky
Tae ken fit quairtness wis
Unlike fowk in toon cinters
Faa can only fume an fizz

©Bob Smith “The Poetry Mannie” 2013

Image - River in the Evening.
©Angela Davis | Dreamstime Stock Photos

New Don In Expanded Community Role

Aberdeen City, Sport No Responses »

Feb 282013

With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

Aberdeen Football Club has appointed a former Grampian Police Inspector as its new Head of Community, a role that will see its areas of responsibility grow considerably over the coming months and years.
Although born in Dundee, Ally Prockter considers himself to be a life-long Dons fan and, as he explains, his new position will involve community in its widest meaning:

“When George Yule outlined his vision to me for AFC in the Community, one which encompasses far more than the club has previously been involved with, I was totally ‘sold’. It is also a marvellous opportunity for me personally to continue to develop my own skill-set whilst contributing positively to the North East of Scotland, and of course to Aberdeen Football Club.”

Health, nutrition, fitness, education and social inclusion are just some of the far reaching areas that the 49 year old will be responsible for.

“AFC is an important and visible part of the fabric of the north east community and I’ll be looking to develop and engage in initiatives that will add value in all areas of our community, not just those involving football supporters.

“An additional aspect of my job will be as a visible and identifiable link between the Club and our fans, and my colleagues and I will do everything we can to ensure that all those interested in positively supporting this fantastic club will have the opportunity to be involved in getting the various, two way, messages across.”

Ally, who moved to the north east at the age of eight, is married with two daughters and a son, plus two step-daughters and a step-son. His youngest daughter already plays football at Aberdeen Sports Village at the tender age of 5 while his mother remains a regular Pittodrie attendee at 80!

His career with Grampian Police began in 1980, when he joined straight from Bankhead Academy as a cadet, spanning thirty-one years before retiring in November 2011. During his time in the force, Ally gained experience in a variety of aspects of police work including staff development and training, recruitment, community policing and a spell with the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency.

Pittodrie Vice Chairman George Yule, who is well aware of the importance of the Club’s latest appointment, said:

“This is a hugely challenging position and one for which Ally ticks all the boxes. Aberdeen Football Club needs to be seen to be more accessible and transparent and one of the main driving forces in bringing the community as a whole together.

“One of his initial tasks is to review the overall structure of AFC in the Community and identify appropriate initiatives going forward.

“Ally will work closely with all of our stakeholders to enable the Club to fulfil its duties and responsibilities as a role model across the region in the promotion of health, fitness, education and life skills in addition to supporting local community sector groups involved in drug and alcohol abuse programmes, special needs disability groups, female football development, unemployed and socially disadvantaged communities.”

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Comedy At The Belmont – A Review

Aberdeen City, Opinion No Responses »

Feb 052013

By Andrew Watson.

I had delved into the world of comedy once before at Korova but was unprepared for the barrel of laughs that awaited me at The Belmont Picturehouse, given that this was meant to be breathing space for amateurs trying out untested material.

…and all for the fat sum of absolutely nothing. They say you get what you pay for; in this instance I got much more, and got my ‘time’s worth’ too.

Vincent Price, relatively new to comedy, was compere as the ‘Red’ and ‘Green’ teams battled it out for comic supremacy. Member of the audience were to lift either a Red or Green card depending on which side’s performance they preferred.

A quirky fellow, he declared his love for all things Crystal Maze, as Scott Ironside did The Karate Kid at Korova weeks before.

From Eighties films to Nineties television shows, the distance between the two is as much as that between Korova and The Belmont Picturehouse itself. It’s a generation thing, man. At least he wouldn’t be standing in front of as many blank, young faces.

One of the biggest laughs was his discussion of eccentricity; which he inimitably likened to being slightly crazy, yet very wealthy. In other words, you’re a dirty bastard if you’re a layman distinguishing fires with your own piss; but a duke doing the same would just be a rogue.

Patrick Brusnhan teamed up with Sarah Clark on the red side of the room; and Peter Wood and Robert Starr were green, good to go and ready to kick-off the debate – the only comedy debate in Scotland.

First was the pertinent issue of horse meat in Tesco burgers. Wood in favour, and tongue in cheek, said he couldn’t be bothered with famous smug vegetarian bastards, namely the brontosaurus.

Price later remarked that he could have said Ghandi or Hitler, though maybe the flippancy of it all was lost on him?

So Wood instantly got everyone on side, and although Brusnhan got laughs comparing the majesty of a horse to that of the rather boring bovine species; he was left standing, dust in face, and last, in this particular horse race.

0-1 (Wood). Greens ahead in first joust.

Now for poetry. Starr for its abolition, versus Clark for its retention.

Starr, undoubtedly funny and very clever, said things that were over my head, in the least; though the crowd thought differently.

However, Clark was quick on her feet, and encouraged crowd participation. Thought to be caught on the hop when urged to rhyme upon the poetic significance of shoes, or rather a shoe, she came up trumps with witty couplet.

Not one for screaming hilarity, but mournful. Quite sad, the lonely shoe. The crowd, registering surprise, applauded because it was inappropriate…and very funny.

1-1 (Clark). Reds back in the game.

Next up was the ultimate comedy bugbear, a profitable one at that. That of America. Obesity for Wood, and Mormons for Brushan.

Being a Catholic, Brusnhan was able to lay into them, or rather, Mitt Romney, with a veracity and intelligence that had most in stitches.

Swearing, stock and trade for many a comic, usually works fantastic for broad Aberdonians like Wood, but the fat jokes took a while to get off the ground, and consequently flagged a bit.

2-1 (Brusnhan). Reds ahead.

The biggest challenge of all, it seemed, was the ‘change’ game. The participants were given a topic, and, at the behest of compere Price, they had to change their opinion on that topic at the drop of a hat.

The speed at which these mental gymnastics were urged, was at times more apt to that of the flash of a blade. Consequently, the crowd got some of the biggest laughs out of a mixture of on-target rapid fire, and participants shooting oneself in the foot.

To ‘change’ upon the subject of dancing for Wood was no problem, he having, infamously, once been a member of a Logie-based boy band.

The frenetic manner in which he’d chop between slick choreography, and impassioned hatred of all things ‘feet to the swing of the beat’, was a consistently arresting spectacle; if not always entirely on-point in the humour stakes.

Then came time for Starr to shine. He had to ‘change’ upon hitting the gym. This time round, sheer enthusiasm shot him through, with press ups and pull ups to aid his story. Not one for being upstaged by the dance moves of Wood, he pushed valiantly to get the laughs and succeeded.

For Brusnhan to ‘change’ upon cars was as hard for him as it is to change the tyres on his old banger. He cursed Price for stealing his thunder. That being that in the latter’s introduction he revealed to the crowd Brusnhan and his car troubles.

A faltering start, no doubt unaided by the precious seconds Price had stolen, soon gave way to punctuating silences with the names of car parts and other randomly shouted car-related jargon; this time aided by a sympathetic Price.

A bit of a car crash to watch; but at the same time very funny, despite his piece not going to plan.

Even Clark had to admit to herself that the cut and thrust of having to ‘change’ rapidly upon that most Scottish of traditions, the kilt, was most taxing. She did well, but the biggest laugh came when she had to admit she wasn’t too sure if she were for or against the customs of her homeland.

2-2 (Wood).

Before the tiebreaker, the big guns came on for some proper stand-up.

Robert McKelvie came on to ponder NetFlix, an online television watching phenomenon these past few years. He was very confident, articulate and commanded the stage quite well. It was clever how he compared his resultant fixation with Dexter and the prompting of NetFlix to watch that one more episode, to the affliction of chasing the dragon.

The heroin-esque overtones were clever, and enjoyed by many – not so much myself. It seemed to raise fairly serious, though admittedly skewed for comic purposes, issues of how NetFlix invades privacy with automatic updates on Facebook of how you’ve been watching Dexter at half four in the morning…

Apparently it was his first ever time onstage, so it was fantastic in that respect.

Gregor Wappler came on afterwards with a set similar to that performed at the aforementioned Korova event.

With the final act over, it was time for the anticipated tiebreaker. Your erstwhile reviewer couldn’t resist, when the crowd were urged to choose the subject matter for winner-takes-all, shouting “Danny Glover”; for his name had been called elsewhere earlier on and had been ignored.

2-3 (Wood) for sheer film references. Funniest moment that night, easily.

Comedy At Korova: A Review

Aberdeen City, Opinion No Responses »

Dec 272012

By Andrew Watson.

Not only was this my debut inside what is regarded as hipster central, Korova, but it was also my first taste of stand up comedy. I’d never seen a live comedian in my life, and I ended up seeing eight of them – for £3!
Compere and all-round angry New Deer resident Scott Ironside introduced each of them with a mixture of hollering and urging audience members onto the stage to make noises of animals in various levels of distress.

Take for example the unfortunate giraffe with his shoe laces tied together, falling upon a tinfoil Ford Fiesta.

Before all that, though, he warmed up proceedings with his own set, only to be infuriated by the lack of knowledge within his relatively young audience regarding Eighties silver screen staples like The Karate Kid.

It was to be a night whereby the participants got just as many laughs for jokes that fell flat on their proverbial as they did for their comic genius. Thankfully they were self-deprecating enough to have a laugh at their own expense when unsuccessfully plumping for the latter.

First up was Peter Wood, who endeared himself to the audience declaring his diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). It made things a tad awkward, but mercifully much of his material was pinned upon this without seeking sympathy.

The biggest laugh came when recounting his stint in a boy band, based in – his words! – “minky” Logie, which he told the audience was like Torry, but worse.

Having put together a masterful first verse for their Northsound demo tape, they clubbed together their poetic ingenuity for a second. They perfected a dance routine, complete with a question mark drawn through the air in adage to unrequited love, and headed off to Northsound studios only to be told to piss off by security. And leave vehicles in the car park alone.

Next was Wray Thomson, who sought kinship with fellow men and women of Fraserburgh and found none. Nevertheless, the Brocher ploughed on with a hilarious anecdote on the dangers of solitary exercise. What he meant, of course, was the frenzy a man works up within himself when he doesn’t masturbate for a week.

Anyway, in a bid to avoid his mother catching a glimpse of the semen in his eyes, he turned over only to expose the screwdriver lodged up his backside.

Carrying on in the same vein, he nearly brought the house down with a smutty one-liner

A representative from a far off land called Milton Keynes stepped on the staged afterwards, a man by the name of Jason Murphy. There were some laughs, but most of the routine was unremarkable and largely fell on deaf ears. I suppose it didn’t help that his final act was thwarted by an out of tune guitar.

Then when I saw Neil Skene being motioned towards the stage by a helper, I thought that perhaps he was nervous. Turns out he’s blind, though this vulnerability belied a wicked, often caustic sense of humour.

Not one to be patronised, he set off by beseeching the audience regarding widespread attitudes to blind people, yet to have a little sympathy when the girls are in skimpy clothes during summertime and he can’t see a damned thing.

Carrying on in the same vein, he nearly brought the house down with a smutty one-liner.

When his wife, whispering sweet nothings into his ear and describing, sensuously, herself from top to bottom, spoke of her “shaven haven” he had only one thing to say.

‘So that’s the plug blocked again, then?’

A tough act to follow, Gregor Wappler did his best. He was a bit of a bastard, really! His routine concerned one night stands and all things non-committal.

The best bit was when he recounted an argument with an ex-long-term girlfriend regarding kitchen condiments. This raged on for days, and, likening the two of them to a ‘real’ couple, they didn’t even talk when shopping for groceries.

Sick of the tension, he combated it the best way he could. Disarming the hostility, he thought, would only require a simple question.

‘Is this about the vinegar?’

Silly man. Cue instantaneous dropping of baskets and dead eye stares not only from the missus, but from other henpeckers in solidarity against chauvinist pigs.

Grabbing the main support slot was Robin Valo, a strange chino-wearing chap whose own appearance was the butt of his own jokes. A good chunk of the audience enjoyed his stand-up, though I found it – to be particular! – only mildly funny. Some of it was very clever, though, so it was humorous in that respect.

Finally came Andrew Learmonth. This guy simultaneously brought half the house down, whilst leaving the others cringing with their heads in their hands. Was he for real? Was it calculated, or, like the ‘screwdriver incident’, was it true?

His hatred of all things Kilmarnock (bad gig, you see) and his fervent desire for his best mate’s wife combined in a set that was as much funny as it was the masterstroke of an accomplished actor.

Perhaps he was a parody of himself, one partly based on reality? The best actors share a likeness to their roles.

Verdict: A brilliant night, and excellent value.

Historic Dons Door Coming Home

Aberdeen City, Featured, Sport No Responses »

Nov 222012

Has an eBay auction cleared up a sporting etymological mystery? asks David Innes. With thanks to Chris Gavin.

Early doors, a term flung around the airwaves with impunity by fitba pundits and players alike, has always been confusing.

Whilst there are highly intelligent and cultured individuals in the sporting media, anyone who thinks it’s a reference to Jim Morrison’s LA-based acid-fired Crawling King Snakes’ still-astonishing debut album is likely to be wrong.

But maybe the obscure meaning of this mystery cliché has become clearer in light of a news story from last week.

AFC Heritage Trust Secretary Chris Gavin explains:

“I keep a regular eye on eBay for any Dons-related memorabilia. The Trust also sells merchandise via eBay, but it was a surprise to see a mahogany door from 1904, which marks a key milestone in the club’s history, offered for sale by a Wolverhampton antique dealer.

“Its glass panel is illustrated with a commemoration of the Dons’ first trophy success, when they won the Qualifying Cup a year after formation. Nobody is really sure where it originated. Maybe it was commissioned by a Black and Golds fan who owned a pub, or maybe it was from the original Pittodrie pavilion which is, sadly, long gone.

Gavin wasted no time in seeking the approval of his fellow Trustees to bid for this one-off historical memento. The Trust was unanimous in supporting an attempt to acquire the door.

By Saturday morning, the Trust’s bid had been topped, but a quick straw poll of the Trustees gathered at Pittodrie to assist with the charity collection before the Dons played Celtic encouraged Chris to keep an eye on the auction as the bid closing time of 3pm Saturday approached:

“I guessed if it was a fellow Dons fan bidding, they’d most likely be at the game, so just before the deadline I put in a higher bid, which was successful.”

The Trust is now the proud owner of a unique piece of memorabilia and Trustees are certain the individual outbid by these custodians of the club heritage will be happy the artefact has gone to a good and permanent home.

The story doesn’t end there, however…

The publicity which the sale gathered so caught the imagination of Aberdeen fans, its purchase has been funded without the Trust having to dip into its own coffers to pay for it.

The BBC’s – and Pittodrie’s – Richard Gordon, compering the Neil Simpson Benefit Dinner on Monday 19 November, related the tale to those gathered to celebrate Simmie’s career as a Dons legend. Gordon spoke warmly of the Trust’s work, not least its online information resource having been a huge benefit to him in writing Glory In Gothenburg.

Inspired by the story (and perhaps the MC’s broad hint that donations would be very helpful), cash donations totalling £175 were given on the night. The further magnificent generosity of other benefactors Alan Moir (of Fyfe Moir & Associates), former striker Duncan Davidson on behalf of the AFC Former Players Association and a magnanimous gesture from Trustees Bob Bain and Jock Gardiner saw the entire cost of the door covered.

Now the Trust just has to work out the logistics of transporting this unique artefact safely home from the Midlands.

The result may not have gone Aberdeen’s way on Saturday, but the fans have got back a piece of their history. Those same fans dug deep, during hard times, to swell the Trust’s bank account by over £600 donated via the charity bucket collection on the day.

As Chris says:

“A week after a terrific community day at the stadium when the fans’ giant flag was signed by over 800 supporters delighted to be part of the club, this effort underlines how good it can be when we’re all working together to achieve things.”

A trophy would be a welcome addition to maintain the returning feelgood factor, of course. As early doors as can be managed, please.

Footnote: the AFC Heritage Trust book commemorating the 1904 Qualifying Cup win is still available from the Trust’s Online Shop:

http://afcheritage.bigcartel.com/product/aberdeen-fc-in-the-scottish-qualifying-cup

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Remembrance: Aberdeen FC Pays Tribute To Its Fallen.

Aberdeen City, Featured, News No Responses »

Nov 162012

In 2009, Aberdeen Football Club Heritage Trust inaugurated its tribute to Dons who perished in both World Wars. Each year since, the Trust has held a simple but moving ceremony to re-dedicate its memorial and pay tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of young men who perished hundreds of miles from their beloved Pittodrie. The 2012 event was held on 12 November. Images courtesy Alan Jamieson.

The ceremony was supported as ever by local regimental and charitable organisations and, for a second year, WO2 (Retd) Birkaji Gurung.

His comrades from the Gurkha Rifles and their families added a multi-cultural flavour to proceedings.

Trust Chairman Allan McKimmie talked of the special relationship Aberdeen’s Gurkha community has developed with the club, with six members of the city’s Nepalese community employed at Pittodrie.

Members of the Trust reminded those gathered of the names and shockingly low ages of those who did not return from war, and contributed the Laurence Binyon Ode of Remembrance.

Birkaji Gurung read a message of remembrance in Nepalese.

Wreaths were laid on behalf of the local and national institutions which support the Trust’s Remembrance efforts and also help to organise the ceremony.

Dons manager Craig Brown paid his respects on behalf of the club by laying a wreath, and ex-Dons full back Ally Shewan did so representing the Former Players’ Association.
All are on permanent display in the concourse of the Richard Donald Stand.

We will remember them.

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Glory In Gothenburg: Book Review

Aberdeen City, Featured, Sport No Responses »

Nov 092012

Who cares if the envious and small-minded accuse Aberdeen fans of ‘living in the 1980s’? Not Richard Gordon, for whom his book Glory In Gothenburg is a labour of love, nor Voice reviewer David Innes, a terrace veteran of the great 70s and 80s campaigns.

Who better, we opined when covering this book’s launch, to document Aberdeen’s greatest twin achievements than self-confessed Dons fanatic, yet fair-minded broadcaster Richard Gordon?
His own view is that whilst the story of triumph is well-known, there are many behind the scenes tales to be told, to paint an even more vibrant tapestry of what was the zenith of the Dons’ sometimes not-too-glorious history.

The author has succeeded in this objective and Glory In Gothenburg is a fabulous read where the passion drips from the pages.

On more than one occasion I had to swallow something hard and jagged as the emotions of the two year period covered by the book welled up in me thirty years on. Fitba, eh?

What makes it even more special though are the stories never heard before as told by the players.

Gordon’s dogged research has seen him hunt down everyone involved and get the inside line on what were the defining moments of his heroes’ careers.

Cleverly, each of the players quoted are linked to a particular match on the memorable run from Fir Park to the parade, as my late friend Alan said at the time, of Gunther Netzer’s P45 around the track at Pittodrie as the Super Cup plaque confirmed that the Reds were undisputedly the best club in Europe.

Among the surprises is Gordon Strachan’s claim that he didn’t really take in much of the detail and his admission that after watching the Gothenburg final on ESPN relatively recently, he phoned Alex McLeish to declare excitedly, ‘We weren’t a bad team, were we?’

Eric Black weighs in with a comment that beautifully encapsulates the confidence of youth, ‘I had nothing to compare it with obviously, I just thought that was how it was – you turned up, played a game, got shouted at a bit and won a trophy every year!’

There are moving passages about, for example, John McMaster, whose injury problems limited what should have been a sparkling career and which should have seen him capped ahead of others not quite so outrageously-gifted. Stuart Kennedy, by dint of not playing in the Ullevi Stadium, does not merit his own chapter, but he is showered with affection by his team mates throughout Glory In Gothenburg.

They knew, even better than we devotees did, that this was an athlete who contributed incalculably to results and the unique team spirit of that squad.

Even the formidable and fearsome Fergie is shown to have a soft side. Stuart Kennedy, on the bench for the ECWC Final reveals, ‘…at one stage he sent me out to warm up. When I asked why he’d bothered to send me out, he told me, ‘I gave you a run out in front of the fans and let them sing your name’ and I really appreciated that’.

Gordon also tells of his sorrow at losing his friend Phil Goodbrand, who at only 22, died during the final in Gothenburg and how annual celebrations on 11 May are always tempered by the memory of this inexplicable loss.

There have been attempts before to capture the effervescent, ebullient spirit of those days when we swaggered across Europe contemptuously dismissing those who had the temerity to think they could compete with us, but it has taken a highly-articulate and unashamed fan who makes his living from words, to put together this, the best and most heartfelt account of a time we are unlikely ever to experience again.

Note: the publisher has kindly offered three copies to give away as prizes in a reader competition that Voice will arrange in the next week or two. Thanks to Paul at Black & White Publishing.

Glory In Gothenburg. Richard Gordon. Black & White Publishing. 276 pages £14.99
ISBN 978 1 84502 470 3

Glory In Gothenburg – Book Launch

Aberdeen City, Featured, Sport No Responses »

Oct 262012

Glory In Gothenburg was launched at Pittodrie on Tuesday 23 October, in the company of Gothenburg legends Willie Miller and Doug Rougvie. David Innes of Voice had a few words with the author. Alan Jamieson took the pictures.

Richard Gordon has always worn his heart on his sleeve when it comes to football.
Always the reasonable and unflappable professional on air, he makes no excuses for being an Aberdeen fan and does not let that cloud his judgement, despite the barbed comments of several of his fellow broadcasters whose own claims of club allegiance do not always ring true.

So, who better to write the book commemorating the imminent 30th anniversary of the night that the Dons looked down on the rest of Europe as if the Broad Hill was loftier than the Matterhorn, than Richard Gordon?

Gordon told Voice,

“I love the fact that we can look back now and say that we won a European trophy, and we beat Real Madrid. That’s much better than saying we beat Waterschei or Austria Vienna. That was as good a 120 minutes as I’ve seen from any Scottish side. We hammered Real Madrid 2-1 after extra time.

“They’re a huge name again now; they’ve always been a huge name, and we beat them. They’d have gone into that game fully aware of what Aberdeen had to offer because of what we’d done in Europe already that season and they clearly thought they were still going to win. Whether or not they were over-confident, I don’t know, but if they were, within five minutes it was knocked out of them.

“I know some people say, “Ach, you’re always looking to the past,” but, I’m sorry, the past is hugely important to me as a football fan. I don’t know when the team I support is next going to win a cup. I’m hoping I’ll see this in the not too distant future, but I love looking back on the trophies we did win. That’s what football fans do.”

The launch was all about the club’s unparalleled European pedigree and the book spans the period from John Hewitt’s record-breaking goal at Fir Park which set Aberdeen on the way to the 1982 Scottish Cup win through to their coronation as 1983’s best European side (go on, read that again) with the capture of the Super Cup in December that year.

Yet, both Gordon and Miller took time to share their excitement at the prospects for the current squad of Reds, a blend they both agreed, of youthful enthusiasm and energy and wily, street-wise experience.

We have a copy of Glory In Gothenburg for review and that will appear soon.

Glory In Gothenburg by Richard Gordon is published by Black and White Publishing, is available now and costs £14.99.

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