Happy Gothenburg Day Everybody

[DPDPDPDP]

On 11th May 1983 Aberdeen beat Real Madrid 2-1 to win the European Cup Winners Cup Final in Gothenburg, having beaten Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals. Hard to believe now that it really happened. Also in December 1983, Aberdeen beat Hamburg to win the European Super Cup and are the only Scottish team to win 2 European trophies.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I still think what Alex Ferguson achieved with Aberdeen was more impressive than anything he did in England, given the relative resources at his disposal.

[DPDPDPDP]

I still think what Alex Ferguson achieved with Aberdeen was more impressive than anything he did in England, given the relative resources at his disposal.

Totally agree. Aberdeen have won the league 4 times in their 117 year history. 3 of these were with Ferguson. Probably should have won a couple more were in not for dodgy refereeing favoring 2 certain clubs. Also, In the last 55 years, only 4 times have Celtic or Rangers failed to win the league. Aberdeen won 10 trophies in Ferguson’s 7 years at the club.

Beating Real Madrid to win the ECWC (and having beaten Bayern on the way) and then the Super Cup was the pinnacle.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

just watched the whole thing there. It's actually funny how much better than Real madrid, aberdeen are over the course of 120 minutes. There is a moment towards the end of the first half where alex mcleish is in possession of the ball, and santillana goes to close him down and he dummies to go to his left, dummies to go on his right, dummies to go on his left, and then surges past the the forward and heads upfield with the ball.

It reminds me a lot of the 1991 ECWC final in a bunch of ways. The spanish team passes the ball around in their own half for a bit, then progress into the opposition half, where they are either tackled immediately, or pass the ball immediately to an opponent, or work a crossing situation where they lump the ball in towards their targetman who is terrifying in the spanish league, but doesn't win a single header against defenders who have to play against targetmen every single week. At least it made a bit of sense for barcelona to do this, because julio salinas was 6'2", and might be able to do something (He couldn't) . Madrid were hitting hopeful balls up to Santillana, who was only 5'9". This goes a long way to explain why jim leighton only had to make one save, and even that was smashed at his chest so hard that he couldn't get out of the way even if he wanted to. Aside from the penalty, which could only have happened on that sodden pitch they barely set foot in the aberdeen penalty area in the first hour.

Eric Black hit the crossbar and scored in the first seven minutes, and should really have scored four. There's two occasions where peter weir picks up the ball, runs sixty yards, evades three murderous tackles and sets up a chance. The first of then involves two nutmegs and ends with mcGhee heading over when he should really have scored. And that brings us onto the other really striking thing about the game. How crazed with cynical violence real madrid are. There's all sorts of heavy tackles after the ball is gone, and christ knows how many fouls from behind over the course of the game. There comes a point in the game where they aren't quite as quick as aberdeen, but also where they start to run out of energy, and it starts to get really violent from that point on. It's worth watching the game to see just how often the madrid centre backs try and challenge for headers with the aberdeen forwards, and how often they just plough straight into their backs .Aberdeen should have had three definite penalties, and for the life of me I don't understand how they didn't get any of them. Juanito and steilike are both 29, and clearly know what they are doing, but they're up against cooper and simpson who are 19 and 21 respectively, and can run all fucking day. and gordon strachan is going to win the player of the year in england in 9 seasons time for his tireless endless running, and as the game wears on that really shows. It's also notable how much more you get to see of peter weir as you head through extra time.

I don't think I've ever seen a pitch as wet, outside of the latter stages of the 1974 world cup. You rarely see pitches that wet in these islands, because a burst of rain like that has is usually accompanied by 80 mph winds, and you have other problems. and if that much rain falls over a longer period of time, then everywhere floods,. They change the ball twice in the seven minutes leading up to the first goal because they think it must be flat. And then they realise that it's not the ball, it's the pitch.

I wonder how this game is remembered in madrid, if at all? is it "The one that could have got really fucking messy"? Someone there remembers it though When I was in madrid in 2009, I passed the Bernebeu at match time (They were going to pummel some half bankrupt tiny team 3-0) and we were thinking about going in, but were horrified at how expensive tickets were even in the depth of the financial crash. But the first thing to catch my eye on one of the Hawker stands was a bunch of real madrid Aberdeen half and half scarves commemorating that match.

It does also remind of something phil thompson said back around the time that Benitez's liverpool ran right over real madrid in 2008. He was on Garcia's radio Show I think, and and he was talking about the 1981 european cup final and he was saying that it was great to win it, but beating Real Madrid wasn't that big a deal back then like it is now. They were more worried about beating Brugge. who they knew all about after the 1976 Uefa cup final. It was an anecdote that struck me as odd, because it neither had false modesty, nor was it seeking to inflate past achievements based on the current reputations of the teams you beat. It's the sort of thing that you would tend to take at face value, because it would be mad to make that up. ]

[Sporting]

For me the best Real Madrid team in the past 30 or so years is that of the late 80s even though they never won the European Cup.

[DPDPDPDP]

just watched the whole thing there. It's actually funny how much better than Real madrid, aberdeen are over the course of 120 minutes. There is a moment towards the end of the first half where alex mcleish is in possession of the ball, and santillana goes to close him down and he dummies to go to his left, dummies to go on his right, dummies to go on his left, and then surges past the the forward and heads upfield with the ball.

It reminds me a lot of the 1991 ECWC final in a bunch of ways. The spanish team passes the ball around in their own half for a bit, then progress into the opposition half, where they are either tackled immediately, or pass the ball immediately to an opponent, or work a crossing situation where they lump the ball in towards their targetman who is terrifying in the spanish league, but doesn't win a single header against defenders who have to play against targetmen every single week. At least it made a bit of sense for barcelona to do this, because julio salinas was 6'2", and might be able to do something (He couldn't) . Madrid were hitting hopeful balls up to Santillana, who was only 5'9". This goes a long way to explain why jim leighton only had to make one save, and even that was smashed at his chest so hard that he couldn't get out of the way even if he wanted to. Aside from the penalty, which could only have happened on that sodden pitch they barely set foot in the aberdeen penalty area in the first hour.

Eric Black hit the crossbar and scored in the first seven minutes, and should really have scored four. There's two occasions where peter weir picks up the ball, runs sixty yards, evades three murderous tackles and sets up a chance. The first of then involves two nutmegs and ends with mcGhee heading over when he should really have scored. And that brings us onto the other really striking thing about the game. How crazed with cynical violence real madrid are. There's all sorts of heavy tackles after the ball is gone, and christ knows how many fouls from behind over the course of the game. There comes a point in the game where they aren't quite as quick as aberdeen, but also where they start to run out of energy, and it starts to get really violent from that point on. It's worth watching the game to see just how often the madrid centre backs try and challenge for headers with the aberdeen forwards, and how often they just plough straight into their backs .Aberdeen should have had three definite penalties, and for the life of me I don't understand how they didn't get any of them. Juanito and steilike are both 29, and clearly know what they are doing, but they're up against cooper and simpson who are 19 and 21 respectively, and can run all fucking day. and gordon strachan is going to win the player of the year in england in 9 seasons time for his tireless endless running, and as the game wears on that really shows. It's also notable how much more you get to see of peter weir as you head through extra time.

I don't think I've ever seen a pitch as wet, outside of the latter stages of the 1974 world cup. You rarely see pitches that wet in these islands, because a burst of rain like that has is usually accompanied by 80 mph winds, and you have other problems. and if that much rain falls over a longer period of time, then everywhere floods,. They change the ball twice in the seven minutes leading up to the first goal because they think it must be flat. And then they realise that it's not the ball, it's the pitch.

I wonder how this game is remembered in madrid, if at all? is it "The one that could have got really fucking messy"? Someone there remembers it though When I was in madrid in 2009, I passed the Bernebeu at match time (They were going to pummel some half bankrupt tiny team 3-0) and we were thinking about going in, but were horrified at how expensive tickets were even in the depth of the financial crash. But the first thing to catch my eye on one of the Hawker stands was a bunch of real madrid Aberdeen half and half scarves commemorating that match.

It does also remind of something phil thompson said back around the time that Benitez's liverpool ran right over real madrid in 2008. He was on Garcia's radio Show I think, and and he was talking about the 1981 european cup final and he was saying that it was great to win it, but beating Real Madrid wasn't that big a deal back then like it is now. They were more worried about beating Brugge. who they knew all about after the 1976 Uefa cup final. It was an anecdote that struck me as odd, because it neither had false modesty, nor was it seeking to inflate past achievements based on the current reputations of the teams you beat. It's the sort of thing that you would tend to take at face value, because it would be mad to make that up. ]

It's been great reliving this again. It would have been a disgrace if Aberdeen had not won the final given how superior they were. To use the old cliche, the whole team were magnificent. The defence, mainly Miller & McLeish were fantastic (apart from big Red's underhit back pass). This was the defence that kept a clean sheet in Munich against Bayern and 2 clean sheets in the Super Cup Final against Hamburg (2 legged final).

looking back the things that surprise me is that Fergie only made one sub (Hewitt for Black in 87 minutes) and the sub coming on so late. In fact, Fergie was going nuts at Hewitt just before he scored for coming too far back. According to Fergie he was ready to sub the sub. Allegedly.

Oh happy days . And ones we'll never see again. I'm away to dry my tears of happiness now.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Yeah, i was a bit curious about that but, watching the game, I came to the conclusion that it's difficult to tell if your player is on the verge of collapse, if his direct opponent is on oxygen. I've been watching a lot of these games lately, and have come to the conclusion that a fairly ordinary 32 year old office worker who cycles to work, and gets to the gym twice a week, is likely fitter, stronger and healthier than most professional footballers in the seventies and the eighties. One of these teams is markedly younger than the other, and they are way more into running. Watching Peter weir picking up the ball in his own half, and heading for the opposition byline, like a baby boomer marcus rashford, is a very unusual sight in the early 1980s.

[jwdd27]

Great anecdote from their first round in Albania, when there was a rumour on the eve of the match that there'd been a military coup, and, being Scottish, the players thought something had happened with a cow.

Peter Weir was some player, and was still young enough then, but didn't scale those heights for the rest of his career. He had a few bad injuries and maybe his position became unfashionable?

[DPDPDPDP]

Peter Weir was a great player for Aberdeen and the fans loved him. He was unfortunate with a few bad injuries over his career. I think you would have seen a different Weir had he been around today given some of the rather agricultural challenges he had to contend with as a gifted ball player back in the 80's.

going back to an earlier comment regarding the pitch, had it not been the final I'm sure that the match would have been postponed due to the heavy rain.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Well that made his runs all the more exciting. If you slip the ball under a flying two footed tackle, is that technically a nutmeg? 6 scotland caps and none after 1983. Scotland Must have had someone amazing to play in that position.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f0i4uxQoFE

More weir wing wizardry. Watching these matches, it has become disturbingly clear that at this point in time, gordon strachan is the most athletic player in the british isles, all while looking like Compo in short pants.

It's worth watching this if only to see the penalty that Ipswich give away in injury time.

[DPDPDPDP]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f0i4uxQoFE

More weir wing wizardry. Watching these matches, it has become disturbingly clear that at this point in time, gordon strachan is the most athletic player in the british isles, all while looking like Compo in short pants.

It's worth watching this if only to see the penalty that Ipswich give away in injury time.

I was there that night. What a performance against a very good Ipswich team. Weir murdered Mick Mills. I’d forgotten about the second penalty. Should really have been 4-1. Also, these days, Cooper probably would have been sent off for the foul. Ah, happy days!

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The referee would have had to stop laughing first. That's basically what you had to do to give away a penalty back in the good old days.

[RobM]

I still think what Alex Ferguson achieved with Aberdeen was more impressive than anything he did in England, given the relative resources at his disposal.

That and I'd double down on it by saying it's the greatest thing ever achieved in Scottish club football.

[RobM]

They were a ludicrously good team, as were Dundee United. Results at Pittodrie and Tannadice meant more back then than any trip to Glasgow, game's tediously inevitable up here now.

Not Aberdeen but I reckon the most exciting player I've ever seen was Paul Sturrock.

[DPDPDPDP]

Well that made his runs all the more exciting. If you slip the ball under a flying two footed tackle, is that technically a nutmeg? 6 scotland caps and none after 1983. Scotland Must have had someone amazing to play in that position.

Rangers' Davie Cooper was preferred to Weir in the left wing position for Scotland pretty much exclusively from 1984 to 1987. Whilst Cooper was good, Weir should still have played in some of These games.

[DPDPDPDP]

That and I'd double down on it by saying it's the greatest thing ever achieved in Scottish club football.

I would agree with you. 10 trophies in 7 years, including 3 league wins (Aberdeen have only won the league 4 times in 117 years!), they were also runners up 3 other times, missing out by 1 point one year and 2 points another year. 2 European trophies.

[DPDPDPDP]

They were a ludicrously good team, as were Dundee United. Results at Pittodrie and Tannadice meant more back then than any trip to Glasgow, game's tediously inevitable up here now.

Not Aberdeen but I reckon the most exciting player I've ever seen was Paul Sturrock.

In the last 55 years, the league has only been won four times (Aberdeen 3, United 1) by clubs other than Celtic and Rangers. Going back, even the titles that the latter two did win, were won by small margins. Now the gulf is so wide, Scottish football has become so very, very boring.

United had some very good players, Narey, Hegarty, Malpas, Sturrock were all seasoned internationalists and played their whole careers with United. They also had other internationalists - Gough, Bannon, Dodds and others.

Miller (a truly world class player) and McLeish played their whole careers with Aberdeen. That would never happen now. Nowadays, them and the United boys mentioned above, would be off to England for 10 times their current salaries, when they were in their late teens on early 20's.

Sturrock was a very good player, as was Rangers, Davie Cooper.