Ed Sheeran is ginger. Florence (but not her machine) is ginger. Mick Hucknall is ginger.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury we put it to you that all red haired singers should be shot – they’re bellowing like incontinent elephants (Florence), serenading women of the night (Ed), or bellowing like an incontinent elephant while serenading women of the night (Mick, allegedly). The ginger singer is an abomination. And, if you don’t believe us, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we give you… Geri Halliwell. Case closed.
Aberdeen
Nickname: The Dons
Ground: Pittodrie Stadium
Stadium Capacity: 21,421
Song: The 1982/83 European Song
In 1983 Aberdeen released a song with not one but two rusty warblers: Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish. Surprise, surprise, it didn’t chart. But that didn’t matter as the song was released to celebrate a special match: Aberdeen’s appearance at the 1983 European Cup Winner’s Final – a final it won 2 – 1 against Real Madrid.
(It was also re-released after the final with a new sleeve cover proclaiming the Dons champions of Europe. It didn’t sell any more copies).
While some consider Aberdeen’s European victory to be the Dons greatest achievement, supporters consider its greatest match to be its quarter-final victory against Bayern Munich.
Bayern Munich is one of Europe’s great sides. In 1983 it had a team filled with legendary players – Breitner, Augenthaler, Hoeness and Rummenigge. Aberdeen had Mark McGhee. It should have been no contest. Bayern should have won easily. But, after drawing the first leg in Munich 0 – 0, what followed was to be the most ecstatic night in Pittodrie’s history.
Bayern scored first but Aberdeen equalised. Bayern scored again but a well-practised free-kick led to Aberdeen’s Alex McLeish drawing them level. Just one minute later, Eric Black powered in another header. Bayern’s goalkeeper, Muller, plunged to keep it out, only for John Hewitt to stab the ball back between his legs. Aberdeen won the game 3 – 2.
As the referee blew the final whistle (not yet Sir) Alex Ferguson leapt from the dugout to run onto the pitch. It was a legendary night, for a legendary manager, but despite his success Sir Alex is only the second most famous man to have worked at Aberdeen. The most famous was Donald Colman. Who?
In the 1930s, Donald Colman carved a successful career with Motherwell and Aberdeen, where he was appointed club captain and was capped by Scotland three times. But, it was his post-playing career, that saw him achieve football immortality
Colman loved feet. He really loved feet, but not in a kinky way. When he was appointed as a coach at Aberdeen he persuaded the club to dig a covered hole at the side of the pitch so he could stand in it and have his head level with the player’s feet. Donald believed players needed to work constantly on their footwork and he adopted very modern ideas of playing possession football and using space, which he could see far better from his vantage point below pitch level. An idea he’d first spotted while coaching in Norway.
When Everton visited Aberdeen a few years later it saw Donald’s ‘dugout’ and created its own at Goodison. And soon every club followed until we have the dug-out/airport lounge for today’s modern pampered footballer.
For Sir Alex Ferguson, watching Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Teddy Sheringham almost 26 years later do an impossible double strike in 1999 when Manchester United beat Bayern Munich to win the Champions League, he must have had a feeling of déjà vu. The manner of United’s victory followed the same pattern as Aberdeen’s quarter-final match against the same opponents – two goals in two minutes, against the odds.
The only difference was that Manchester United won without the help of a ginger player. Paul Scholes was suspended for the final in Barcelona after picking up a yellow card. Scholes should have followed Donald Colman’s advice and watched his feet.
While Aberdeen’s European song is long forgotten, there is another musical legacy of the 1983 Cup Winner’s Cup. It was one of, if not the first match, where fans sang a chant that would soon dominate Eighties football:
“Here we, here we, here we F*****g go!“
