They are the football team immortalised in documentary films and even a pop song.
But perhaps the most unusual tribute to Aberdeen’s famous Gothenburg Greats squad of 1983 is a set of electrical substations placed around the city’s newest shopping centre.
When the massive Union Square centre was under construction more than a decade ago, a Dons-mad electrical manager decided to name them after the European Cup Winner’s Cup champions to “get one over” on other workers from the west coast.
Although the current Dons squad will be missing out on today’s Scottish Cup final, their legendary predecessors will continue to bring the power to shoppers.
The 12 substations are named McLeish, Rougvie, Simpson, Cooper, McMaster, Leighton, Miller, Strachan, Black, Weir, McGhee and the man who scored the winning goal against Real Madrid on that rainy Swedish night 35 years ago Hewitt.
Developer Hammerson began construction of Union Square in 2007. Costing £250million, it is one of the largest city centre shopping developments in the United Kingdom and the second largest in Scotland after Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries.
There is a total retail space of 700,000 square feet and some five miles of electrical cabling.
SSE network design manager David Ross, of Blackburn, Aberdeenshire, was given the task of setting up substations to handle the massive voltage through the building and surrounding yards.
The 49-year-old, a season ticket holder at Pittodrie, said: “These are 33,000 volt substations, the whole project was huge and we had to have roads closed to allow for all the work.
“There are not many shopping centres of that size so it was months of work. It was a privilege to be involved because jobs of that size are rare.
“With projects like these, there is a lot of banter between the guys working on them and there were some workers from the west coast who would give me a bit of a ribbing because the Dons weren’t that good then.
“I made sure they knew there is only one Scottish team that are truly European champions and that’s Aberdeen.
“So I decided to name the substations after the Gothenburg greats- and I still got pelters.”
But as well as winding up colleagues, Mr Ross said there was a good practical reason for giving the substations memorable names.
He said: “Just calling them A, B, C would actually have caused more confusion…it was better to give them distinctive names, so you know right away which is which.”
And Mr Ross hopes that one day the favour may be returned.
He joked: “Maybe when they build Kingsford they can name of their substations after me.”
Last night one of the squad described the recognition as “an honour”.
Central defender Willie Miller MBE made more than 500 league appearances for Aberdeen and was the captain during the unforgettable game against Real Madrid on May 11, 1983.
He said: “It is a great sentiment that the company decided to name the stations after the Gothenburg greats.
“I just hope that my own one is reliable and doesn’t break down.”
