It was the night 40 years ago when Aberdeen’s players found themselves surrounded by cups of the unwanted variety.
That evening they walked into the dressing room at half-time 2-0 down to Romanian club Arges Pitesti and were suddenly assailed by an explosive diatribe from Alex Ferguson in October 1981, which ramped up a few notches after Gordon Strachan decided to fight fire with fire.
Never since the Boston Tea Party had so much strife erupted around the hot drink and those who witnessed the scale of the Dons manager’s rage as he tore into his players for a sub-standard performance have never forgotten it.
This wasn’t a hair-dryer.
It was more like a flame-thrower, yet it summed up the lofty standards which Ferguson demanded from his players who famously went on to win a brace of European trophies two years later.
But let’s go back to the moments after they left the field and quietly wished the ground would swallow them up rather than have to face the boss.
The Pittodrie personnel had arrived in Bucharest, bolstered by the 3-0 victory they had secured in the first leg of the tie at home on October 21.
Were they complacent?
Did they subconsciously believe they could simply shut up shop and stroll through to the next stage of the UEFA Cup?
After all, they had eliminated the reigning champions, Ipswich Town, in the previous round and demonstrated their prowess on the European stage.
In the opening 20 minutes, they were the victims of some shocking challenges from Arges Pitesti, which often more closely resembled rugby than football.
But the hosts scored twice from set pieces and the thunderous expression on Ferguson’s face spoke volumes about his reaction to the team’s performance.
Light the touchpaper and run…
Neil Simpson was among those who incurred the wrath of the Govan gaffer as a maelstrom of invective enveloped the room.
He recalled: “I was a sub and I came on for the injured Doug Rougvie just after they had scored their second goal. At half time, Fergie had what was the major of all crack-ups.
“We had taken the tea urn from Pittodrie with us on the trip; it had a good five-inch core of iron to it and he absolutely whacked it with his left forearm while ranting at us and this urn didn’t budge an inch.
“I don’t think he realised it was full of hot water and absolutely solid, but we could all see that he had hurt himself, which in turn made him even madder.
“None of us dared move or, even worse, laugh. We were still winning 3-2 on aggregate, but Fergie was furious and I had never seen him like that before.”
I had to lie to him because, if I had told him the truth, he would have sent for a firing squad.”
Walker McCall
Striker Walker McCall, who was part of the squad, but a non-playing substitute, clearly remembers the events during the 15-minute break and has recounted them in a new book Aberdeen European Nights, written by Ally Begg, who has brought the whole incident vividly to life.
McCall said: “We knew this wasn’t just going to be a talking-to – that it could be a full-blown explosion.
“He started going round the lads, giving them what for, and stopped at Gordon Strachan and tore into him. But once he had finished, Gordon said something back and that was the catalyst for him to explode.
“Fergie, by this point, was still walking around the dressing room and in the middle was a table full of tea cups and the urn.
“Upon hearing Gordon’s comment, he literally swiped all the cups from the table – they all flew everywhere – and then smashed the urn with his arm.
“All the tea flew over Willie Miller and Alex McLeish’s suits which were hanging up on their pegs and Willie told Fergie he was going to bill him for the dry cleaning, which enraged Fergie even more and he went up another level. All of us got it that day.”
Launched into a volcanic tirade
Begg’s new work is packed with evocative stories from the glory years of the Dons beating Real Madrid in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final in Gothenburg as the prelude to defeating Hamburg to collect the Super Cup seven months later.
Two European trophies in that transcendent 1983: a feat which is unprecedented in the history of Scottish football.
However, he hasn’t glossed over the disappointments of some of Aberdeen’s myriad European crusades, including the 5-0 aggregate loss to Liverpool in 1980; an outcome which led to Ferguson telling his players on the bus back to the Granite City: “If anybody laughs, I will fine you £10”.
There was a sting in the tail of the infamous Romanian rammy when McCall discovered why Ferguson had launched into such a volcanic tirade.
He said: “Before the start of the second half, I was in the toilet and I was the only player left in there, but I heard [assistant manager] Archie Knox say to Fergie: ‘My God, you really went off on one there’.
“Fergie said to Archie that he was aware, but he had to get it off his chest.
“He told Archie he was so annoyed because he knew the lads were capable of playing so much better and that they weren’t playing to their best.
“I heard the two of them discussing this, so I decided to wait [in the cubicle], because there was no way I was walking out of the toilet while they were in mid-conversation.
“As I got back to the bench, Fergie barked at me: ‘Where have you been?’ and I just told him that I had needed to go to the toilet, but got lost and ended up somewhere down the corridor.
“There was absolutely no way I was going to tell him that I had heard their conversation. I had to lie to him because, if I had told him the truth, he would have sent for a firing squad.”
Fergie took us to another level
Aberdeen’s European odysseys have brought a variety of towering highs and embarrassing lows, but Begg has talked to many of the major figures who were involved in these contrasting experiences.
And he has no doubt why the Dons enjoyed such tremendous success when they did.
He said: “It is difficult to look beyond the influence Sir Alex Ferguson had on the club during his time in charge.
“He took us to another level; winning the Cup Winners’ Cup, reaching the semi-finals the following season [where they were controversially edged out by Porto], then reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup, only to lose on away goals [against Gothenburg] while remaining undefeated throughout the tournament.
“In common with so many other Aberdeen fans of my generation, we grew up watching this great team win trophy after trophy and compete in European competitions season after season. I feel very lucky to have followed the team closely during that time.
“I also think it is important to acknowledge all the work which was done behind the scenes when it came to preparing for these big European games. Archie Knox, for one, clocked up many air miles scouting opposition as well as preparing detailed dossiers on all opponents.
“It was obvious while writing this book that there was a massive team effort in operation to make sure the lads were fully prepared for these big matches. It was fascinating to collate all the stories and I hope I have done them justice.”
As a former pop star, who enjoyed regular chart success with Bad Boys Inc, the band who briefly posed a threat to Take That in the mid-1990s, as the prelude to becoming a television producer in Qatar, Begg has never pursued any conventional career path.
Yet, despite all his adventures and peripatetic life – he and his family now live outside Salzburg in Austria – he has retained in his memory banks every scintillating moment of that rain-lashed evening when his beloved Dons surged to victory in Sweden, even though it happened all of 38 years ago.
He recalled: “I was very fortunate to have been in Sweden with mum and dad
and some family friends for the game.
“My late dad organised a number of charter flights to Gothenburg through the company he used to work for, so I was very lucky to go along for the ride.
“It was an incredible experience from the moment we left Dyce to the moment we got back in the small hours of the Thursday morning. I will never forget the rain and feeling miserable for long spells of the game as I was so cold, but the long yellow macs that mum organised for us helped somewhat.
The crowning moment was Hewitt’s
“When John Hewitt scored the winner, the noise that was generated by the fans above was simply incredible.
“John ran directly towards us after he scored and I could clearly see the joy etched on his face – it was a magical moment, one I will never forget.”
Nor, for that matter, will anybody else who watched that momentous victory.
Aberdeen European Nights is published by Polaris.
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