Aberdeen FC swept all before them once they cranked into action in their 1982-83 campaign which eventually yielded European glory in Gothenburg.
But not everything was sweetness and light around Pittodrie when Alex Ferguson’s squad began preparations for the myriad battles to be fought at home and abroad.
The manager, who had turned 40 on Hogmanay in 1981, was gaining increasing attention around Britain after steering the Dons to the Scottish championship title in 1980 and a runners-up spot and the first of three consecutive Scottish Cups in 1982.
Yet, even as he was being courted by a few English clubs, he found himself wondering about the depth of the support base at Aberdeen – and made his views on the matter clear after a testimonial match for striker Drew Jarvie turned into a damp squib.
These contests were designed to reward the loyalty of stalwart performers with a big pay-out at the end of their careers. But that was only guaranteed with a packed crowd – and there was no danger of that happening when Jarvie’s took place 40 years ago.
Nobody could deny his impact after being signed from Airdrie in 1972. The statistics spoke for themselves in chronicling how Jarvie made 386 competitive appearances and scored 131 goals, while forging a terrific partnership with Joe Harper which ensured the duo were two of the biggest stars of the 70s for the Beach End faithful.
Looking back on the team
He later said of his teammate: “Joe was brilliant and definitely the best player that I had played with. When I first arrived, we struck up a good partnership right away and we scored a lot of goals together. By the time Joe left to go to Everton [in December 1972], he had scored around 30 goals by November and I was on the 15 mark.
“However, by the end of the season, I think I ended up with 31 goals, so I pipped Joe by a goal and he had to buy dinner because we had put a bet on at the start of the season. He was a great player to play with and he was an intelligent footballer.”
He was no mean performer in his own right and emerged as one of the pivotal figures during the Dons’ 1976 League Cup victory over Celtic in the final, where they had trailed through an early Kenny Dalglish penalty, but rallied with goals from Jarvie and the late Davie Robb, as the prelude to their flamboyant new manager Ally MacLeod, pirouetting onto the Hampden turf like Bruce Forsyth with ants in his pants.
He told the AFC Heritage Trust: “When I look back on my career, there were some special goals and that was one of them. I got one in the cup final and that was the first time I had won anything in senior football. We played in the Lanarkshire Cup with Airdrie against Hamilton, Motherwell and Albion Rovers, but when it came to winning one of the main trophies, that was the first time I’d won anything.
“It was nice to get a goal in the semi [against Rangers] and one in the final as well.”
Given his contribution to Aberdeen for more than a decade, one might have imagined that Dons aficionados would turn out in substantial numbers for Jarvie’s testimonial against Bobby Robson’s star-studded – on paper at least – Ipswich Town.
Both sides depleted
However, the match had been beset by problems. It didn’t help that the SFA had previously rejected an invitation by the testimonial committee to send a Scotland XI to compete at Pittodrie, while almost all the players who had participated in that summer’s World Cup in Spain were missing from the fixture on Saturday August 7.
That meant two seriously depleted line-ups ended up locking horns in a thoroughly unmemorable affair with Mich D’Avray notching the only goal for the English side, slotting the ball past Dundee United youngster, Andy Graham. It spoke volumes that the latter had only been called into the fray after receiving a Saturday morning phone call from Ferguson and arrived at Pittodrie a mere 20 minutes before kick-off.
The crowd was barely above 8,000 on a fine summer’s day. And there was an immediate response to that when the Press & Journal caught up with the Dons manager for what turned into a trenchant interview and news of an important decision.
Ferguson said: “I would not offer any player a testimonial if I thought that would be the size of the crowd. In a city the size of Aberdeen, I would have expected 13,000 or 14,000 for a game like Drew’s.
“I suppose that attendance makes it clear that we have a hard-core support of only about 9,000. But there will be no more testimonials for at least three or four years and then only for players who are over 30.
“John McMaster [who was 27 in 1982] is the next player who has reached the 10-year mark with the club [after joining as a teenager in 1972], and who would be thinking in terms of a testimonial match, but the situation has been explained to him.
“We have had four testimonials over recent years and the one for Bobby Clark was probably the one that was most deserving since he had spent 17 years with us.
“But circumstances have changed with freedom of movement for players.”
Thankfully, despite the meagre attendance for his grand occasion, Jarvie was in no way disenchanted as subsequent events at Pittodrie demonstrated.
Enjoying success
On the contrary, he enjoyed success in coaching and management, including an auspicious period as part of a triumvirate with Alex Smith and Jocky Scott at Pittodrie, whose efforts helped their charges win a brace of cups in 1990 and come heartbreakingly close to securing the league title in the 1990-91 season.
Nobody has tasted as much glory as that in the last 30 years, so it’s hardly surprising that Jarvie, an engaging and personable fellow, savoured his Aberdeen experiences.
He recalled, of his return to Pittodrie: “When I was at St Mirren I was going through my coaching badges and Jocky took me to Dundee as his assistant manager, so I was doing much the same there as well as packing the hampers for away games.
“I was the Teddy Scott at Dundee and did that for two years and then Alex Smith came in and asked Jocky and myself to come back to Aberdeen [at the end of the 1980s].
“I signed Russell Anderson, Kevin McNaughton, Richard Foster and Zander Diamond and there were quite a few others that played in the first team. I’m not saying that they all had great careers, but a lot of them played in the first team and went on and played at a reasonable level. I thought that I did quite a good job with them.”
Modest as ever, Jarvie has never been inclined to blow his own trumpet, but he served Aberdeen with distinction and dignity, on and off the pitch, and was quite rightly inducted into their Hall of Fame a couple of years ago.
There is no doubting the affection and admiration in which he continues to be held by Dons from different generations and he always offered 100% commitment in whatever role he found himself during his lengthy career.
Oh, and he never complained about a certain match being a kick in the testimonials!
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