Scottish Cup giant-killer Craig McKeown has warned Aberdeen and Celtic will need to be on their guard against underdogs Clyde and Buckie Thistle.
McKeown was in the Bully Wee team that scalped the Hoops in January 2006.
That is still regarded as one of the biggest shocks in Scottish Cup history, while last season another occurred when the Dons were eliminated by West of Scotland League side Darvel.
Aberdonian McKeown, who also played for Dunfermline, Dundee, Formartine United and Brora Rangers during his career, believes his old club’s meeting with the Reds and the Jags’ trip to Parkhead are potential banana skins.
The 38-year-old said: “For Aberdeen and Celtic they’re expected to win the game which brings its own pressures.
“Aberdeen got stunned by Darvel last year and will be looking to avoid a repeat of that.
“The gulf between full-time and part-time football has got smaller in my opinion.
“I wouldn’t expect Aberdeen to make the same mistakes as last year.
“For them and Celtic they need to approach their games in the right frame of mind and make sure they do the basics right and be professional.
“Both Clyde and Buckie will be up for it and will work hard so if Aberdeen and Celtic match that their quality should prevail.
“But football doesn’t always work like that. Cup football always throws up shock results and Clyde and Buckie will want to be the team that causes that shock.
“For Buckie going to Parkhead will be a fantastic experience, I’ve been fortunate to play there in the Scottish Cup for Dundee.
“The atmosphere is fantastic and it’s either sink or swim really for players. I loved it and thrived on it.
“Hopefully the Buckie boys thrive off it. It’s a free hit for them, they’re not expected to do anything.
“I know a lot of their boys from playing against them in the Highland League and I hope they go there and put on a great performance that showcases their talents because they have got some right good players.”
Bully Wee savoured win bonus
Understandably McKeown has fond recollections of Clyde’s famous triumph against a Celtic side containing Roy Keane, Neil Lennon, John Hartson and Shunsuke Nakamura.
He also revealed the remuneration the Bully Wee players received for their victory was greatly appreciated.
He added: “We weren’t really nervous and we had a manager in Graham Roberts who was ex-Rangers and Joe Miller as assistant who was ex-Celtic and they sent us out believing we could win the game.
“We executed the gameplan very well and if you watch it back we dominated the game and also had two perfectly good goals chalked off.
“Kenny Clark was the referee that day and we had him a fortnight later and he came in and apologised and said he’d made mistakes and those goals should have counted.
“It wasn’t a fluke and we deserved the win. We were classed as full-time, albeit we were on a part-time wage or the minimum wage at the time.
“I don’t mind disclosing that the average wage for that Clyde team was £125 a week, if you won it was doubled.
“We trained in the morning and did other things in the afternoon to make ends meet.
“We got £1,800 a man as a win bonus for beating Celtic so that was like all your Christmases coming at once.”
John McLeod says Buckie Thistle aren’t scared of facing Celtic
