John Gahagan was playing out the last few years of his career at Morton when a crop of youngsters came through that reinvigorated not only him, but the entire club.
At the head of the pack was a young man who could very well end up breaking his heart on Saturday; Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes.
Even back in the early nineties, Gahagan says that you could see something in McInnes that suggested he could go far in the game, but he is hoping that he doesn’t march on to the Betfred Cup semi-final at his old club’s expense come Saturday evening.
“Derek came through at Morton along with Derek Lilley, David Hopkin, Brian Reid and Alan Mahood,” Gahagan said.
“I remember my very first training session. I trained with all those kids and thought ‘I’m deid.’
“It was 1990 and I was ready to chuck it. They were all great athletes and I was five yards off them. I wasn’t even that old. I was only in my early thirties and here was these young boys running away from me.
“They were so fit and so full of enthusiasm. McInnes had such a zest for the game and you had to see it to believe it.
“Derek stood out from the first day I saw him. He had so much skill and was also a great athlete. He was super enthusiastic. He just loved training and he loved football. He was a sensational kid.
“You could always tell that Derek would stay in the game. If you are going to be successful you need to be passionate and you need to have a love of training and being about the boys. Derek was like that right from an early age, and you can now see that in his team and his players. They play with energy and enthusiasm and that all comes from the manager.
“He is a bit like Jim Leishman in that he has the ability to make players feel good about themselves. Davie Hay at Motherwell was the same. He made every guy feel good about themselves. He made me feel like Jimmy Johnstone.
“In Davie Hay’s head he probably thought I wasn’t good enough and too inconsistent but he had to make me feel good so he could get the best out of me.”
Gahagan is pinning his hopes for Saturday’s match on Morton’s latest group of youngsters, feeling that their lack of fear can help then upset the odds against superior opponents.
And he is sure that in manager Duffy, they have a man at the helm who the players will run through brick walls for.
“If Aberdeen play to their capabilities then Morton have no chance,” Gahagan said.
“But I remember when Morton played Celtic in the quarter final of the cup in the early nineties.
“I was injured at the time and didn’t play. We had a really young team with Derek McInnes and all those other great kids like David Hopkin.
“They went to Celtic Park and didn’t have the slightest bit of fear. They couldn’t get enough of it and couldn’t wait to get out there.
“Jim Duffy’s great strength is that players love him. He has a great track record of bringing young boys through."
*John Gahagan was speaking at the launch of the Hartson Foundation's Sportsman's Dinner at the Glasgow Crowne Plaza Hotel. Special guest is Neil Lennon. For more info go to www.johnhartsonfoundation.co.uk
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