Aberdeen faithful prepare to pay tribute to one of their Gothenburg Greats

Tuesday 14 August 2012

The willingness of Aberdeen supporters to bathe in nostalgia has never been in doubt.

Neil Simpson, far left, celebrates as Aberdeen captain Willie Miller lifts the Cup-Winners' Cup. Picture: SNS

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Frank Gilfeather

Just mention the word "Gothenburg" and, even almost thirty years after they lifted the European Cup-Winners' Cup in the Swedish city, they still go weak at the knees.

Which is why 21,000 members of the Red Army, many of them lapsed or who deserted when the departure of manager Sir Alex Ferguson to Manchester United left them little to cheer, will pack Pittodrie tonight to honour Neil Simpson, one of those players hailed, since that 1983 triumph over Real Madrid, as a Gothenburg Great.

The 50-year-old former battling midfielder, now in charge of the team's youth academy, will welcome back his former manager to the club as Sir Alex ushers his Manchester United stars north to face Aberdeen in Simpson's long-awaited testimonial match.The whole of football knows Ferguson's achievements in the game may never be repeated, but in trawling through his memory bank yesterday, Simpson revealed that the man who helped a provincial team like Aberdeen exceed their expectations by some distance, firmly believed they were capable of winning the European Cup."The manager, of course, went on to win the European Cup with Manchester United," he said. "It was always his dream. He thought he could have done it with Aberdeen because he believed he had the players to do it. It was a good time to be with the club. I was born at the right time."Fergie's mentality was you had to be winning a trophy, he thought there was something wrong with the squad if you didn't win and that he'd have to buy somebody.""I'd also have liked to have done better in the European Cup and if we had won the league title in 1983, I think we would have had a chance. I think our group of players certainly had the potential to win the European Cup, if we'd managed to keep everyone together. But they started to drift away. Players like Gordon Strachan, who was a top quality player, and Mark McGhee and Eric Black left, and the side started to crumble. There were still quality players coming in, of course, but other European clubs had improved their squads and it became more difficult."Simpson takes the view that with so many of that young Aberdeen side having gained experience with Scotland, albeit at a lower level, it also benefited the team."Just about everybody in our team had played for Scotland at youth, or Under-21 or full international level," he said. "So, we all gained experience of playing against foreign clubs and players in different countries and that helped at Aberdeen when we went on to the European stage. We had confidence. I played 18 times for Scotland's Under-18s and had faced Lother Matthaus, Ruud Gullit and Franco Baresi, all of whom went on to become great players."It was such an upbringing that afforded Ferguson's young guns the quiet swagger the displayed, no matter the opposition, at home or abroad and Simpson's recollection of that part of his career is clear, especially on the occasion when he and his team-mates arrived at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg the day before their finest hour."We went to the stadium the day before to train on the pitch and Real Madrid were there," he remembered. "We walked past them with our chests out, without any fear. That is the way we felt going into all our European games."It was the winning mentality instilled in Ferguson's young charges that brought Simpson a remarkable haul of medals. In 310 appearances, he won eight trophies – two league championships, three Scottish Cups, one League Cup, the Cup-Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup – which equates to an astonishing 38.75 games per trophy.It's a statistic which brought only a smile of disbelief as he declared himself overcome by the overwhelming backing his testimonial game had received."It's fantastic that it's a sell-out," he said. "After the shareholders and season ticket holders had taken up their allocation they went on general release and we sold 5800 in one day, the most the club had ever sold in one day. It's quite humbling. The supporters have always shown me a lot of affection and I make sure I speak to the fans whenever they want to chat."The fans' fondness of one of their own, a home-grown lad who made the big-time, is well-deserved, and while he spent a total of three years at Newcastle United and Motherwell, Simpson is never regarded as anything other than a true Don.

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Aberdeen faithful prepare to pay tribute to one of their Gothenburg Greats

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