Aberdeen: Dons pilgrims share stories of the Gothenburg glory in 1983
- Published
Watch and hear from Dons fans on their journey to Gothenburg
Forty years on, the memories burn as fiercely as Aberdeen's northern lights.
Four decades have passed since the glory in Gothenburg, when Alex Ferguson and his conquering crusaders beat mighty Real Madrid 2-1 to lift the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup.
Around 12,000 Dons fans followed the team by whatever means possible, boarding ferries, chartering flights, even traversing the North Sea on Peterhead fishing boats.
These are the recollections of five supporters who made that joyous pilgrimage.
A message in a bottle
Jill McIntosh, 57. Caught the St Clair ferry from Aberdeen to Gothenburg.
My dad had gone to Munich for the Bayern Munich quarter-final and I went in a bit of huff because I wasn't allowed to go, so he promised me if Aberdeen got to the final we would go.
When we got into the ferry terminal, although there were only 500 people on the boat, there seemed to be a lot more. Fergie came in to say bon voyage so that was amazing.
There was a keepy-uppy competition, I can't remember how many people were in it, but how they managed to do it with the boat going backwards and forwards, I am not sure.
There was a talent competition - I can't remember an awful lot of talent in it - and the resident band playing.
I just knew we were going to win. John Hewitt had always been my favourite player and for him to get the winner was just beyond my wildest dreams.
We had to find the bus to go straight back to the St Clair so there wasn't any hanging about. I'm not sure if everybody made it back to the boat, there are stories some didn't.
We were sitting in the lounge and there were glasses and bottles all over it, and my dad said, 'I am going to stick a wee message in this bottle and see where it ends up'. I think he wrote the result and the date, and 'we were there'.
We threw it over the side and three months later my dad got a postcard. A German couple had found it while they were walking along the beach in Denmark.
A fountain, a Saab and a Swedish busker ransacked
Andy Lyall, 59. Took his first flight from Aberdeen.
We went in to a shopping centre in Gothenburg because the cup was on display, and there was a busker.
Every time he started up with some Swedish folk tune it would last about 15 seconds because he would just get drowned out by "Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Aberdeen".
So he got nowhere, but he got tons and tons of money, so he was happy with how it all turned out.
After the game we didn't have any drink because we had no money for it. We were having a great time anyway, there was a fountain outside which I believe was brand new, just built that week, and we were all piling through the fountain.
We had all got soaked in the rain earlier so it didn't matter, everybody was dancing about in the fountain like maddies.
Our flight home was 03:30 that night. There was a Saab up on a revolving plinth in the middle of the airport and I just remember four mannies fast asleep, two in the front, two in the back, because there was nowhere else to sit, the place was absolutely stowed out.
It was just a fantastic atmosphere when we got back, people that had never seen a Dons game, and probably never have since, everybody was out.
My wife's grandma went to Pittodrie to see the cup coming in and she had never been before, and never went after.
'We got back, landed our fish, and nobody was talking about Aberdeen'
Drew Mair, 59. Went to Gothenburg aboard the fishing boat he worked on.
A lot of us on the boat were Aberdeen supporters. If we were at sea we were listening to games on the radio and if we were home I was through at the games.
The Bayern Munich game, we were up in the wheelhouse listening. There was an eruption when we won and someone came up with the idea: we need to go to Gothenburg, if we make the final.
We landed the catch that trip and it was discussed up in the office. The boats were through the Don Fishing Company in those days, I don't know who was in charge but he told the skippers he would manage to get tickets for Gothenburg. The rest is history, the boys went.
Before the game we got some photos of the crew sitting in their seats. I noticed Jock Stein going down the stairwell to the park, and I shouted to him 'can I get your photo, Jock?' He says, 'no bother'. That was an occasion I will not forget.
Drew Mair travelled by boat to follow his team
The game went on and on, getting more nervy, but when Mark McGhee crossed it over to Hewitt, everybody headed the ball that night.
Everybody was going mental, the crew were all over the place, the fans were everywhere screaming and dancing, it was a magic time.
We were back aboard the boat after the game, it was just sitting around the galley, having a few beers with the lads, going back over the great moments, and then that was it, away to our beds, we were back in work mode when we were on that boat.
We got up in the morning, it was back to normality, there was no time to celebrate. It was just a case of, get our sea clothes on and away back to sea.
We had another week's fishing, catching the cod and haddock. We got back to Peterhead and landed our fish and nobody was talking about Aberdeen winning the cup, it was already history, everybody had moved on.
I couldn't believe it. There was nothing, everybody had done their celebrating. Fergie and all his men had been at Pittodrie, met the St Clair ferry and we had done a trip and missed it all.
I just can't thank the skippers enough for taking that on their heads and going for it, it would have been an expensive trip for the boats. But we have got that memory and loved every moment of it.
'My husband had to work - I went to Gothenburg instead'
Barbara Johnston, 75. Took a charter flight from native Orkney.
It was my husband's turn to go to the game and he was really looking forward to it. He was a firefighter at the airport, and as chance happened, when the game was to take place, his boss was away and he was next in line and had to work.
Well it was obvious I was going to go instead but it was a bit complicated because we had two young boys, so we had to have a babysitter there until he got home from work.
He almost broke our coffee table when the last goal went in.
After the game, there were tears, I remember sitting on the bus later on, and it all just gets on top of you then because you have been so hyped up.
Some of it is like a dream, you thought 'was I really there?' and it was the kind of thing you wanted to do again so you could really soak it all up.
I wasn't well after it, I couldn't speak, hoarse with shouting and the voice had gone, with the soaking and everything else. I remember lying in the sitting room with the TV on watching endless reruns of the game, to try and bring it all back again.
Barbara Johnston travelled from Orkney
'I was due to go offshore that day. I didn't. I went to Gothenburg'
John McRuvie, 64. Took a charter flight with friends from his golf club.
We pretty much bounced down the runway because, as the plane left, we were all singing.
I think we were one of the first flights to leave Aberdeen so most of us cleared out the duty free.
My friend Patrick's uncle George went round the plane with a sock and we had a whip-round for the pilot which was quite a surprise for him and all the stewardesses.
We got into Gothenburg, it was raining and because there was huge shopping centre there we all went inside. And in the jewellers shop there was the European Cup Winners' Cup, and I can remember standing there with Patrick and us saying 'we are not leaving this city without this'.
John McRuvie chartered a flight to get him to the big match in Gothenburg
I was due to be going offshore at 10:00 that day on a helicopter. But I didn't, I went to Gothenburg at 10:30 on the flight.
We watched the helicopters leaving but I was a maintenance roustabout so I wasn't really required, I didn't have a back-to-back guy who would have had to stay on.
I wasn't the only one that did that, out of the 12,000 Dons fans, you would have had a good few thousand that didn't tell the boss they were going that day, they just decided to take a Torrybank holiday, as we say.
I phoned up my boss in the days after and said, 'I went to Gothenburg', and he said, 'Aye, I saw you on the telly'.
My overriding experience and memory of it is that I count myself as a very lucky Aberdeen fan who saw a once-in-a-lifetime, generational thing. I don't think we will ever see that again.
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