European Cup 1985-86

[Shinniesta]

One for the slightly older Dons fans on here. What are your memories of this competition? Looking back with the benefit of hindsight I think this competition was the biggest missed opportunity in our history.

 

After wins in the first and second rounds we went out to Gothenburg on away goals in the quarter-finals drawing 2-2 at home in the first leg. We were 2-1 up and Jonny Ekstrom scored a last minute equaliser. A 0-0 draw in the second leg in Sweden saw us go out to an admittedly excellent side who went on to win the UEFA Cup the following year but they were a side I felt we could and should have beaten. That last minute equaliser at Pittodrie killed us.

 

Gothenburg then beat Terry Venables' Barcelona at home 3-0 in the first leg of the semi but seemed to crumble in the Nou Camp and lost 3-0 to an injury hit Barca. Pichi Alonso (who was reportedly their sixth choice striker) scored a hat-trick to take the tie to a penalty shoot out. In the shoot out Gothenburg had a penalty to win the tie but missed it and Barca eventually went through. Barca then lost the final on pens after a terrible game against Steaua Bucharest that finished goalless. Steve Archibald played for Barca in that final. I vaguely remember Steaua being very defensive almost playing for penalties from the start and their second choice GK who played in the final saved all 3 or 4 Barca pens in the shoot out.

 

At the time it didn't hurt as much as say Ibrox in 91 did. I felt we would get more chances at the European Cup. But that tie against Gothenburg is to date the last we ever played in the competition. So with hindsight I'd say losing that is the biggest disappointment for me personally as a Dons fan. The semi-final line-up that year was relatively weak (it was the first year that the English teams had been banned and the Italian and German champions had been knocked out). Back then Barca were nowhere near the sort of force they are today (Maradona had left them by this point). I'd have fancied our chances against them with the European trophy winning experience we had in our squad and with Fergie on the touch line. Gothenburg blew a 3-0 first leg lead against them but I seriously doubt we'd have buckled in the same fashion.

 

I just look back on it now as a massive missed opportunity to win the European Cup the only realistic chance we ever had of achieving it. It's a chance we'll never get again and the magnitude of winning it would have far exceeded winning a domestic title at Ibrox in 91 on the last day as beautiful as that would have been.The teams in the last 8 were so closely matched (we lose to Gothenburg on away goals in the quarters who then lose in the semis on pens to Barca who then lose the final on pens to Steaua).

 

It's pretty ironic looking back at it now that both the greatest moment in our history and (in my opinion) the biggest missed opportunity in our history both happened in the same stadium in Sweden. Football eh?

[The Boofon]

Not as big a missed opportunity that the very first European cup that we were qualified for but the SFA put Hibs in it instead as their director was one of the SFA people with the say.

 

Demolished Hibs in the league and they ended up getting knocked out in the semi final. Wed have comfortably made the final and very likely have won it.

[Shinniesta]

Not as big a missed opportunity that the very first European cup that we were qualified for but the SFA put Hibs in it instead as their director was one of the SFA people with the say.

 

Demolished Hibs in the league and they ended up getting knocked out in the semi final. Wed have comfortably made the final and very likely have won it.

Good point. But I doubt we'd have beaten the great Real Madrid team of that era in the final.

 

The reason we had such a great chance in 86 is that there really were no great sides in the last 4 and many of our players actually had the experience of lifting a European trophy.

[HairyPie]

The bigger European travesty happened the year before when Porto knocked The Dons out of Europe on that foggy midweek night. All for the sake of a Rolex.

[aberdeen1970]

The bigger European travesty happened the year before when Porto knocked The Dons out of Europe on that foggy midweek night. All for the sake of a Rolex.

Aye I was at that game. Decent Porto team but it definitely felt like an opportunity missed.

[Shinniesta]

Aye I was at that game. Decent Porto team but it definitely felt like an opportunity missed.

It was a big opportunity missed I agree. But as great as it would have been to reach that CWC final and play that great Juventus team of Platini, Boniek, Tardelli, Rossi etc winning the European Cup in 86 would have been far bigger. We had the team and experience to do it. Small margins and all that.

[aberdeen1970]

It was a big opportunity missed I agree. But as great as it would have been to reach that CWC final and play that great Juventus team of Platini, Boniek, Tardelli, Rossi etc winning the European Cup in 86 would have been far bigger. We had the team and experience to do it. Small margins and all that.

Not disagreeing with you there. European Cup trumps CWC every time.

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Whilst I agree with you re ECWC< EC I remember the Porto game fog and all having the bigger impact on me. The Gothenburg game (genuinely for the little uns in here) felt a bit meh, well be back.

[RUL]

I was to young to know, what was the feeling after fergie left? Was it expected that we would continue to dominate or general end of an era expectation?

[Shinniesta]

Whilst I agree with you re ECWC< EC I remember the Porto game fog and all having the bigger impact on me. The Gothenburg game (genuinely for the little uns in here) felt a bit meh, well be back.

I agree with you that it didn't have a huge impact on me at the time. Like you I jut thought we'll be back. But looking back and with the way football has changed since then I now realise it was a massive missed opportunity and was our one true chance to win the European Cup. There were no great sides in the last four and we should have taken care of Gothenburg having led them twice in the tie.

[shut up meg]

I don't think it would have made a difference but Gunn was playing instead of Leighton as well.

[Shinniesta]

I was to young to know, what was the feeling after fergie left? Was it expected that we would continue to dominate or general end of an era expectation?

I think if everyone is honest they will admit to being slightly concerned about what was going on at the huns after Souness arrived in summer 1986 and the level of money they were spending / quality players they were signing. As it turned out we were right to be concerned as they won 10 out of the next 11 league championships. Unfortunately.

 

Cheating hun cunts.

[Saturday's Kid]

I remember that Gothenburg warmed up for the tie with a friendly against Wimbledon as they were in their close season and were trounced 7-1. I thought and I suspect Fergie thought they would be no serious threat. Funnily enough he never speaks of this in any of his autobiographies.

[The Boofon]

I agree with you that it didn't have a huge impact on me at the time. Like you I jut thought we'll be back. But looking back and with the way football has changed since then I now realise it was a massive missed opportunity and was our one true chance to win the European Cup. There were no great sides in the last four and we should have taken care of Gothenburg having led them twice in the tie.

The Jutes must feel even worse. Completely robbed on a final v Liverpool

[aberdeen1970]

I was to young to know, what was the feeling after fergie left? Was it expected that we would continue to dominate or general end of an era expectation?

He left during the same season Souness came in. At the start of that season I still felt we were the team to beat. I remember Fergie's final days here being caught up in trying to get a striker to fill in for Mcdougall. It was either going to be Dodds or Jordan.

 

Porterfield seemed like a strange choice but started reasonably well, competitive in cups and we brought in the two Nicholases etc. It was only a couple of years later when Rangers' spending continued and we started to bring in Tom Jones and Gary Hackett that you realised the wheels were coming off.

 

Saying that Smith and Scott did a superb job after Porterfield went. The two cups, the Dutch players and the promotion of youth were a joy.

 

Willie had a good first season. After that it was downhill all the way, the league cup win and Jess' keepie ups excepted.

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Which one did we rush Weir back from injury for again? Porto or Gothenburg? Such was the boys reputation at the time and was probably our creative flag carrier at the time, the triangle still being firmly rooted at the back.

[Chewie37]

Not as big a missed opportunity that the very first European cup that we were qualified for but the SFA put Hibs in it instead as their director was one of the SFA people with the say.

Demolished Hibs in the league and they ended up getting knocked out in the semi final. Wed have comfortably made the final and very likely have won it.

Aye there's different versions of that go around where Aberdeen didn't want to play under floodlights so declined or that Hibs only got in because the Hibs Chairman was in charge of the SFA committee that season. Is @oldmanny the only one old enough to remember the truth?

[Shinniesta]

The Jutes must feel even worse. Completely robbed on a final v Liverpool

True. Robbed by a referee on the take. I even felt sorry for them when I heard that which was a strange feeling.

[HairyPie]

I was to young to know, what was the feeling after fergie left? Was it expected that we would continue to dominate or general end of an era expectation?

 

Aberdeen were 6th in a 10 team league when Fergie jumped ship - a point mainly glossed over by Dons fans.

[The Oxford Don]

Did McLeish not hit the bar with a header in the second (away) leg?

[Guest the shepherd]

I was to young to know, what was the feeling after fergie left? Was it expected that we would continue to dominate or general end of an era expectation?

I think the general consensus was that Alex Ferguson had taken Aberdeen as far as he could and the result against IFK Gothenburg confounded that feeling. Losing Eric Black to Metz and Frank McDougall through injury did not help matters either after this. Throw in the fact the blank cheque book days started in the close season of 1986 and a developing apathy towards Aberdeen primarily due to the fact we had finished fourth in the league in 85-86 and that crowds were very average at Pittodrie, it was accepted that Ferguson had taken the club as far as possible. However, he left a very well run club in Aberdeen to a club that still lives in a Jack and the Beanstalk fairytale land to this day. Fuck Manchester United.

[Chewie37]

Aberdeen were 6th in a 10 team league when Fergie jumped ship - a point mainly glossed over by Dons fans.

Aye we were complete shite when he left..........

[Shinniesta]

Did McLeish not hit the bar with a header in the second (away) leg?

I can't say I remember that but I remember Jim Bett going very close to scoring in that second leg.

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Whenever I try to remember it my mind goes straight to the penalties in Berlin for some reason.

 

Why Willie why......

[Shinniesta]

Whenever I try to remember it my mind goes straight to the penalties in Berlin for some reason.

Why Willie why......

I know. That was the season before. Another painful loss.

 

That was back when the European Cup was a proper competition one team from each country and straight knock-out instead of the saturated CL pish we see today.

[Ten Caat]

When Fergie left, Porterfield was one of the most bizarre left field appointments I think I have ever witnessed anywhere. I think everyone expected that Fergie would leave at some point but hoped that he would hang around till Miller was 32 or 33 and in a position where he could have become player-manager but at the point he did leave it was a good couple of seasons too soon for that to be an option.

 

What we needed was a calm old head who knew the Scottish game inside out. Dare I say it...Jock Wallace was a rabid old hun but at the time he was at Sevilla and wasn't doing well, indeed he got the old tin tack a few months later. How couid he ffs....The old c@nt was barely understandable in English. God knows what his Spanish was like. Anyway he would have steadied the ship and had a big enough standing in the game to have attracted a decent standard of player to us. Yes Porterfield got the 2 Nicholases in but neither ever really had their heart in it...Peter stayed a year and everyone forgets that Charlie fired in a transfer request the summer prior to him eventually leaving at the end of his contract. And we had to suffer the horrors of Tom Jones and Gary Hackett then crowned off by the daddy of them all....Keith f@ckin Edwards.

 

Porterfield sadly was the cheap option and an experiment that history shows just didn't pay off.

[Guest milne_afc]

"Dare I say it...Jock Wallace was a rabid old hun but at the time he was at Sevilla and wasn't doing well, indeed he got the old tin tack a few months later."

 

Kill yourself

[shut up meg]

First choice should have been to try and get Jim McLean.

[Yorston Vasey]

Porterfield was out answer to Sourpuss at Ibrox, an attempt to tap into the English market with someone who knew the football down south and who would hopefully attract one or two folk up north who wanted to play in Europe following the English ban.

 

Unfortunately, as you say, it was the cheap option and in general his signings from down south mirrored that.

[jamiesd]

Fergie Recommended MacDonald and Jardine from Hearts. Probably would have been better than Porterfield.