Today is the 11^th of May. Happy Gothenburg Day everyone! It could also be an historic day as a new UK Prime Minister is selected (then again maybe not.......). But anyway it is a good enough link for Kevin Stirling to recall the story of the night the Dons had a major influence on the appointment of a new Prime Minister.

The record books and football historians will refer to the 'Famous Five' as the highly-rated Hibernian forward line of the '50s. Gifted as they were they never could quite get the measure of Aberdeen back then, but that is another story.

The 'other' Famous Five are perhaps better known in political circles. Back on 11th May 1983, a certain Tony Blair turned up at a house in Sedgefield as the prospective Labour Party hopeful for the area. Unknown to young Tony, his fellow party members had gathered round to watch the Dons take on Real Madrid in the European Cup Winners Cup final which was live on the television. Paul Trippett was one of original 'Famous Five' that made our future Prime Minister wait until the Dons had defeated Real Madrid before he could embark on his political career and he takes up the story:

"The Sedgefield constituency back in 1983 was the only one that had not selected a Labour candidate. It was a relatively new constituency and was out on its own with nobody put forward. First of all any prospective candidate would have had to get a nomination. As we didn't have anyone, a young Tony Blair contacted a guy called John Burton, who later became his agent and a well known figure in his own right. Tony asked if he could arrange a meeting to discuss the candidacy. We had already arranged to meet at John's house to have a few beers and there was also a European final on the television. Tony was told that he was quite welcome to come along and put his case forward to us.

"Of course by the time he arrived the Aberdeen game had already started, and we were watching the game very closely. Tony arrived with the intention of talking politics, but he was told in no uncertain terms that we were watching the game and that any political talk would have to be put off until the game was finished. With it going into extra time we had a fair bit to drink as we were totally taken with the final. When Aberdeen won we were all cheering and by this time it would have been near to 11pm that night. We had been drinking beer and wine and had a good time watching Aberdeen. Tony was kicking his heels but he was watching the game with us; he didn't have much choice!

"So after all that we turned to Tony and said, "Right then young man what do you want? Which brought the response that he wished to become a member of parliament. We asked him loads of questions and we put his name forward for our next branch meeting on the Saturday after the final. Obviously his name was now in the hat and we were then inadvertently christened the famous five. Included were myself along with Peter Brooks, John Burton, Tony Ward and Simon Hobban. Not long after Simon dropped out of our infamous group and his place was taken by Phil Wilson who has now taken over as the Labour candidate for Sedgefield from Tony. History tells you that Phil was part of the famous five but he wasn't at the original meeting when Aberdeen were playing and Tony was waiting patiently.

"They were the five guys that were there that night as we decided to give this young, well-spoken, articulate man the nomination.

"Mind you we did not know he was a Newcastle fan! With us all being Sunderland, had we known, the whole history of this country may have taken a far different course! Can you imagine what it was like? We were just young men back then in our early 20s and this guy; a lawyer from London. came across as a very enthusiastic, bubbly, bouncy character with some grand ideas of what he was going to do. He really just spoke our language and also he enjoyed watching the game that night as, of course, Tony has Scottish roots.

"While we didn't have any real affiliation to Scottish football, that night we were all rooting for Aberdeen. The game seemed to go on for ages and we were delighted to see Aberdeen win but looking back it would seem strange that we took so much interest in the game; we were all English guys. You have to remember that our gathering was not arranged to see Tony; it was a gathering to have a few drinks and watch the football. When Tony became interested we thought that we could kill two birds with the one stone and get Tony along to hear what he had to say.

"We were all good friends and about the same age although John was a bit older. He was my teacher at school and of course when we went round he had the whisky out and the wine and beer and we there to watch the football. Tony was delighted to come along as he was intending watching the match as well as long as he understood that no politics would be spoken about during the match. He was told that he was up north now and not in London. Football first, politics second!"

On 9th June 1983, Tony Blair was elected as MP for Sedgefield, a post he held until June 2007. In between times Tony Blair swept to power in May 1997 as the Labour Party ousted the Conservatives in the general election that year. Twenty-five years on and so much has changed in both football and politics. Aberdeen's win over Real Madrid in 1983 May have played its part in the course that this country took as Tony Blair went on to play a significant part in the future of the country.