Aberdeen’s longest serving member of staff is about to hang up his medical bag, for physio David Wylie is retiring after an incredible 33 years at Pittodrie. But whilst today will be David’s last ever league match, he may well be still be involved in the opening European games next season.

“My wife Leslie has been married to a football club for a long time now and I feel that the time is right to try more time with her.”

As a physio for nearly 40 years, and having filled that position with the Dons since 1983, Dave has a few tales to tell about the fastest developing job in the game.

“I trained as a chartered physiotherapist at the Southern General hospital in Glasgow, back in the days before it became a degree course, but it was a professional qualification instead. From there, I moved on to my first job which was at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie. I was there for about 18 months.

“I then moved to Bath Street Clinic in Glasgow which was a GP referral clinic. It was with the NHS but the work was more sports related and a few of the staff were already involved in football. I was only there for three or four months and I got a telephone call from Ally MacLeod inviting me along for a chat at Motherwell. I joined them in 1979 and stayed for four years.

“Ironically, the Aberdeen job had become available after the departure of Brian Scott to Celtic a week before and the staff in the clinic encouraged me to apply but I felt at the time I needed more experience.”

“Motherwell had just been relegated and it took 3 years to get back up and we did it in style under Davie Hay, who was to leave at the end of that season. The following season Jock Wallace took over and the reality of life in the Premier league hit us, but we managed to stay up.”

After serving that apprenticeship at Motherwell, David’s career took a decisive turn in 1983, in the aftermath of a memorable night in Gothenburg.

“Roland Arnott had the claim to fame of being the Dons’ physio in Gothenburg but he decided to return to England at the end of the 1982/83 season. That left a vacancy at Pittodrie in the physio room. I got tipped off quite quickly by other physios in the industry and they all said that I should apply for the position so I did. I recall being at a wedding reception in Lanark and getting a phone call to confirm my appointment. Incredibly, the band’s next tune was the Northern Lights.”

“I arrived in the summer of ’83, on the 8th July, post Gothenburg. Although I missed the Cup Winners’ Cup final I was still lucky enough to have worked with that team. And I did get the Super Cup final, which in those days was a two leg tie.”

“It was quite daunting coming in at first as I had left a club that had struggled to avoid relegation to go to a side that had just won the European Cup Winners’ Cup and Scottish Cup! It was a team of big characters as well. “The first two players I met before the other players came back early for pre-season were Stuart Kennedy and Dougie Bell, who had been injured from the previous season. Stuart especially was a real character and had opinions on most things! He was a strong personality and a player the younger ones looked up to, someone they could talk to. He was a very good talker. Sadly Stuart had to retire after his injury.

“I settled in quite quickly – at least I think I did! At the time, the club was Sir Alex and Archie and Teddy. That was the coaching staff. That was it. And one physio. There were not many other staff at the club as a whole and only 3 directors, so it was quite a tight group.

“The players were all characters in their own right. A strong team, a unit. They were a team that was disappointed if they drew a game. Although in my first game, we lost to an amateur team and I thought here we go! I am a jinx! Thankfully it went on to be quite a season.

“It was just an amazing year on and off the pitch. We won the Super Cup in December – I got married on the Monday and then the home leg was on the Tuesday so we came up the road on the Tuesday morning for the game on the Tuesday night. It was about the only suitable date I could get, but then UEFA changed the dates of games. So I got married on the Monday, won the Super Cup on the Tuesday! We did have a honeymoon at the end of the season and I think my better half has almost forgiven me!”

It’s both a sign of David’s longevity and the way in which footballing times have changed that during his 33 years with the Dons, he has worked with 15 of the 24 management teams that have ever operated at Pittodrie.

“Working with Sir Alex was quite an experience, without a doubt the best manager. He was a disciplinarian but there was so much more to him. He was also good fun and a good friend. His psychology with the players was incredible, he really did get the best out of them. He gave everybody belief. He also had Archie Knox alongside him as well. Archie was the good cop! I worked with Archie four times in all. He really is a fantastic coach.

“I remember before the 1986 League Cup final we were training on the pitch the day before the game and Eric Black was not right. We decided to leave him until the next day and gave him 24 hours to prove his fitness. The next morning, Eric said he felt a bit better so Alex said he was playing. I thought it was a big risk but Alex made it clear he was starting! Alex said that he had scored in every final he had played in. So he did play, and he limped off after 70 minutes, but he’d scored two goals and the cup was ours!

“Sir Alex was intense, intense with anything he wanted to do but he never showed any nerves in and around the dressing room. That was important for the players. His team talks on a Friday could go on for an hour, hour and a half at times. I have seen the bath overflowing!! He was very thorough in his preparation.

“Yes, sparks would sometimes fly at half-time or after a game but that has happened on regular occasions with all the managers I have worked with, especially when things are not going particularly well. It is part of the game. There are not many managers who bottle it up and keep it until a Monday.

“I’ve worked under some other good managers. Alex Smith and Jocky Scott came in and got the club back to producing young players and they brought through the likes of Wright, Booth and Jess. That was a successful spell in relative terms because you were up against a resurgent Rangers and Celtic because they were spending money again on players.

“Sitting next to the managers in the dugout has brought a few memorable moments over the years as well – there have been one or two situations! The dugout has changed quite a bit as well over the years. Everyone used to sit on the bench. Sometimes you had to stick a leg out to stop people running out! Things do get said in the heat of the moment which are actually downright funny! Although at the time it is not always the best option to point it out…”

The irony of managers strutting around the technical area, barking instructions, is that the view you get from pitch level is actually pretty awful. Still, it’s better than the one that the physio tends to get, sat on the bench.

“It is getting harder and harder to see the game in the dugout. You have fourth officials standing and blocking part of the pitch for a start. And under some management teams, I have had as many as three people standing in front of me, so it is certainly not the best place to sit if you want to watch the game! There can be times where players are down injured and you can’t see them! Some dugouts as better than others because you are a little bit higher up. A few stadiums also have screens now”.

Four decades in the job and pretty well everything has changed around David on and off the park. Long gone are the days when the footballing physio’s extended little further than a bucket of water, a sponge and a bottle of smelling salts….

“The magic sponge is long gone! There used to always be a sponge and a sponge bag. It is quite a thought that you would use the same sponge on a number of players during a game. I once caught Teddy washing his car with one of the sponges!”

So what does he have in his bag he carries on the park?

“Not much to be honest. I have gloves, water, vaseline, swabs, bandages, dressings, vapour rub, scissors. In the past, I would carry studs and stud keys but I can’t even remember the last time a player lost a stud!

“The biggest change over the years has been staffing wise. If you think when I first came to the club there was Alex Ferguson, Archie Knox, Teddy Scott and myself. That was all there was in terms of backroom staff to look after the football department. So the amount of staff we have has changed significantly. We had one physio to look after all the players. We now have three physios, John Sharp, Aimee Clark and myself, plus sport scientists and video analysts, so you can see how the game has changed.

“Players now are probably more athletic than they were in the past. I would say the players are generally fitter. Because of that, over a period of time the game has certainly become faster, but many of the injuries we see now are as a result of the increased speed. I don’t think the game is as robust as it used to be. The tackling element has come out of the game.

“The pitches are changing too, which affects injuries. The pitches are more sand based which means they are firmer. Thirty years ago, we would have been playing on muddier pitches which would have been softer. I am not a fan of artificial pitches. I have seen a number of bad injuries on them and also some players need two or three days to recover from playing on them.

“Boots are changing as well. They are a lot lighter and I don’t think they give a lot of protection. Also some of the studs, for example the blades, can cause injuries that you would have not had before. I am not a fan of blades as well as artificial surfaces!

“There are still a lot of common injuries with other sports in terms of football, rugby, hockey as you are twisting and turning. One physio I remember speaking to from the world of rugby league said football and rugby are not contact sports. Ballroom dancing was a contact sport. Football and rugby are collision sports. He was correct. Footballers they run, they twist, they jump, they get tackled,they collide. And sometimes they do all this at pace.

“I have learnt part of it is to do with training, ground conditions but I have also learnt over the years it is almost impossible to predict injuries. You can go into a friendly game and come out with a few injuries or you can go into a game which looks like a battle and nothing happens. It is a game of chance at times.

“Over the years, you have to keep learning as you go along because football doesn’t stand still. Even in more recent years I have seen injuries that I have never experienced before.

“Surgical techniques have changed a lot as well over the past 33 years. There are different approaches towards injuries. Maybe in the past, certain injuries would be game over for players. Now, they do have a chance of getting back to playing at a high level. There are also different options in the way to treat some injuries. When I first started with cartilage injuries, you were left with a three or four inch scar and the surgeons would keep you in bed for ten days! Now it is just two small puncture wounds and the patient is in and out in a few of hours.

“As a profession, we try to share knowledge and ideas, but it is difficult to have regular dialogue with the other physios. It is more on a game by game basis. At the moment with the fixtures the way they are, we are working six or seven days a week. You have no pattern to your life. In the old days you would have the first team and reserve games on a Saturday – the reserves would play at Pittodrie if the first team were away from home. Now we can have games on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. It is hard for the players and the staff. I also think we have got to the ridiculous situation where the close season is half what it used to be. You don’t have time to recover from one season before you are into the next one. You get to a burn out stage. The players need time to relax and recover. The mental side is huge.

“As well as the injuries, the game has also changed. Especially the kits! I remember players fighting over the shorts as no one wanted to wear the 36 inch waist ones. They wanted them the tighter the better! Thankfully those days have changed as it was not a good look!

“There have been quite a few rule changes that have affected the game and my job. For example the pass back rule. Goalkeepers never used to get injured, then they started developing all these kicking injuries because they had never kicked a ball in their life! Also when players get injured now, they have to come off the park after the physio has been on.

“It can be quite a lonely job in the sense that recovery is not quite what you hoped it would be You do sometimes have to remind managers that we do not injure the players. We just try and put them back together again! You are always racing against time. Sometimes things just take that bit longer. Sometimes people heal quicker than others.

“As well as the managers I have had to deal with a few players who have been famous for their moaning over the years. Willie Miller was a moaner! His teammates would say he was ill if he didn’t have something to moan about! But he was not a bad player so we will let him off! The greatest satisfaction as a physio is seeing a player getting back ahead of schedule. I remember getting Eoin Jess ready for the 1993 Cup final after he broke his ankle in an earlier round”.

With 40 years in football behind him, David has plenty of priceless memories. But what are the ones that stand out?

“All the cup finals were wonderful occasions. The 1984 Scottish Cup final is one that sticks out in my mind. It was my best moment probably because I was appearing at Hampden for the first time. We got to the semi-final of the Cup Winners’ Cup that season, we even won the Super Cup but it was that game that is special to me. It was quite emotional as the bus came in towards Hampden and all you could see was a sea of red and white and everyone was cheering and pointing towards the bus, all hoping that everyone on the bus was going to produce a great afternoon for them.

“I think it was also special as it was my first cup final. It all happened so quickly though and I have said to other physios when they get to a final for the first time to just take it all in. You don’t forget running on the Hampden pitch though as it is so big. And it has got bigger. Now you are upstairs so you have to try and not fall when you run down them!

“My biggest disappointment would have been when we lost at Ibrox on the final day of the season in 1991. That was so upsetting and going up the road that night was a very long journey. I am not sure winning the league that day would have dramatically changed the history of the club, or the history of the past two decades, but it would have been a fantastic achievement. People forget the chances we had early on in that game.

“The 2000 Scottish Cup final when Jim Leighton got injured in his final match was a bad time too. I get asked a lot what is the worst injury I have ever seen. I can’t really make up mind but Jim Leighton in the cup final was not a pretty moment. I remember Rangers started the game strongly and when I saw Jim going down at his near post I thought he was using all his experience to settle the game down, to stop the game and let the boys get their breath back. When I got on the park I could see the blood pouring out his mouth I then realised it was serious and I thought ‘Oh no.’ That was a really disappointing moment.

“In that instance, when you go onto the pitch you first of all are trying to diagnose what the problem is. Then if it is serious, like it was in Jim’s case, you need to think how to move the player safely from the pitch. It is very easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment in the middle of a game but you have to make sure you keep a cool head. I feel that is one thing I have always done throughout my career.

“The best place I have ever been on my travels was Bermuda. We went there pre-season with Aberdeen once. The only trouble was in those days I was physio / kitman / tour party organiser, so I did not get much time to sit about by the pool! You go to places like the Stadio delle Alpi when we played Torino, which had been a World Cup venue. Then you go to places like Moldova and Albania and you see outright poverty. It does put things into perspective and you realise how lucky we are. Football offers you so many opportunities. I also worked with the Scotland U21s for 12 years and I also have a lot of good memories at full International level.

“I have far more good memories than bad ones to take with me!”