It was a special day at the Falkirk Stadium last weekend as former Aberdeen manager Alex Smith MBE, 78, took part in his last ever game after an astonishing career. The Falkirk Technical Director announced recently that he was going to retire at the end of this season after nearly 60 years in the game, before moving to Australia.

Alex, one of Scotland’s most respected football figures, kindly granted the RedMatchday Editor an in-depth interview.

Over the next two issues, the final two programmes of the season, we will look back at his time in the Pittodrie dugout which saw the club make some fantastic signings, resulted in League Cup and Scottish Cup wins and so nearly a league title too. The ex Dons boss gives a real insight into life at the club during the late 80s and early 1990s.

REDMATCHDAY | You can buy a copies of all the programmes from this season at the CurtisSport website www.curtis-sport.com/Aberdeenfc-programmes