Charlie Allan recently spoke to Graham Watson for Red Matchday’s FPs section.

 

Graham Watson’s career with the Dons was a brief one, but ranks among the most magical and memorable in the entire history of the club.

The former midfielder managed just 20 top team appearances between 1990 and 1992 in a spell at Pittodrie that was curtailed because Graham suffered a serious leg break when guesting as an over-age player in a youth team match.

He found the net only twice, but they were strikes most Dons fans spend their entire lives dreaming about scoring. That’s because both efforts came in victories over Celtic in Glasgow, just 10 days apart, the second during an epic Hampden cup final that no member of the Red Army who witnessed it will ever forget.

More of that later, but let’s first savour the fact Graham took the time to share his memories of his time with Aberdeen. Never one to hanker for the spotlight, he has done few interviews in the 24 years since he walked out of the door at Pittodrie for the last time as an Aberdeen player.

Graham, however, was happy to speak to Dons Matchday Magazine when he returned to the Granite City recently to play in the Aberdeen FC Former Players’ Association’s annual golf tournament at Craibstone.

Now aged 48 and without the mop of curly red hair that made him instantly recognisable when he made his first team debut, in a 1-0 home league win over Dundee United in April 1990, Graham opened by admitting he really cherished his spell at Pittodrie, playing for Alex Smith, who was the manager at that time.

“I really enjoyed my period with Aberdeen, it’s something I will always treasure,” he said. “It would have been great if I had managed to be there longer and play more games, unfortunately that wasn’t to be. But I still have some great memories to look back on.”

Graham’s remarkable tale continued immediately after his debut, when Alex Smith decided to start a group of his promising youngsters – including the then 19 year old Fifer, Scott Booth, and Eoin Jess – in their league match against Celtic at Parkhead.

It was April 2, 1990 and the sides were scheduled to meet again in the Scottish Cup final 10 days later, so Smith decided to rest his main men for the task ahead at Hampden.

The news that the Dons planned to field what was perceived as a ‘weakened’ team sparked talk of them being punished by the Scottish League, despite the fact Rangers had already won the title. The main complainants were Dundee United, who knew a Celtic win could rob them of a place in the following season’s UEFA Cup.

But all of that was blown away when the youthful Aberdeen side won the match 3-1.

Jess scored twice inside a minute to cancel out Andy Walker’s third minute opener for the Hoops, with Graham adding the third 20 minutes from time.

“It was an amazing feeling scoring my first senior goal against Celtic at their own place,” he said. “The younger ones in the squad knew we were only involved because the manager wanted to rest players for the cup final, but we were determined to make the best of our opportunity.

“I remember all the talk of the club maybe getting punished because there were a few more recognisable faces missing. That only made us even more determined to do well, we were really up for that game that night.

“Even when they took an early lead we always felt we could get something. Eoin and Scott in particular were brilliant. It was Scott who did all the hard work to set up my goal, which was a bit of a tap-in from close range. But it was a really good feeling to score and to help Aberdeen win that match.”
Graham expected to drop back out of the squad for the cup final and admits he was shocked when Smith not only included him in that but also named him among the substitutes at the national stadium. It was a remarkable vote of confidence in a player who hadn’t even featured in a first team match until four weeks before the final.

“I was obviously hoping to be involved but expected to lose out to some of the more experienced players,” he said. “Just traveling with the squad to Hampden would have been a great experience at that stage of my career. To then be told I had made the bench was a massive boost.”

There was even better to come because he was called upon to replace the injured Paul Mason in what was, it has to be said, among the least eventful of Scottish Cup finals during normal playing time.

Yet it was also historic because the SFA had decided it would be the first decided by penalty kicks if the sides were still level after extra-time. It had previously taken replays, often more than one, to finally decide the cup winners.

The 1990 final finished 0-0, so on they went to penalties, a process that Dons manager Smith later described as “like shooting ducks at a fair.” As the youngest of the 22 players left on the Hampden pitch when shoot-out started, Graham never expected to have to take what would be his first – and what would prove to be only – penalty in a competitive game.

But the 1990 shoot-out proved to be the most dramatic so far in the long history of the Scottish Cup. Aberdeen’s Brian Grant and Celtic’s Polish international Dariusz Wdowczyk missed with their efforts during the regulation first five, which meant it would be sudden-death from then on. By going last, the Dons knew a miss would hand the cup to Celtic.

It was 8-7 to the Hoops when it came time for either Graham, Brian Irvine or keeper Theo Snelders, the only Dons yet to take a penalty, to step forward.

Graham said, “Brian was less keen than I was about taking one but one of us had to go so I just took a deep breath and stepped forward. I remember somebody shouting, it might have been Hans Gillhaus,

“just pick a side and don’t change your mind.”

“I kept thinking about that as I walked up to the spot, I knew by the time I got there exactly where I was going to put it.”

Referee George Smith then added to the drama by ordering Graham to replace the ball after he had laid it on the penalty spot.

“The penalty spot was a bit rough, probably because there had been so many kicks taken already so I couldn’t get the ball to sit right,” he said. “I decided to place it just forward of it a little but could hear the Celtic fans reacting when I did that. The ref obviously heard them too and told me to replace it, which didn’t exactly help my nerves.

“I took my time because I wanted to make sure it was sitting right so that I could make as good a contact as possible. I didn’t want to be sclaffing it, or anything like that, because I knew what was at stake.
“I then hit the ball as hard as I could to my right. Pat Bonnar (the Celtic keeper) dived the other way and so never got close to it, but I was still delighted to see the ball hit the net.”

Television images of the time show Graham looking to the heavens in relief as he turned to walk back towards the halfway line and he still remembers what was going through his mind at that moment.

“It was a massive relief knowing I hadn’t missed and lost us the cup,” he said. “Everyone dreams about maybe scoring the winner in a cup final, so I would have hated to be remembered as the first to lose one by missing a penalty.”

That unwanted honour went to Celtic’s Anton Rogan, who went next and saw his effort kept out by a brilliant diving save from Snelders. That left Irvine with happy task of netting to make it 9-8 to the Dons to bring the cup back to Pittodrie.

As you would expect, the winner’s medal from that day is among Graham’s most treasured mementos.

“My wife had it put into a frame, along with the shirt I wore that day, and it’s now on the wall in one of the bedrooms in our house.”

Graham’s hopes of building on his Hampden glory day and becoming a first team regular with the Dons were shattered when he suffered the leg break, that would ultimate bring his career to a premature end, the following season.

“The manager asked me to play as an over-age player in a youth tournament in Holland,” he said. “He was probably just trying to keep my feet on the ground after all that happened, which was fine by me.

“Alex had a great reputation for developing young players and I was very happy with the way my career was going at that stage. Unfortunately I broke my leg and I was out for an entire season after that.

“When I did eventually get back, Alex left and was replaced by Willie Miller, but things were never quite the same for me.”

Graham tried his best to make his mark in football after leaving Pittodrie. He played for Clyde, Livingston and Forfar Athletic and even spent a spell in the junior ranks, but he never reached the heights enjoyed during that fairytale spell at Aberdeen and had hung up his boots by the age of only 28.

His career post-football, as a policeman has been a highly successful one though. Now based in Glenrothes, he is a detective sergeant in the child abuse investigation unit.

“I really enjoy my work although I still get reminded about my time with Aberdeen most days at the office,” he said. “Three of my colleagues, Scott Davison, Neil McKenzie and Davie Birrell are staunch Dons fans. Davie goes to every match, home and away, including the European tie this season at Burnley.

“They are always going on about the Dons and asking me about my own time at the club. I don’t mind though because I’m proud I’m able to say I played for Aberdeen – and that I helped them win the Scottish Cup.”