The Dons first real ‘pin up’ star was born on this day, 9th June in 1929.

Harry Yorston would go on and become one of Aberdeen’s all-time top scorers but incredibly retired from professional football when he was in his prime.

The Red Matchday team look back at a story that shocked the city…

 

If the family tradition was to continue when Harry Yorston joined Aberdeen in 1947, then the Aberdeen supporters would be in for a treat – Harry’s second cousin Benny was a prolific and record scorer for Aberdeen in the late 1920s.

Idols come and go, but goalscorers are perhaps more fondly revered. As Sam Cosgrove carves out his own piece of Pittodrie history these days, back in the post war football ‘boom’ days, players like Yorston were afforded special treatment from adoring supporters.

It can be argued that local players for some reason often have to pull out that little bit extra to win over the support.

Yorston certainly came into that category having spent his boyhood growing up in Park Road, a mere stone’s throw from Pittodrie Park.

Having learned his trade in the cobbled streets around Pittodrie, Harry started out with local juvenile side St Clements before he was spotted by Aberdeen in 1946.

While there was no doubting his potential, Yorston had to bide his time before making his debut for the Dons on Christmas Day 1947 against Third Lanark at Cathkin Park.

The reason for the delay was due to Harry completing his stint in the National Service in Portsmouth. It was only when he was back in Aberdeen on leave that he made his first start. Some years later Yorston recalled his debut;

“It was against Third Lanark at Cathkin as I had just came back up to Aberdeen on leave from the Army. The team had been struggling all season and George Hamilton was away to Hearts for a spell. I remembered the game well as I scored from the first corner kick of the game. Scoring after only five minutes gave me confidence and it was a great experience.”

Less than a year later and with his spell in the Army completed, Yorston went on to establish himself in the side and he developed into the regular inside right in what was the old-style five man forward line. The role for Yorston and Bob Wishart on the left was an unforgiving one; the team back then was set up in a rigid style – two full backs, three forming a half-back line and five forwards.

The Aberdeen forward line that lined up when they won the championship in 1955 was Graham Leggat and Jackie Hather on each wing, with Paddy Buckley as a centre forward. Yorston and Wishart were seen as the vital link between the half backs and the forwards; in the modern game an offensive midfielder.

Harry was brought up watching the Dons in action and his hero was George Hamilton, a true Aberdeen legend.

Yorston would not only fill the breach in the Aberdeen side but he also played alongside his boyhood hero on many occasions before Hamilton hung up his boots in 1955. Aberdeen relied on a passing tradition that first emerged at Pittodrie in their formative years with the likes of Charlie O’Hagan and Willie Lennie.

Yorston was happy to continue that style as he teamed up with Hamilton:

“George was the elite player of that time and you could not help but score goals playing alongside him; we had a good partnership and we played the first style of one-twos as befitted a well known football term. It certainly worked.”

Coming from a football family was no burden for Yorston who was encouraged at a young age.

“My father went to see Benny Yorston play and football had been in the family since the 1920s. Although my father did not think I would be a professional, he still encouraged me to play to the best of my abilities. As a player I never really wanted to do things correctly. I would seize an opportunity and be that bit more unorthodox. It worked for me although sometimes I would have my good and bad games.”

Being a local player Yorston carried the burden of expectation that comes with being one of Aberdeen’s own.

Quite often he would be criticised for not doing things ‘correctly’.

It was that style that made Yorston an exciting talent in his own right. In modern terms, Yorston would be a superstar. He had the lot; as well as being an accomplished international player, he also had the looks that saw him christened the ‘Golden Boy’ at Pittodrie.

In 1949/50 Harry finished as the Dons’ top scorer with 17 goals from 35 appearances, a feat he repeated in 1952 with 25 from 37 matches.

By 1953 the Dons side had changed beyond all recognition from the ageing cup winners of 1947 and Yorston was to play a vital role in the side that was on the threshold of success, although it was achieved when his boyhood hero George Hamilton was winding down a memorable career.

“George was a legend and he never got the credit and the caps to salute his talent. He was a fabulous player and he could do anything with a ball; he could score with either foot and was marvellous in the air. He was also fearless; the ultimate player and he was a tremendous role model.”

Aberdeen reached successive Scottish Cup finals in 1953 and 1954 only to lose both to the Old Firm which was a huge disappointment for the club. In the 1953 final against Rangers it was Yorston’s superb equaliser that set the Dons up for their best chance to lift the cup but they would lose in a replay:

“Rangers lost their ‘keeper through injury and when I managed to score we thought that we could go on and win the game.

Despite the pressure and chances created it just wasn’t our day and after the 1-1 draw we knew our best chance of winning had gone.”

Despite the dejection felt at not winning the cup, Aberdeen bounced back by taking the club’s first championship in 1955.

“We set off that season with a new team formed and after we had made a tremendous start to the league season I joked with some of the lads that if we kept this going we could be league champions! Some of them laughed but I knew that if we could get a run together then we would take some stopping.

“We were confident and we went into every game expecting to win. In that era we had Paddy Buckley, Graham Leggat and Jackie Hather; all very quick players. We would hit sides on the break which was virtually unheard of back then.”

As Aberdeen were enjoying more success, international recognition followed and Yorston won his one and only cap for Scotland in a 1-0 win over Wales in Cardiff on 16th October 1954. After helping Aberdeen to the title and the League Cup in 1955, it seemed that Yorston and the Dons could do little wrong.

They went into the League Cup Final against St Mirren in October 1955 as the only undefeated team in Britain that season and would bring the cup back to Aberdeen after a famous 2-1 win.

After manager Dave Halliday left the club that year and the Dons were overlooked to take part in the new European Champions Cup, there then set in a slow decline in club fortunes as that great championship side began to break up.

While the likes of captain jimmy Mitchell saw the years catch up with him and injury finally ended the careers of the likes of Paddy Buckley, Harry Yorston stunned the club by announcing he was retiring from the game at the age of 28 to take up employment as a fish market porter in the thriving fishing industry in Aberdeen.

The reason given by Harry at the time was purely for financial as despite Aberdeen players being paid around £20 per week, which was as good as anything in British football, it was not as much as could be earned in the more lucrative fish markets in the city.

Long before the days of the EEC and fish quotas, the North Sea provided a comfortable living for those fortunate enough to be involved as market porters back then.

Others suggested that the years of criticism had weighed heavily on Harry and that he took the chance to begin a new career at still a relatively young age.

He had achieved a lot with Aberdeen as a player and also played for his country at the highest level.

The original ‘pin up’ of the 1950s it was no doubt a great shock for the club when Yorston decided to give up professional football.

Harry continued to play in the Highland League for some years before his luck continued in the 1970s when he won a considerable sum of money on the football pools. In an Aberdeen career that spanned 11 years, Harry Yorston played 277 competitive games for the Dons, scoring an impressive 141 goals.

Harry Yorston passed away in 1995.