Everyone at Aberdeen FC was saddened to learn of the passing of John Clark.

A Celtic legend and a Lisbon Lion, John played over 300 games for the Glasgow club and won 15 major honours, including the European Cup. The defender also earned four international caps for Scotland.

After retiring, John became Aberdeen Assistant Manager under former team-mate Billy McNeill. He also managed Cowdenbeath, Stranraer and Clyde.

A hugely respected and popular figure in the Scottish game, John was always given a warm welcome when he returned to Pittodrie during his 20 years as Celtic’s kit man.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time.

Aberdeen director, and former player Willie Garner paid this tribute to the Dons’ former assistant manager.

“John Clark was a good man, a really nice guy.

“As an assistant manager he was quite quiet, but very effective.

“Billy McNeill and John came in just after Ally MacLeod took the Scotland job. They signed Stevie Archibald and wee Gordon Strachan as well, although Gordon did not play a lot of games that season.

“Billy and John were completely different characters.

“Billy was one of those guys, who had a real presence when he walked into a room. John was the opposite. In training, although Billy would take most of it, John was the one who would go around and speak to the players one on one. He would say, ‘This is what you need to do.’ It was the exact same in games, where Billy would do the team talk and John would come and sit beside you and give you your instructions for the day.

“He was a good coach and very knowledgeable about the game. He was very personal in terms of the information he gave you.

“We should have won the league that season. We should have won the Scottish Cup as well, as I believe we were the better team. John and Billy, even in a short period of time, changed things from Ally.

“They had been very successful players, and they instilled real discipline into the players and it became a great environment to play in.

“John was also involved in taking me to Celtic, so I worked with him at a couple of clubs. He was actually the one who phoned me to ask me to join after Alex Ferguson agreed I could move on from here. As at Aberdeen, the management team worked the same way. Billy was the boss and John would just subtly get into the players.

“In more recent years I would often see John at Celtic Park and he would always have time to have a chat with you.

“A lovely man.”

1977/78

Billy and John may only have been in charge at Pittodrie for a season, but along with Teddy Scott, they laid the foundations for what followed, paving the way for a young Alex Ferguson to take over at Pittodrie.

It was an incredible season that so nearly led to glory.

Here is a look back at 1977/78….

THE MANAGEMENT TEAM

After finishing his playing career in 1975, Billy McNeill moved into management and cut his teeth with Clyde before Aberdeen made a move for the Lisbon Lion after Ally MacLeod left Aberdeen to take up the Scotland job. Many observers were surprised that Aberdeen made McNeill their first choice to replace MacLeod as he had yet to prove himself as a manager. His reputation as a player and captain was unsurpassed, but many believed that taking on a big job like Aberdeen came too early in his coaching career. Aberdeen had taken the view that a young emerging manager, keen to establish himself was the ideal candidate. There would always be an element of risk, but the only real success as a manager at Pittodrie since the Dave Halliday era was a young Eddie Turnbull, who had revolutionised the Pittodrie set up in the late 1960’s. McNeill ticked all the Aberdeen boxes as a young manager with a burning desire to succeed. Billy would take his former team-mate John Clark as his assistant. Clark became a coach with Celtic in 1973, working with the reserve team.

THE PLAYERS   

With a new manager in place there were always going to be changes in the offing at Pittodrie.

New boss McNeill proved to be very astute in the transfer market. In his short spell, he made two of the most significant signings of the modern era. His first capture was a young Steve Archibald as he went back to Clyde where his managerial career began. The Dons paid £20,000 for the former car mechanic who would go on to play for Barcelona.

Then McNeill swooped for Dundee youngster Gordon Strachan in a deal that took Jim Shirra to Dens Park along with a £40,000 fee. It was a clever piece of business by McNeill; he identified the lack of creativity in his side signing Strachan to solve it would prove to be one of the best transfer deals ever for Aberdeen.

McNeill also turned to youth as well as the established players in the side. Building on Joe Harper, Bobby Clark, Stuart Kennedy and Willie Miller, all established Scotland internationals, McNeill gave a debut to a young Alex McLeish. In the days when players could be bought and sold at any time in the season, McNeill strengthened late on by securing winger Ian Scanlon from Notts County. Aberdeen also signed full-back Steve Ritchie from the lower leagues in England. McNeill appreciated the squad he had inherited and his fine tuning turned his side into genuine title contenders. The squad contained no less than ten past, current and future full Scotland internationals as the foundations were laid for future success.

THE LEAGUE

The new boss got off to a flier with a 3-1 opening day win over Rangers. The league developed into a two-horse race with the Dons and Rangers going head-to-head.

In December, Aberdeen produced their finest display of the season, hammering leaders Rangers 4-0 at Pittodrie on Christmas Eve. The rampant Dons outclassed their Glasgow rivals and proved that there was a real title race.

Aberdeen went on an unbeaten run of 23 games that took them so close to the title.

What let the Dons down was several drawn games, most significantly at Ayr United, Motherwell and Dundee United. Unfortunately for Aberdeen, while they were beating Rangers when they clashed, others could not come close to them to give Aberdeen a chance and by the time the Dons thumped the Ibrox side 3-0 in Glasgow in March, they were still chasing. It all came down to the final day as Aberdeen had to win while Rangers lost; the Dons were at Easter Road while Motherwell visited Ibrox. Rangers won 2-0 and took the league by two points.

On reflection it was a gallant effort.

Aberdeen finished runners up, 13 points ahead of third place Dundee United and 17 ahead of Celtic. In the days of two points for a win, it was a fantastic effort by Billy McNeill and his team.

EUROPE

Aberdeen returned to Europe after a three year absence and came up against Belgian side RWD Molenbeek in the UEFA Cup.

Aberdeen travelled to the Edmond Machten Stadium in Brussels for the opening round. Despite some early nervy moments, the Dons grew into the game after a torrid opening spell and enjoyed a good spell midway through the first half when Duncan Davidson was prevented from opening the scoring on two occasions. Just before the break, a great free-kick from Boskamp hit the post to the relief of Bobby Clark. Molenbeek continued to press in the second half but it was Aberdeen who came nearest to scoring when Joe Harper lobbed substitute keeper Leonard only for Duman to scramble the ball off the line.

A 26,000 crowd gathered at Pittodrie for the return match hoping that Aberdeen would finish the job on home soil. However, the Belgian side were adept at controlling possession and hitting on the break.

After a tense first half with the tie still level, the Dons went behind on 46 minutes. Willie Miller failed to connect with a cross and Gorez headed Molenbeek into the lead to shock the Dons. Aberdeen had to score twice after conceding the away goal and, although they came storming back in the tie, it looked a lost cause until Jarvie scored with 12 minutes left after Rutters’ punched clearance fell nicely for the Dons striker.

Aberdeen threw everything at the Belgians but they just couldn’t make the breakthrough and fell to a classic sucker punch with six minutes left when Wellens scored as the Dons had committed players upfield. It was a hard lesson for Aberdeen and manager McNeill noted the deficiencies in his side: “They were so comfortable on the ball and their running without it made it difficult for us.”

LEAGUE CUP

As holders, there was additional pressure on Aberdeen as they began their defence of their trophy.

After progress was made against Airdrie, the Dons looked to have an easy enough task against Cowdenbeath. With the tournament now changing to two-leg ties as the old groups were done away with, the merits of a straight knockout tie were still lost to the League Cup. Aberdeen had hammered the Fife side 5-0 at Pittodrie, yet still had to face what was effectively a meaningless return tie at Central Park.

Aberdeen repeated their nap hand against a poor Cowdenbeath side in the second leg with Joe Harper scoring another hat-trick. It was also reported that Harper had broken the Dons all-time scoring record in the first leg. This was an error by a local journalist who had claimed that Harry Yorston’s 172-goal record was broken by Harper. This was cleared up by the club some years later. Facing Aberdeen was former keeper Ernie McGarr who was given little protection from his defence as Aberdeen cruised to a comfortable win for a 10-0 aggregate result.

The Dons faced Rangers in the next round and were hammered 6-1 at Ibrox in their darkest moment of the season. Aberdeen won the second leg at home 3-1, but it was not enough.

SCOTTISH CUP

On the way to the final, Aberdeen defeated Ayr United 2-0 at Pittodrie in a game that was originally postponed and eventually played in dreadful conditions. St Johnstone were beaten 3-0 before another home tie suggested Aberdeen’s route to the semi-final was relatively straightforward. Morton were in the First Division at the time and when Drew Jarvie scored the Dons’ second goal with five minutes to play, it looked all over. However two late goals from the visitors stunned Aberdeen.

That made for a tricky replay at Cappielow but Aberdeen showed their class and held their nerve to progress to the last four. Aberdeen were then faced with playing a stuffy Partick Thistle three times in nine days with the semi-final completing the three match sequence. Aberdeen won all three with relative ease which kept up their league challenge and made sure their place in the final was assured.

The final was the day the Dons famously froze.

Perhaps that’s a bit harsh on an Aberdeen side that had looked imperious against their rivals Rangers, but in the final, the Dons fell short and never did themselves justice. A poor final was typified by a freakish goal from Steve Ritchie which summed up the Dons’ day.

Scoring a goal in a Scottish Cup Final would usually be the highlight of most careers. It’s true that Steve Ritchie would never rank among the greatest to play for the Dons – the £10,000 paid by manager Billy McNeill to Hereford in 1977 was seen as appropriate. Ritchie was a journeyman defender who filled the problem left-back role at Aberdeen in McNeill’s only season in charge at Pittodrie.

Ritchie’s last minute miss-hit cross/shot dropped into the goal with Rangers keeper Peter McCloy swinging from the crossbar. It was comical to say the least, but it was Aberdeen who were left to rue a missed opportunity. Despite 4-0 and 3-0 wins over Rangers in their previous two meetings, Aberdeen went down 2-1 when it really mattered.

It was a final that would haunt Aberdeen for a sometime.

Billy McNeill openly admitted that he loved life in the north east and that he regretted leaving Aberdeen after only one season. McNeill and Aberdeen both went on to enjoy future success with Aberdeen of course entering their golden era under Alex Ferguson.

THE PROGRAMME

Aberdeen stayed with their ‘Pittodrie Review’ printed by Scottapress in Aberdeen. The 16 page issue was along familiar lines since the club had changed the look in 1975. With only the front and back cover in red with overprinted black print, it was certainly a basic issue but very similar to other Scottish club issues of the time. Reading content was sparse, but the regular ‘Managers Page’ was always the lead feature. 1977/78 saw a slight change in the cover design with photos split on the cover. Regular features like ‘Player of the Season’ and Teddy Scott’s page were the main interest.

THE STRIP

The final season the club used their Admiral kits with the distinctive white stripes that ran through the shirt and the shorts. The design was never really that popular but will always be synonymous with the 1976 League Cup side. The only real change during the Admiral years was to the away kit. For the first time, the club tried to go back to their roots with the yellow and black second kit, derived from the Black & Gold era before the war. In 1978, the club changed to a white shirt with red shorts for their away strip as the all yellow one was changed.

Notes:

High spots: Arrival of rookie boss Billy McNeill as manager from Clyde and John Clark.

Impressive start with 3-1 win over Rangers and one point dropped in first 6 games.

Joe Harper becomes all-time top scorer with 173 goals when he scored against

Cowdenbeath in the League Cup at Pittodrie.

Gordon Strachan joins Dons in £40,000 deal with Jim Shirra going to Dundee.

Christmas Eve demolition of Rangers (4-0) as Dons title challenge gains momentum.

Alex McLeish makes debut in New Year v Dundee Utd.

Steve Archibald signed from Craig Brown’s Clyde in bargain £20,000 transfer.

102 goals scored from 50 competitive games.

Only one home defeat all season in 24 games.

Stuart Kennedy, Willie Miller and Joe Harper selected for World Cup squad.

Stuart Kennedy capped: plays in two World Cup ties, Harper also came on v Iran.

Aberdeen ’A’ win the Scottish 2nd XI Cup.

Low points: Close-season loss of winger Arthur Graham to Leeds Utd.

Club record defeat (1-6) at Ibrox in League Cup.

Dons crash out of the UEFA Cup, losing at home after creditable draw in Belgium.

Aberdeen ‘freeze’ in Cup final after 23-game unbeaten run, first defeat of 1978.

Loss of league title on last day of the season, as Rangers pip the Dons.

Ever-presents: (2) Bobby Clark, Willie Miller.

Hat-tricks: (6) Joe Harper 3, Drew Jarvie, Dave Robb, Ian Fleming

Leading scorer: (27) Joe Harper.