Dons clinch 2nd European trophy

30 years ago, Aberdeen defeated the European Cup holders, Hamburg to win the Super Cup in the second leg of the tie at Pittodrie. It capped a remarkable year for The Dons & one which will be forever remembered by The Red Army. Victory in the Super Cup clinched Aberdeen’s second European trophy- the first & so far only club in Scotland to have achieved that.

One of the goal scorers on the night was Neil Simpson and he recently reflected on the game for RedMatchday:

“With Sir Alex it was another trophy that could be won so we went flat out to win the Super Cup. I seem to remember there was quite a bit of time between the two games, a good couple of weeks and also Hamburg were playing in the Intercontinental World Cup as well, so it was quite a challenge to find dates to get the games played as we were both in the middle of our seasons.

“Archie Knox used to go over and watch the opponents. Then we’d get two A4 sheets of all the players and their strengths and weaknesses. The sheets were typed up, I am not even sure the club had a photocopier at the time, so the club secretary would have to type up the sheets 15 times! So we knew all about the Hamburg players we would be facing. We also had tapes of their games, I think they were old betamax tapes! We would watch these on the bus to away games. Sir Alex and Archie were very well organised and tactically very astute. They knew exactly how they wanted us to play against them. They told us how to set up for set pieces, for and against, and could pick out their strengths and weaknesses. Everything was quite high tech for the time.

“They had Felix Magath in their side who was one of the best players in Europe at the time. I can’t exactly remember what my instructions were that night but I’m pretty sure I would have been told to pay special attention to him.

“In the away leg, we put in a very good defensive performance, similar to the one against Bayern in the Cup Winners Cup. They did have a few chances, but so did we. I seem to remember Mark McGhee had a good chance and so did Peter Weir.

“I have great memories of playing in the two legs and I was fortunate enough to score in the second leg at Pittodrie which was an unbelievable feeling. It was a great goal as well, I drove it into the far post! No, basically I made a run into the box. Peter Weir had taken on the full-back and left him for dead. Peter was superb that night and was rightly named man of the match. He put in a great cross and I think John Hewitt had gone to meet it but missed the ball and it rebounded off the defender. The ball came right back to me but came between my legs and I swivelled and saw a gap in the corner and I put it in. If you watch the goal again, look closely and you will see that Mark McGhee lands on a guy and stops him from getting up and blocking the shot!

“I was fortunate enough to score in all the big European games at Pittodrie in 1983. I scored against Bayern in the quarter-final of the Cup Winners’ Cup, I scored against Waterschei in the semi-final and against Hamburg in the Super Cup. I had a great chance to score in the final against Real Madrid as well. It is a quiz question because I think there are only three Scottish players who have scored in the quarter, semi and final of a European trophy in the same year. I am one of them if you count the Super Cup as a final. Kenny Dalglish was one of the two others.

“We went for a few drinks after the game but as we had a game on the Saturday, there were no wild celebrations. People say it is only the Super Cup, but it is still a European trophy and Aberdeen are still the only Scottish side to win two European trophies. It was a great honour for the club and something all the players are proud to have been involved in”.

You can read much more on The Dons’ Super Cup victory in the bumper festive edition of RedMatchday, on sale at both the Motherwell & Ross County games and in the club shop prior to Christmas.

Match fact file

Aberdeen 2 | Simpson 47′, McGhee 64′

Hamburg 0 |

UEFA Super Cup, 2nd leg | Pittodrie | 20th December 1983 | Att: 22,500

Aberdeen team | Leighton, McKimmie, McMaster, Simpson, McLeish, Miller, Strachan, Hewitt (Black), Bell, Weir

Hamburg team | Stein, Kaltz (Hanson), Wehmeyer, Jakobs, Hieronymous, Hartwig, Schroder, Groh, Schatzschneider (Wuttke), Magath, Roff

Referee | H Brummeirer (Austria)

REDTV

The first half | please click here

The second half | please click here

Match Highlights | please click here

Highlights of the first leg | please click here