Willie Garner was part of the Aberdeen team that won the Scottish League Cup in 1976/77 and the Scottish Premier Division in 1979/80. The defender would return to Pittodrie to be Alex Ferguson’s Assistant Manager at Pittodrie between 1984 and 1986. He recently spoke at length to RedTV about his career and his relationship with the Dons greatest ever manager as part of our countdown to Sir Alex Ferguson’s homecoming this weekend. To watch the feature please click on the red button.

“Having played under and then worked with Sir Alex as his assistant manager, I witnessed, in many ways, how he functioned as a manager.

“As a player, you were well aware of his drive, his enthusiasm and his incredible desire to succeed. He could be unorthodox at times in his management style, and he had undoubted coaching ability. He was on the training pitch at every session, either running it or offering insights when required. As a manager he was incredibly focused, and he knew what he wanted.

“He also knew how to get the very best out of players. His legendary ‘hairdryer’ certainly worked for many, but he also knew who needed something other than that to get them to perform, and he ultimately knew what that something else was. He had great knowledge of the opposition and went to great lengths to ensure his team were prepared as best they could be for whatever the challenge. A mixture of all this produced very successful teams.

“Working as his assistant was totally different. He was a workaholic, and he expected his staff to be the same, which I thrived on. As a player, you came in at a certain time, you trained at a specific place which was always set out for that day’s training, you trained, got showered and went home. As a member of his coaching team, you were in much earlier than the players, you had written down every day what the session would look like and what you wanted to achieve, you would run that past Sir Alex, and without fail he would tweak it.

“We would then decide where we were training, and at that time it was a choice between Seaton Park, the Army Barracks at Bridge of Don or the University playing fields at Bridge of Don, and I would load the ground staff and the training gear, balls, bibs and cones into the minibus and drive to where we decided and then set up the pitches – we had portable goals at these sites. I would then go back to Pittodrie and pick up the players.

“Remembering in those days there was a manager, an assistant me, a coach in Teddy Scott, and a physio, not like the gang that sit on benches nowadays. At the end of the session, it was all dismantled in a reverse operation. Sir Alex and I would then discuss which game we were going to watch that night.

“That happened four days a week. His insight into our own players, opposition players and playing styles was incredible, and we would discuss this for hours. He also dealt with the media and the press, which was entertaining at times.

“Overall, he was the most driven person I have ever met, never afraid to make difficult decisions if he felt that necessary. He was first to praise and first to criticise. He was a winner, no doubt, and did a huge amount for Aberdeen Football Club.”