The best team in Europe in 1983

[anderson72]

At my work having a conversation/ argument about Aberdeen being the best team in Europe in 1983.

 

A Liverpool fan and Newcastle fan, just can't believe we where the best team in Europe then, beating Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Hamburg amongst others to win the Cup Winners Cup and the Super Cup.

 

They say both cups are Mickley Mouse cups, and we didn't even win our league then.

Simply in my eyes we beat all that was in front of us, and that led us to beat the winners of the European Cup winners,  what more can we you ask.

[Mr John]

I'd like to ask for decent grammar and punctuation so my eyes don't bleed when I read stuff that's actually decent content-wise. But having watched us play shite football for the last few seasons, I'm dictating this to Stevie Wonder's keytar.

[aberdeen1970]

9 minutes ago, anderson72 said:

At my work having a conversation/ argument about Aberdeen being the best team in Europe in 1983.

 

A Liverpool fan and Newcastle fan, just can't believe we where the best team in Europe then, beating Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Hamburg amongst others to win the Cup Winners Cup and the Super Cup.

 

They say both cups are Mickley Mouse cups, and we didn't even win our league then.

Simply in my eyes we beat all that was in front of us, and that led us to beat the winners of the European Cup winners,  what more can we you ask.

Poor fishing attempt min

[strachanmcgheegoal]

1 hour ago, anderson72 said:

At my work having a conversation/ argument about Aberdeen being the best team in Europe in 1983.

 

A Liverpool fan and Newcastle fan, just can't believe we where the best team in Europe then, beating Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Hamburg amongst others to win the Cup Winners Cup and the Super Cup.

 

They say both cups are Mickley Mouse cups, and we didn't even win our league then.

Simply in my eyes we beat all that was in front of us, and that led us to beat the winners of the European Cup winners,  what more can we you ask.

1pt at (think) Morton in April for the league and/or that little Porto fucker’s hamstring to go when they broke in 84.  Cunt.

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Also suspect your plastic Teflon Liverpool and Newcastle lads didn’t notice Ipswich, Nottingham or Villa either.

[anderson72]

It was a brilliant as a loon growing up at that time, so spoilt with success.

What a buzz in Aberdeen at the time.

Went to the Semi final of the ECWC with my Dad.

[Ten Caat]

49 minutes ago, strachanmcgheegoal said:

1pt at (think) Morton in April for the league and/or that little Porto fucker’s hamstring to go when they broke in 84.  Cunt.

Nah we beat Morton 2-1 away at the end of March.

What cost us the league was a combination of a shitload of injuries suffered in the second half of that season (obv prioritising CWC) plus 2 defeats in successive weeks at the start of April....at home to St Mirren and away to oldco.......the home leg v Waterschei was sandwiched right inbetween. A draw against either would still have seen us only finish as runners up by 3 goals

[Lan_Lad]

The English simply never give any regard to Scottish football. The reality is that during  most of the 80's and into the 90's, prior to Sky pumping oceans of cash into English football, the top Scottish sides were more than a match for anything they had down there.

Even now when without a doubt Scottish football is nothing like comparable to the EPL it's still not as easy as they think it is to win games in this league. Not for anybody even including the OF. I'm more than confident most EPL sides too would find trying to break down the two banks of 5 away to Livi etc. more than challenging.

[Guest milne_afc]

2 hours ago, anderson72 said:

At my work having a conversation/

Sounds horrible 

[Sheepo]

28 minutes ago, Lan_Lad said:

The English simply never give any regard to Scottish football. The reality is that during  most of the 80's and into the 90's

That will be why the Top English teams back then were full of Scottish players then

[Lan_Lad]

22 minutes ago, Sheepo said:

That will be why the Top English teams back then were full of Scottish players then

When Nottingham Forest won their second consecutive European cup in 1980 there were 4 Scots in the starting 11 with a 5th on the bench. The four starting Scots were John McGovern who was the captain of the side. Plus Kenny Burns, Frank Gray and John Robertson with John O'Hare on the bench.

Not even mentioning the Liverpool sides that were dominating Europe littered with Scots like Dalglish, Hansen and Souness. 

 

[Sheepo]

1 minute ago, Lan_Lad said:

When Nottingham Forest won their second consecutive European cup in 1980 there were 4 Scots in the starting 11 with a 5th on the bench. The four starting Scots were John McGovern who was the captain of the side. Plus Kenny Burns, Frank Gray and John Robertson with John O'Hare on the bench.

Not even mentioning the Liverpool sides that were dominating Europe littered with Scots like Dalglish, Hansen and Souness. 

 

Exactly so your statement that the English didn't give any regard to Scottish football is Incorrect

[Lan_Lad]

2 minutes ago, Sheepo said:

Exactly so your statement that the English didn't give any regard to Scottish football is Incorrect

Scottish players in England aren't Scottish football, the league is Scottish football. In addition I said never give not never gave. But the fact is even back then they scoffed at Scottish football. Speaking of Nottingham Forest reminds of hearing Brian Clough speaking in a derogatory fashion about the English players who were moving to Ibrox during the early Sourness era. The gist of it was they're going to play in a backwater.

[afc1903mad]

26 minutes ago, Lan_Lad said:

Scottish players in England aren't Scottish football, the league is Scottish football. In addition I said never give not never gave. But the fact is even back then they scoffed at Scottish football. Speaking of Nottingham Forest reminds of hearing Brian Clough speaking in a derogatory fashion about the English players who were moving to Ibrox during the early Sourness era. The gist of it was they're going to play in a backwater.

They moved to Ibrokes because of the Heysel disaster.

Doubt Souness could have encouraged them to come otherwise

[Scotty_Toronto]

Here you go...

"Aberdeen were voted 'European Team of the Year' by France Football and Adidas in recognition of their achievements in 1983."

[ericblack4boss]

Dundee United were ranked in the top 10 for most successful European club sides for that decade

I'm pretty sure the highest placed British club 

[The Buzzard]

6 hours ago, Scotty_Toronto said:

Here you go...

"Aberdeen were voted 'European Team of the Year' by France Football and Adidas in recognition of their achievements in 1983."

I can't remember if I have asked this before on here or not. Does anyone have any recollection of an advertisement in magazines like Shoot that was a cartoon drawing of a squad of players from across Europe which was like a squad photograph?

I think it must have been for Adidas and Willie Miller was illustrated alongside a number of other big name European players. 

It just showed how we were very much part of the elite teams back then. 

[muttonhumper]

15 hours ago, Ten Caat said:

Nah we beat Morton 2-1 away at the end of March.

What cost us the league was a combination of a shitload of injuries suffered in the second half of that season (obv prioritising CWC) plus 2 defeats in successive weeks at the start of April....at home to St Mirren and away to oldco.......the home leg v Waterschei was sandwiched right inbetween. A draw against either would still have seen us only finish as runners up by 3 goals

 

The Dundee United game at Pittodrie 4 days after the 3-2 v Bayern.

Lost 2-1, Ralph Milne shot hit the underside of the bar and landed barely over the line.

That shot is an inch and a half higher, then we win the league.

Pretty fine margins. ?

 

[strachanmcgheegoal]

That’s the one.  I knew there was one Match that, with hindsight, was the clincher.  Would I change it though?  Fuck no.  That would make us Utd.

[Jocky Balboa]

Here's a hypothetical for you;

Arguably fighting on all 3 fronts got us the Scottish Cup and ECWC, but also cost us the league in 1983, allowing Dundee United to pip us to the title by a tiny margin. They were subsequently 90 mins away from the European Cup final, winning the first leg against Roma comfortably, before caving in the Olympic stadium (I read somewhere the referee was bribed, but Jim McLean conceded their performance was poor on the night). 

If we had held on for the league in 1983, could we have gone a step further and at least made the final, possibly beating the dirty Scouse bastards? With the defence we had, it's hard to imagine us losing 3 goals away to Roma, considering we bested Bayern, Real and Hamburg (who themselves kept a clean sheet to beat Juventus to the EC) and McLeish and Miller kept Hansen out the Scotland team. 

In a one-off final, who knows? A lot of people say 1986 was our best shot at being European champions, but I think 1984 is up there as well.

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Ecwc in 84 would have sufficed.  We’d have spoken about the 80’s for decades.

[qeqiwugu]

On 5/16/2021 at 9:53 PM, milne_afc said:

.Sounds horrible 

??

[Matt Armstrong's Dog]

13 hours ago, Jocky Balboa said:

Here's a hypothetical for you;

Arguably fighting on all 3 fronts got us the Scottish Cup and ECWC, but also cost us the league in 1983, allowing Dundee United to pip us to the title by a tiny margin. They were subsequently 90 mins away from the European Cup final, winning the first leg against Roma comfortably, before caving in the Olympic stadium (I read somewhere the referee was bribed, but Jim McLean conceded their performance was poor on the night). 

If we had held on for the league in 1983, could we have gone a step further and at least made the final, possibly beating the dirty Scouse bastards? With the defence we had, it's hard to imagine us losing 3 goals away to Roma, considering we bested Bayern, Real and Hamburg (who themselves kept a clean sheet to beat Juventus to the EC) and McLeish and Miller kept Hansen out the Scotland team. 

In a one-off final, who knows? A lot of people say 1986 was our best shot at being European champions, but I think 1984 is up there as well.

1986 was by far our best chance to win the European Cup. The game at home to IFK Gothenburg still saddens me yet. Johnny Ekstrom, if I remember correctly, scored their equaliser in the the 90th minute to put them through on away goals. 

[Ten Caat]

By 1986, although we won the Cup double...........the team was starting to decline. Strachan, McGhee and Rougvie had all long gone, Black was dropped ruthlessly by Fergie later in the season for refusing to sign a new contract and Leighton was starting show some of the frailty that would eventually make his move to Man U such a fucking disaster.

Even if we had gotten through v Gothenburg, we would have drawn Barcelona in the semi's. Clydebank had beaten us that season and we finished the league in 4th position so I'm not overly convinced we would have progressed any further.  Archibald up against Miller and McLeish would have been interesting though

[Matt Armstrong's Dog]

1 minute ago, Ten Caat said:

By 1986, although we won the Cup double...........the team was starting to decline. Strachan, McGhee and Rougvie had all long gone, Black was dropped ruthlessly by Fergie later in the season for refusing to sign a new contract and Leighton was starting show some of the frailty that would eventually make his move to Man U such a fucking disaster.

Even if we had gotten through v Gothenburg, we would have drawn Barcelona in the semi's. Clydebank had beaten us that season and we finished the league in 4th position so I'm not overly convinced we would have progressed any further.  Archibald up against Miller and McLeish would have been interesting though

That's a fair summary, TC min, and we lost games against Clydebank away, Dundee United away (just before Christmas if I remember correctly) and the tims at Pittodrie (Mo Johnston scored that day, an absolute classless fucking mink) emphasised that fact about our decline. However, there was still enough quality in that team to win the European Cup in '86.

[tightbreeks]

Did anyone get a pair of adidas aberdeen fitba bits? The closest I got was a similar pair but no name. Grey soles, three silver stripes with red trim. Then got a pair of those nikes with the the big red Nike on the back. They got ditched for adidas Chile visse.