The Dons first European game was in September 1967. However Aberdeen should have competed in Europe a decade before. In 1955 Aberdeen won their first League Championship but controversially failed to gain entry into the newly formed Champions Cup. They would have to wait 12 years later to enter the European arena and wait a quarter of century before they could play in the continents top competition.
 
 
 
The 1956 European Cup
 
In its heyday the European Champions Cup as it was called brought together the respective league champions of all European nations into a straight knockout competition with only early round seeds keeping the big guns apart. It certainly offered greater opportunity for the lesser lights to make history. Of course television money and the growing influence of the bigger clubs, who risked losing revenue, ensured that Europe’s premier competition would be changed forever.
 
Back in 1955 when the first European Cup competition came into being, it was Aberdeen who found themselves on the outside look in as some of Europe’s finest got the European Cup off to a great start.   
 
As league champions that year Aberdeen were now keen on the new competition that had been mooted for several months. The idea of a European league may have seemed like a million miles away from most people in 1955 but the reality was that the birth of the new European Cup arrived that year. The competition first came to the fore in January 1955 when all of the leading football nations were invited to nominate a side to play in the new competition at a meeting in Paris.
 
The SFA were not in attendance at that inaugural meeting, suggesting that the governing body were adopting a lukewarm approach to the new concept. It is difficult to defend the attitude that prevailed at the time—if Scotland had learned anything from the World Cup in 1954 then it was surely that the country had fallen way behind some of the emerging nations. Instead of embracing new horizons the European Cup was given scant attention form the mainstream of the game in Scotland. A further meeting of FIFA wholly endorsed the new competition and it was named ‘The European Champions Clubs Cup’.
 
The respective league champions from the competing countries would compete for the cup, but only from season 1955-56. Quite rightly Aberdeen expected to be put forward to represent Scotland. As league champions they had emerged as the best combine in the land and their involvement was keenly anticipated.
 
However, it soon became clear that other factors were at work. Harry Swan the Hibernian chairman had been very much involved in the initial talks and was keen to see Scottish involvement. While his approach was all very laudable, the fact that a loophole in the initial rules allowed any side to be put forward meant that there was bad news for Aberdeen. Swan was also by chance the President of the SFA and it can be assumed that his forceful lobbying pushed his own side forward in to the first year of the European Cup. While the Champions League as it is known today comes under some criticism due to so many clubs qualifying that are not league champions, the irony is that in its’ inaugural year, only around half of the 16 competing nations were represented by their league winners.
 
Hibernian had finished fifth in the table with Aberdeen out of sight on their Edinburgh rivals, yet it was Swan’s own Hibernian side that would compete in the first European Cup.
 
Aberdeen maintained a diplomatic silence throughout the whole sorry affair—they had been badly treated and even the SFA glossed over the matter in their minutes taken at their meeting in July—“The Union of European Football Associations.
 
The secretary reported having attended a meeting of the Executive Committee of UEFA in Paris on 21^st June 1955, at which its principal business was the Trophy for European Associations. Hibernian FC whose acceptance was intimated, applied for permission to take part and the committee decided in the circumstances decided not to exercise their right to nominate a club but to allow Hibernian FC to compete this season.”
 
In effect the SFA had the power to put forward the league champions, which in this instance was Aberdeen, but chose to ignore the Dons claims and allowed Hibernian to go forward to compete. All of this was kept away from the players and the supporters. In these days of intense media scrutiny, this whole matter would have been out in the public domain and decisions taken behind closed doors would have been opened up for debate. Graham Leggat recalled—“We were quite oblivious to what was going on. In hindsight it would have been fantastic to play in, but at the time it was all new so to us it was no big deal at the time.”
 
On reflection Aberdeen were treated very poorly and although the clubs integrity remained unblemished, other parties involved came out of the matter with no credit.
It was on the back of this news and the squabbling the Aberdeen players had over unpaid bonuses for winning the league, that manager Dave Halliday would be leaving Aberdeen to take over as manager at Leicester City.
 
This move was a bombshell for Aberdeen and totally unexpected. He was to take up his post on July 1^st 1955. Why would Halliday leave after 17 years in charge? He had achieved what many observers thought impossible and took Aberdeen to the their first league title. The structure of the club was sound, there was money in the bank and the Dons stood on the threshold of further success.
 
Dons keeper Reggie Morrison recalled that the European snub and players’ bonus dispute had any bearing on Halliday’s decision, he answered—“Without doubt. Halliday was a man of great integrity and a true gentleman. I was convinced that those difficulties had a bearing on his decision to leave. The fact that he was also refused a modest pay rise after winning the championship had a lot to do with his decision. It was a great disappointment to all of us who looked upon Dave Halliday for guidance and he was someone we respected.” Publicly Halliday cited the opportunity to take Leicester back to the First Division in England as the motivating force behind his move. Writing in the Sunday Post some two years after his move Halliday commented—“My best friends were shocked to learn that I was leaving Aberdeen. I was well established at Pittodrie, we had come through some difficult times and I had helped put Aberdeen on the football map by taking them to the championship. What more could I want? A lot of this was true and I was happy in Aberdeen, but he is a poor man who ceases to have ambition and is not prepared to take a risk. I did not apply for the post but when I was invited south to discuss the matter, I mentioned this to Aberdeen chairman William Mitchell who agreed I should go and talk to Leicester.”
 
The defence of the Dons title began in sensational style as Aberdeen eclipsed Hibernian 6-2 in a whirlwind start. The only disappointment for the support was the decision to defer the unfurling of the league flag. The reason given was because Aberdeen chairman Mitchell was unable to attend the match. It seems that such a scenario would not be allowed today—such a prestigious event would never be deferred just because the cub chairman could not make it. The result at Pittodrie made a complete mockery of the decision to allow Hibernian entry in to the forthcoming European Cup. Aberdeen made the Edinburgh side look second rate and had it not been for some poor finishing the result could have been more embarrassing for the visitors.
 
Alex Young the Hearts centre of the time he recalled playing against the Dons—“To be honest we feared Aberdeen. They were that good. Make no mistake we had a good side ourselves as we went on to prove, but in 1955 Aberdeen were awesome. They scared teams before games as we knew just how quick they were up front. If we did manage to get through their defence was a helluva tough lot to play against.” While the Hearts support vented their frustration at the Aberdeen players throughout their mauling, Hearts manager Tommy Walker congratulated the Dons players in the away dressing room after the game. Walker stated that his cub was proud holders of the trophy and hoped that Aberdeen would go on and be worth winners at Hampden. Aberdeen had adopted a hoodoo like grip over both the Edinburgh sides. Not since 1950 had the Dons been defeated in a cup competition by either Hearts or Hibernian in a run of 12 cup-ties. It seemed that envy had caught up in Edinburgh as one unnamed former Hearts player called the Dons ‘phoney’. “A compact team?” he challenged, “Maybe so, but a team that fires on only three forward cylinders were lucky. The Dons rely on a territorial blockade aided by three tearaway forwards, who as it happens are having luck with their finishing. The tactics of a team like Aberdeen are being forced upon opposition al over the country and must of necessity alter the course of football science.” It seemed that Aberdeen had certainly ruffled a few feathers in the football world. The inevitable comparisons were then measured against the successful Hibernian side in the early part of the decade along with that of the present day Aberdeen. The Hibernian philosophy of playing up to seven players in offensive positions often bore fruit and was also pleasing to the spectator. However the methodical approach by Aberdeen was proving successful by way of results. Perhaps Scottish football witnessed the first club to have been successful through tactical awareness as much as natural ability. The ‘gung-ho’ approach of Hibernian was soon to become a thing of the past, as they were to learn in their privileged position in the European Cup.
 
For the record Hibernian reached the semi final of the new European Cup going down to Stade Reims who lost out to Real Madrid in the Paris final. Eddie Turnbull had the claim to fame of being the first British player to score in Europe.
 
As one of the best clubs in the UK at the time, the Dons had beaten English Champions Chelsea in a friendly, it can only be imagined what Aberdeen were possible of had they been given the chance to compete. The Dons history could have looked very different.
 
In that final it was Real Madrid that began their own European dynasty that included the great Alfredo Di Stefano. Ironically in 1983 it the great man who was manager of Real who lost to Aberdeen in the final of the European Cup Winners Cup. It could have been very different for Aberdeen as they may have come across the Madrid maestros all those years ago had it not been for a clever piece of manipulation that prevented the Dons entering the European arena 12 years before they first competed in 1967.