On his arrival at Pittodrie it didn’t take new manager Ally MacLeod long to realise he needed more goals in the team.

The Dons were the second lowest goal scorers in the newly formed Premier League. So Ally looked to Ayrshire but not to his former club Ayr United but to Kilmarnock to sign a striker, Ian Fleming.

Ian was the middle of three footballing brothers and he had formed a deadly partnership with Eddie Morrison in Kilmarnock’s 1973-74 promotion winning season. Having netted 36 goals that season, Ian followed this up with another 22 goals in the First Division the following year.

By the time Aberdeen came calling he had scored 65 goals in just over 100 appearances for Kilmarnock. A clever and enterprising centre forward, Ian was a deadly chance taker both on the ground and in the air. Ally MacLeod would tell the local press that Ian was one of six players he had short listed to sign and: “Fleming Could Be A New Harper”.

There was not an immediate debut for Ian but after 2 reserve appearances and 1 goal, Ian found himself on the bench against Rangers at Ibrox on the 7th February 1976. He would make his debut as a 60th minute substitute for Drew Jarvie.

His initial partnership with Billy Pirie looked promising with the two players sharing three goals in three games. However, an injury to Pirie soon ruled him out and Ian would spend the rest of the season partnered with either Jocky Scott or Drew Jarvie.

He would score only once more that season to take his tally to two in eleven games as the Dons escaped relegation on goal difference.

Ian started the 1976-77 season alongside Joe Harper and scored five goals in eight games. However, he was dropped in October and would only return to the side in March 1977 but even then he only alternated by playing or coming off the substitutes bench.

Ian would only score one more goal for the rest of the season finishing on a total of six, far short of the seasonal double figures he had achieved at Kilmarnock. He would however collect his first senior medal as an unused substitute in Aberdeen’s 2-1 League Cup final triumph over Celtic.

By the time the 1977-78 season had started Billy McNeill had replaced Ally MacLeod as Aberdeen manager. Initially it appeared that Ian’s Aberdeen career was finally starting to get going as he partnered Joe Harper at the start of the season.

Despite having scored scoring 9 goals in 22 games Ian was to find himself relegated to the substitutes bench in December with his place taken by Ian Gibson. The arrival of Steve Archibald in January did little to help his cause as the new signing from Clyde went straight into first team.

However, with Archibald ineligible for the Scottish Cup Semi-Final against Partick Thistle at Hampden on Wednesday 12th April 1978, Ian returned to the first team. The evening would end with Ian giving what would prove to be his best performance in an Aberdeen shirt. With the Dons completely dominating the Firhill side, Ian headed home a Stuart Kennedy cross at the back post on the 32nd minute.

He added his own and the Dons second when on the 39th minute, converting a Harper chip from 10 yards. Jim Melrose pulled one back for Thistle with a spectacular overhead kick after the interval. Nerves then started to show in the Dons ranks until Harper calmed things down with a penalty in the 71st minute. Six minutes later Ian completed his hat-trick and although Melrose claimed a second two minutes from time, it was a comfortable 4-2 win that saw Aberdeen through to a cup final meeting with Rangers.

His hat-trick would earn Ian a £100 prize as Man-of-the-Match but perhaps more importantly the performance was enough to keep Ian in the starting line up until the end of the season. Unfortunately the season would end in disappointment as Ian was in the starting line-up of the Dons team which was defeated 2-1 in the Scottish Cup Final against Rangers in May 1978.

As the Dons players returned for pre-season training in the summer of 1978 they found yet another new manager to greet them. Alex Ferguson had been appointed to replace Billy McNeill who had returned to Celtic and it soon became apparent the Ian didn’t feature in his plans.

Finding himself either on the bench or making sporadic appearances Alex Ferguson indicated that he couldn’t guarantee Ian a regular first team place. Sheffield Wednesday came in with a £40,000 offer for Ian in February 1979 which Alex Ferguson turned down indicating that it wasn’t enough.

They returned a few days later with an improved offer and Ian signed for the Yorkshire club saying that reserve team football was no good for him. However, he followed this up by saying that Aberdeen had been the best club he had been at and he had had great times at the club. Alex Ferguson would remark that he couldn’t guarantee Ian first team football so he understood why he wanted to leave but he would have been quite happy for Ian to stay.

However within a year Ian was looking to return north as his wife had failed to settle in Sheffield and wanted to return to Scotland. Dundee were soon aware of this and moved quickly to bring him back north.

He made his Dark Blue debut two days later at Rugby Park on February 9th 1980 but had to be substituted before half time but only after scoring the opener in 90 seconds in a 1-1 draw. His second goal for the Dundee was at Pittodrie on April 9th but it is his third goal for the club ten days later which would prove to be his most famous for the club, in a 5-1 victory over league leaders Celtic.

Roy Aitken had given the Glasgow club the lead in five minutes but in a remarkable turnaround, two goals from Iain Ferguson one each from Eric Sinclair and Peter Mackie and one from Ian provided a shock defeat for the Champions elect. Ian’s goal was perhaps the most crucial as it gave Dundee a two-goal lead right before the interval and although he claimed it to be his best goal for the club it was also perhaps the most important goal he ever scored for Aberdeen.

As the defeat gave the Dons the impetus to go on and claim the title.

Unfortunately for the Dens Park side who were already in deep relegation trouble the famous win didn’t stop them from going down to the First Division shortly afterwards.

Injury meant Ian would only make 12 appearances in Dundee’s promotion winning 1980-81 campaign as they went back up as runners-up behind Hibernian. Injury also prevented him from appearing in the League Cup Final against Dundee United at Dens in December.

This was all the more disappointing for Ian as he had played in four games en-route to the Final. Including the a 1-0 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie in the quarter-final. Injury free the following season, Ian made 24 appearances and scored 5 times to help Dundee retain their place in the Premier Division.

In the summer of 1982 Ian indicated to the Dundee manager Donald McKay that he wanted to try his luck in management and his opportunity came when Doug Houston left Brechin City to take over at Forfar.

Ian applied for the post and was offered the job as player/manager and he went on to have a successful spell at the Angus club leading them to the Scottish League Second Division title in his first season in charge. He then kept them up in the First Division for the next three years, giving City one of the most successful spells in their history.

Ian left Glebe Park in December 1986 and after a stint as assistant manager at Station Park, Forfar, moved to Iceland where he took over as manager of Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar. He would return to management with Elgin City in April 1994 but resigned in March 1995.

After football Ian worked for Dimplex UK as their north of Scotland Project Manager as well as a scout for Aberdeen. In 2011, Ian successfully helped raised funds for his twin granddaughters, who suffered from cerebral palsy to pay for successful surgery in the United States that was not available in the NHS which allowed them both to walk.

Aberdeen FC Heritage Trust Profile | click here

John Hairs (Ian) FLEMING

Role: Forward (1975-1979)

Height – 5’ 9”, Weight – 11st. 9lbs
Born – Maybole, 15th January 1953

CAREER: Craigmark Bruntonians/Kilmarnock 1st August 1970/Aberdeen 20th December 1975 £18,000/Sheffield Wednesday 17th February 1979 £48,000/Dundee 9th February 1980 £45,000/Brechin City 30th October 1982 – 21st December 1986 Player-manager £5,000/Hafnfjardar (Iceland) April 1987 – December 1987/Forfar Athletic Assistant manager January 1988 – 16th July 1990/Elgin City Manager 22nd April 1994 – 10th March 1995

Debut – Rangers v Aberdeen PD 7th February 1976 L2-1 Sub.

Honours:-

Aberdeen:
Scottish League Cup Winners: 1976-77
Scottish Cup Runner-up: 1977-78

Brechin City
Scottish Second Division Champions 1982-83