“That moment hugging Alex was a big part of what was a pretty special day”

 

BOBBY Clark admits he finds it hard to believe it’s 40 years since he enjoyed that famous celebratory hug with Alex Ferguson on the pitch at Easter Road after helping Aberdeen secure the second league championship in their history.

by Charlie Allan

It became one of the most iconic images of a decade that would be packed full of high points for the Dons and their fans.

The final whistle had sounded on a comfortable 5-0 win over an already relegated Hibs side and the Aberdeen players and their manager were waiting on news of the final score of Celtic’s match against St Mirren at Love Street to find out if it would be enough to see them take the championship trophy north for the first time since 1955.

When the news came through that Billy McNeill’s Celtic side had been held 0-0 in Paisley, which meant Aberdeen were champions unless they suffered a 10-0 thrashing away to Partick Thistle the following Wednesday, team boss Alex (the Sir would come much later) went berserk.

The television pictures show him grabbing a hold of Drew Jarvie first before making a bee-line for Bobby, who was 30 yards away, inside the centre-circle.

After dashing and dancing across the park like a madman Aberdeen’s greatest ever manager then leapt into the outstretched arms of his keeper in a moment that pretty much summed up what the achievement meant to them and the thousands of Dons fans packed on to the sloping terraces in Edinburgh that day.

“I’ve often wondered where Alex might have ended up had I taken a step to the side at that moment,” said Bobby, now aged 74 and enjoying a quiet retirement in Lossiemouth.

“I have to confess it did cross my mind because he was coming at me pretty fast, but I’m glad I didn’t.

“That moment hugging Alex was a big part of what was a pretty special day in my career.

“It really is hard to think it’s now 40 years ago because I remember it as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.”

There was a reason behind why Alex had made a point of singling out Bobby that day, but more of that later.

First, let’s enjoy club legend Bobby taking us back to that amazing season when the Dons became the first since Kilmarnock, in 1965, to break the Old Firm’s steely grip on Scottish football’s premier prize.

Few were betting on that happening when the Dons lost 1-0 away to Morton in their first match of 1980, in early January, to leave themselves languishing in sixth place.

They followed that with a 0-0 draw at home to Celtic, which also meant they were a massive 10 points adrift of the reigning champions.

Losing 2-1 at home to Kilmarnock at the end of February was enough to convince the nation’s bookmakers to slash the odds on Celtic holding on to the trophy.

“We were written off by almost everyone but Alex kept telling us to ignore that and stay focussed on winning games to put pressure on Celtic,” said Bobby.

What Aberdeen did next was nothing short of miraculous.

They would remain undefeated in their final 15 league games and win twice at Celtic Park to steal the title away from them.

“It was an amazing run that underlined just how good a side we really were,” said Bobby, who went on to make 592 appearances for Aberdeen and was capped 17 times for Scotland.

“The thing that impresses me most is eight of our final 11 games were away from home.

“I don’t think we have ever really got the credit we deserved for managing to go on and win the title when we only had three games during the run-in at Pittodrie.”

Even more so because one of those was a 1-1 draw against a Hibs side that was inspired by an ageing George Best, whose presence had helped swell the attendance at Pittodrie to 15,000, the biggest turn-out yet for a match not involving Rangers or Celtic.

“Alex was very disappointed with us after that match,” said Bobby.

“I don’t recall him losing his temper or anything like that.

“What he said was that he was now questioning whether we actually had it in us to go on and become champions and challenged us to prove him wrong.”

They certainly did that, and in some style.

Celtic suffering a surprise 5-1 defat away to Dundee in mid April, while Aberdeen were winning 3-1 at Kilmarnock, helped.

As did those two astonishing wins over the Hoops on their own patch.

Jarvie and Mark McGhee scored in the first of them, a 2-1 win during which Bobby actually saved a late Bobby Lennox penalty to inflict what was Celtic’s first home defeat of that season.

Aberdeen returned to the east side of Glasgow just 18 days later and won again, 3-1, thanks to goals from Steve Archibald, McGhee and Gordon Strachan, who made up for missing a penalty early on.

“From the day he arrived Alex had said if we wanted to win anything we would have to show we were capable of winning big games in Glasgow,” said Bobby.

The 1979-80 season was to be the one when the Aberdeen players proved the message had been received loud and clear.

They won three times at Celtic Park in that campaign, the other being a 1-0 triumph in the League Cup in the November.

They also beat Rangers an incredible five times in Glasgow, in both league clashes, in the group stages and semis of the League Cup and in the Scottish Cup.

“That meant we went into those league games at Celtic Park convinced we were up to the task,” said Bobby.

“It was still a pretty daunting one in front of capacity 48,000 crowds but, as I’ve already said, we had a very good side.

“I was well protected by a back line of Stuart Kennedy, Alex McLeish, Willie Miller and Doug Rougvie.

“In front of them were Gordon, John McMaster, Andy Watson and Ian Scanlon, who was a fantastic winger.

“Up top, we had the luxury of choosing from Drew, Stevie and Mark, who had done a marvellous job making up for us losing Joe Harper to an injury half way through the season.

“When we looked about the pitch we knew if we stuck to our tasks we would get the results that we needed.”

What isn’t so well known is Bobby played through that period while coping with the loss of his father, father-in-law and his brother’s father-in-law, who all passed away within the space of two weeks during the March.

“I was very close to all of them so it was a pretty tough time,” said Bobby.

“Alex and Aberdeen were really good to me.

“I was allowed to stay in Glasgow to be with my mother and trained at Shawfield with Clyde then joined the squad for our matches.

“Alex and Pat Stanton (Aberdeen’s assistant manager) also came to my father’s funeral, which took place the day before our midweek 4-0 victory away to Kilmarnock.

“Alex told me I could have time off if I wanted it but my family insisted I should play, saying it’s what my father in particular would have wanted me to do.

“They even arranged all of the funerals to ensure I didn’t miss any games.

“It was an amazing show of support and certainly added to my own determination to help us get the title.”

Which takes us to that day 40 years ago, when Bobby and Aberdeen found themselves in Edinburgh looking to gain revenge on that Hibs side who had almost derailed things with that draw at Pittodrie.

An Aberdeen win was far from a foregone conclusion, even though it had already been confirmed Hibs would finish bottom of the table that season.

Easter Road had always been a bit of a bogey ground for the Dons, they had yet to win there since the introduction of the Premier League in season 1975-76.

It had also taken a last minute goal from Watson to earn a 1-1 draw there earlier in the campaign but the Easter Road bogey was finally burst in spectacular style that sunny May afternoon.

Archibald and Watson, the only native Aberdonian in the team that day, ensured the Dons went in 2-0 up at the interval.

Ian Scanlon early in the second half before McGhee made it 4-0. Scanlon got his second near the end.

“Alex Ferguson was about the only thing I had to catch that day,” said Bobby.

“It was the quietest game I played in during my entire career.

“I’m happy to confess now that it’s also the only one where I didn’t fully concentrate on the job in hand.

“It was so quiet at my end of the park I spent a lot of time asking the Aberdeen fans behind the goal what the Celtic score was.

“You have to remember this was long before people had mobile phones and the Internet.

“I had to rely on the Dons fans who were tuned into their transistor radios keeping me informed.

“They kept telling me Celtic were still drawing 0-0 and the later it got the more I was thinking ‘this could be the day.’

“I was coming towards the end of my playing days and knew it could be my last chance to get my hands on a league winners’ medal.

“We had finished runners-up twice before, losing out on the final day to Celtic (in 1971) and Rangers (in 1978), so I was eager to avoid that happening again.

“I also knew how much it would mean to the Aberdeen fans because I had been there when they last won the title in 1955.

“I was just nine years old and a Clyde fan when my father took me to the game in which Archie Glen scored a penalty to clinch things for Aberdeen.

“I was a very unhappy young boy that day – but very happy to now find myself on the brink of becoming one of those actually winning the title again for Aberdeen.”

The joy shown by the Dons fans packed into the terraces was matched by the scenes of jubilation out on the pitch, including that famous hug.

“Alex knew how much winning the title meant to me after all that had happened in the previous weeks,” said Bobby.

“He’s never said so, but I’m sure it’s why he made a point of hugging me and it meant a lot.

“When you look at what we had to do to get to that point it was clear someone was wishing us well.

“Whether it was heavenly help or something else, who knows?

“We knew we still had Partick Thistle to play before we would be officially crowned as champions.

“But there was no way we were going to lose 10-0 to them, which is why we celebrated as we did.”

Bobby’s own celebrations were understandably subdued in comparison to what you would expect of a player who had just completed the treble of domestic triumphs, having also helped the Dons win the Scottish Cup in 1970 and League Cup in 1976.

“I had a few sips of champagne and I think Drew Jarvie and I might have drunk a couple of bottles of Guiness but that was about it,” he said.

“I think most of the lads had a night out when we got back to Aberdeen but I went home to be with my wife, Betty, at our house in Westhill.

“I’ve never been the partying sort, I just wanted to be with my family and share our thoughts about all that had happened to us that year.”

The Dons returned to Glasgow on the Wednesday and drew 1-1 at Firhill to finish one point clear of Celtic and secure a first crack at the following season’s European Cup.

Bobby would be robbed of that opportunity by a recurrence of a back injury, suffered during their League Cup win over Celtic in the November, that would end his playing career.

It was the same game in which club record scorer Joe suffered the knee injury that forced him to hang his boots up in 1981.

“It never crossed my mind that the game against Partick Thistle would be my last for Aberdeen,” said Bobby.

“I missed one league game and had to take pain killers for a while but the injury seemed to have gone way.

“Unfortunately, my back went again while I was digging the back garden during our pre-season break.

“I had an operation to fix it but there were complications and I never really recovered.

“I was almost two years before I was even close to full fitness again, by which time I was 37 and had been replaced by Jim Leighton, who was backed up by a talented youngster called Bryan Gunn.

“Aberdeen no longer had a need for me but I left content that I had gone out on a career high and had enjoyed many marvellous years at Pittodrie.”

His outstanding post Pittodrie coaching career in the USA is well documented and his services to the Dons were recognised with a place in the club’s Hall of Fame and the naming of the Bobby Clark Youth Academy, in his honour, at Cormack Park.

Bobby has also since returned to Scotland with his beloved Betty, to Lossiemouth.

He expects his celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the 1980 league triumph to be as quiet as they were on the actual day.

“Like everyone else at the moment we are having to follow Government advice about social distancing,” said Bobby.

“We will probably go for a walk along the beach, as we do most days.

“There’s a chance I might make a few phone calls to some of the other lads from that day too.

“It’s always nice to catch up and speak about the highlights of our careers and that day at Easter Road was certainly one of those.”