Dons legend Drew Jarvie played 386 competitive games for the Dons, scoring 131 goals, a tremendous record considering he played many of his games in a deeper role.

Drew grew up in Annathill in Lanarkshire, a tiny mining village. A record Dons signing from Airdrie in 1972 for a fee of around £70,000, he was already a Scotland international by the time he arrived in the North East.

Jarvie’s three international call-ups came in quick succession, all of them from the bench, in three defeats. The first was away to Portugal in a European Championship qualifier.

“Eusebio was playing for them and scored. I was a bit overawed. After that, I came up against George Best and Northern Ireland at Hampden followed by Bobby Moore’s England at Wembley! I only got the last eight minutes of that one, by which time we were 3-1 down. I wondered what the fans thought about this No 19 from Airdrie, maybe hoping he could save the day. I’d have liked more chances with Scotland but if I’m honest, I always thought I lacked a yard of pace. I was proud to play for my country.”

The 1972/1973 season at Pittodrie was a fascinating campaign for many reasons.

Willie Miller made his debut plus a star-studded Manchester United were swept aside in the Dons’ 5-2 friendly victory.

It was also the season in which Drew Jarvie joined. After arriving at Pittodrie, he immediately settled in to a profitable striking partnership with Joe Harper. Between them, they scored 12 out of 19 League Cup group goals, which included an 8-0 win over Falkirk – all the goals coming in the second half – and a 7-2 win over Motherwell in the league.

However, after the Dons’ exit to Celtic in the semi-final of the League Cup, Harper was sold just only six months after Drew’s arrival. Thankfully the partnership and friendship would reform later in the decade.

That season in 1972/73, Joe scored an incredible 26 goals in three months, 15 of them coming in the League Cup. He also scored on his Scotland debut against Denmark in Copenhagen, but was transferred to Everton for a £180,000 fee in December.

“Joe was brilliant and definitely the best player that I had played with. When I first arrived, we struck up a good partnership right away and we scored a lot of goals together. By the time Joe left to go to Everton, he’d scored around 30 goals by November and I think I was on the 15 mark. By the end of the season, I think I ended up with 31 goals so pipped Joe by a goal, so he had to buy dinner because we had a bet at the start of the season! He was a great player to play with and he was an intelligent footballer.

“He was so two-footed and it didn’t matter where the ball came from. He’d create a chance for himself or make a chance for somebody else, and in the box he was just deadly. He was so confident as well. The fans loved him even if he would make a mistake. It didn’t matter as the fans forgave him.

“The goal that I scored in the League Cup final, Arthur Graham went down the right hand side and Joe was in the middle. He adjusted to the back post and played it back and he knew I was coming in and I headed it into the net. There’s not many strikers would have done that, but he was just so intelligent football wise.”

Jarvie was brought to Pittodrie by Jimmy Bonthrone, who made another key signing in Jocky Scott in 1972/73 but had to cope with the high-profile departure of Joe Harper. Also he had to deal with the loss of Martin Buchan, Stevie Murray and Willie Young’s less than gracious exit. All difficult players to replace. However, he did sign a certain Hungarian. Zoltan Varga joined Dons from Hertha Berlin following a bribery scandal in Germany. His stay in the North-east was brief, but very memorable.

“When he first came, it was amazing how strong he was. He wasn’t one of these players that would run all over the place or make great runs into the box. When he got the ball, he was just aware of what was around about him. He would receive the ball and, the way he would turn, he’d beat a player with his body movement and he was so two-footed so could hit these 30/40 yard passes standing still with either foot. He was so gifted and a different type of player from what we were used to in this country.”

Also in 1972/73, Drew would make his European debut. He scored in that game, a first ever European defeat at Pittodrie against Borussia Mönchengladbach. He would go on and score 10 goals as the Dons came against some top continental sides during the 70s.

“I scored quite a few goals in Europe as well which was quite pleasing. My first game was against BMG and I remember Gunter Netzer and co. We lost 3-2 at home, where I got a goal. In the second leg we were winning 3-2 at half-time so the tie was completely level, but we lost Henning Boel at half-time and in the second half they pummelled us and we really missed him. Wee Berti Vogts was bombing down the right wing and gave us a lot of problems and we lost 6-3. We had just run out of legs.”

After some indifferent seasons, Jimmy Bonthrone left.

League reconstruction in 1975 saw Aberdeen struggle badly during that inaugural campaign, and in the end they only survived on goal difference. But Super Ally had arrived and the club would never be the same again. Drew was in the side that won the League Cup in 1976, overcoming Rangers first of all in the semi-final.

“Any time you go to Glasgow to play the Old Firm, they’re always big favourites.

“That night at Hampden was just one of those nights where everything fell for us.

“We scored five great goals and when you look back and see the goals, they were really well worked. We had a real attacking team and just went out and played and, on that night, it came off for us. Crosses were coming in and Jocky and Joe were finishing. Jocky got a hat-trick that night and they were all outstanding goals.

“We went back to the television studios afterwards to watch the highlights and Archie MacPherson said mine was the best goal of the night! Most of my goals were tap-ins so to get one from outside the box was special.”

The final against Celtic did not start too well for Drew in-particular.

“I still say to this day that I know Kenny Dalglish was trying to turn me and I put my leg out. Kenny tried to roll me with that big backside of his and fell over my leg. It was never a penalty. If they had the technology they have nowadays, I’m pretty sure they would have showed it was never a penalty. Thankfully things worked out ok in the end.”

It did work out thanks to Drew grabbing an equaliser with a trademark header. Although they got battered for much of the game, Celtic failed to score and super sub Davie Robb popped up with a late winner in extra time.

“When I look back, there were some special goals and that was one. I got one in the cup final and that was the first time I had won anything in senior football. We played in the Lanarkshire Cup with Airdrie against Hamilton, Motherwell and Albion Rovers, but when it came to winning one of the main trophies, that was the first time I’d won anything.

“It was nice to get a goal in the semi and then nice to get one in the final as well.

“The celebrations in the city were great afterwards. I remember the open top bus parade and seeing Jim Hermiston, standing there, he was now a policeman. He had been a really fine player for us but, with a family coming along, he decided to join the police. It was good to have him with us that day.

“Ally MacLeod wasn’t the most tactically inclined manager and a lot of the training was different because he’d bring in a lot of things we’d never had before.

“We played a lot of five a side or eight a side games and the rules were sometimes you were about to score in one end and he’d shout “CHANGE” and that meant you had to try and score a goal in the other end! Both goalkeepers had to try and sprint the length of the pitch to try and get back into their goals.

“If you were maybe two or three goals ahead, he would say the next goal was worth two goals so if the team behind scored, they’d be level. It was different and he lifted the whole city. He was just that type of character. He was great for the club at that time.

“When Alex Ferguson arrived some of the players that were there at the time moved on and some stayed.

“Ally brought in players like Stuart Kennedy and Dom Sullivan and Billy McNeill then brought in people like Mark McGhee and Gordon Strachan, so they were strengthening the team all the time. The young boys like Neil Simpson, Neale Cooper, Bryan Gunn and John Hewitt were coming through so we had a real nucleus of a good side. Fergie had a good base to start with. It was a good time for Aberdeen and he went on to prove it by winning the league three times”.

Drew’s contribution to the first campaign should never be overlooked. He scored many vital goals in 1979/80 as the Dons stormed to their first Premier League title, none more so than a late equaliser to grab a vital point at Rangers in the championship run-in and then a fortnight later, he put the Dons on the road to victory at Celtic Park.

“The run in to the league in 1980 was a special time because I scored seven goals in seven games during that period and we eventually pipped Celtic to win the league.

“There’s one game we played Morton and I think it was the only senior game on in Scotland. We had the snow cleared from the park. It was a really heavy pitch and we were struggling, but I just toe poked the ball over the line from a big scramble in the box. That kept the run going, then after that I netted against Partick Thistle at the beginning of March, I got our equaliser, and couldn’t stop scoring after that.

“I scored my seven goals in seven games and then the manager left me out at Kilmarnock. I guess he was saving my wee legs. He said he was giving me a break because we were playing Celtic the next game. I came on and I had a chance to continue my run but didn’t score, so it should have been eight out of eight.

“We then played Celtic at Parkhead and I scored. I actually ended up level with Steve Archibald as the top league scorer that season even though I played a lot of the games in midfield. I was delighted with winning the league as that was a first for me.”

With a League Cup winner’s medal in his pocket, and a Championship to follow, the only domestic honour left for Drew to win was the Scottish Cup, but sadly it was not to be.

“I remember the Scottish Cup Final in 1978.

“I said to myself that I was going to make sure I got into the game. Ian Scanlon came over to me afterwards and said, “You were the best man on the park” and I was really pleased, but I’d set my mind that I really wanted to win this cup and that’s the only medal I don’t have. I’ve got the League medal, League Cup medal, but I don’t have the Scottish Cup winner’s medal. I was quite determined to get them all, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out for me.

“In the 1982 Scottish Cup final it was between Eric Black and myself for a place on the bench and they picked Eric. That was the time they beat Rangers 4-1 with Neale Cooper scoring off the goalkeeper and that was my last chance because I was getting on a bit. I never got my Scottish Cup winner’s medal.

“I left the season they won the Cup Winners’ Cup to go back to Airdrie and that was the golden period for Aberdeen when cups were won on a regular basis and they were one of the top teams in Europe.”

Drew remained in the game after his playing retirement, in coaching and management, including a successful spell in a management team with Alex Smith and Jocky Scott at Pittodrie which won two Cups in 1990 and came close to winning the League in 1990/91. Drew left the club in 2002 after the resignation of Ebbie Skovdahl.

“I went back to Airdrie for a year and did part-time. I went down on the Thursday and played at the weekend. Then Alex Miller came in to take me to St Mirren to help him coach so I was in full-time, taking the training for the full-timers and in the evening I was taking the part-timers, so I just stayed in Paisley. I was living in Lenzie at the time and I did that for three years before Jocky Scott came in for me.

“When I was at St Mirren I was going through my coaching badges and Jocky took me to Dundee as his assistant manager so I was doing much the same there as well as packing the hampers for away games, as you do. I was the Teddy Scott at Dundee and did that for two years and then Alex Smith came in and asked Jocky and myself to come back to Aberdeen.

“Jocky and Alex were co-managers and I was the assistant manager and was here for 15 years in that role. After that, I went to South Korea with Ian Porterfield and came back from there and have been retired ever since.

“There are now a lot more foreign players in the leagues and it doesn’t matter what country you go to. At the time when I was working with the youth set up there weren’t so many, although you could see it was starting to get like that because the manager was getting videos in every week looking at players from other countries.

“I signed Russell Anderson, Kevin McNaughton. Richard Foster and Zander Diamond and there were quite a few others that played in the first team. I’m not saying they all had great careers, but a lot of them played in the first team and went on and played at a reasonable level. I thought I did quite a good job with them.”