The tenth Aberdeen Football Club Hall of Fame dinner, sponsored by Scott James & Associates, took place on Thursday evening at The Chester Hotel.

Matt Armstrong, Brian Irvine, Hans Gillhaus, and Charlie Nicholas were inducted and honoured into the Hall of Fame, three of which scored in the famous 1990 Scottish Cup penalty shootout victory over Celtic. Four legends who lit up Pittodrie during their time with the Dons.

Thank you to our sponsor Scott James & Associates, the staff at the Chester Hotel and to those who attended to help make it a memorable evening and one to remember for our inductees.

Matt Armstrong

The late Matt Armstrong was inducted posthumously. Matt joined the Dons from Port Glasgow in 1931and spearheaded the famous 1930s Black and Gold side.

In the opening game of the 1933/34 season Matt scored five of the Dons goals in an 8-0 rout of Ayr United.

After netting 14 goals in 13 appearances in 1933/34, a year later he was the top scorer with 39 goals from only 43 competitive games. During that season Aberdeen defeated Celtic for the first time in the Scottish Cup, the Dons 3-1 win before a then record crowd of 40,105 remains one of the Dons greatest ever performances at Pittodrie.

At his peak in the mid-30s Matt Armstrong represented Scotland against Germany, Wales and Ireland and he was also honoured for the Scottish League against England and Ireland.

Armstrong was also the Aberdeen striker for the clubs first ever Scottish Cup Final in 1937, going down 2-1 to Celtic. Hampden held a club record crowd of 146,433 that day with Armstrong scoring for the Dons. Sadly, like so many players of that generation, the outbreak of World War 2 put a hold to his remarkable career. He played 232 times for the Dons, scoring 164 goals and was the clubs record goal scorer until Joe Harper broke Aberdeen’s goal scoring record.

Brian Irvine

The defender spent over a decade at Pittodrie, signed by Sir Alex Ferguson from Falkirk in 1985 for £80,000. With Willie Miller and Alex McLeish ahead of him in the line-up, he had to bide his time to establish himself in the Dons side, making his debut in the final game of the 1985/86 season, a 6-0 victory over Clydebank.

He made 387 appearances for the Dons, scoring 40 goals and he even saved a penalty against Hibs at Easter Road.

His most memorable moment for Aberdeen came in the 1990 Scottish Cup Final, scoring the winning penalty against Celtic in the shoot-out as the Dons triumphed 9-8 on penalties at Hampden Park.

Brian went on to realise a boyhood ambition by playing for Scotland in 1992 and went on to play nine times for his country. In 1997 he was deservedly awarded a testimonial against Wimbledon at Pittodrie. He left the Dons at the end of the 1996/97 season, where he played for Dundee and Ross County as he saw out his playing days.

Hans Gillhaus

Signed from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven for a then club record fee of £650,000, Hans made an immediate impact with the Dons, scoring twice within 15 minutes at Dunfermline including an incredible overhead-kick. Four days later, The Dutch internationalist then scored the only goal of the game as Aberdeen defeated Rangers by a goal to nil in front of 23,000 fans at Pittodrie. The Red Army had a new hero to worship.

Hans forged a legendary partnership with Charlie Nicholas and alongside Brian Irvine helped the Dons to Scottish Cup glory in 1990, the Dutchman scoring the third spot kick in the penalty shoot-out.

At the end of that season, Hans fulfilled his ambition by playing for The Netherlands in the World Cup in Italy, which included a starting place against England in their qualifying group. Dons’ goalkeeper and fellow Hall of Fame inductee Theo Snelders was also in the Dutch squad.

In total Hans made 100 appearances for Aberdeen, scoring 32 times. He moved back to The Netherlands at the end of the 1991/92 season. He left a lasting impression on anyone who was fortunate enough to see his skills.

Charlie Nicholas

Charlie’s signing for the Dons was announced live on BBC1 Scotland’s Hogmanay show, from the stage at his Majesty’s Theatre. Of all the players who have signed for the Dons over the years, few can have matched the arrival of Charlie for headlines and sheer excitement it generated. It captured the imagination of the Red Army.

Aberdeen signed Charlie for £400,000 from Arsenal despite interest from top clubs at home and abroad. His debut at Easter Road saw one of the biggest Aberdeen travelling support in years. The Red Army travelled in their thousands as Charlie made his debut in a goalless draw against Hibs. A week later, Pittodrie was packed out for the match against Dunfermline as the anticipation continued but this time the only goal came from Willie Falconer. It was a week later away to Motherwell when Nicholas scored the first of his 36 goals for Aberdeen.

Already a full Scottish internationalist by the time he arrived at Pittodrie, he finished top goal scorer in his first full season with the Dons (1988-89), scoring 16 goals alongside Celtic’s Mark McGhee. In November 1989, Dutchman Hans Gillhaus joined Aberdeen, and the pair formed a legendary partnership which remains celebrated by the Red Army to this day.

In his final season with Aberdeen, he set up Paul Mason who scored the winner as the Dons defeated Rangers to lift the League Cup at Hampden. The Dons returned to Hampden in May 1990, with Charlie netting in the penalty shoot-out win, his final kick for the Dons, having already agreed to join Celtic at the end of that season. In total, Charlie made 105 appearances for Aberdeen, scoring 36 times.

AFC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES:

CHRIS ANDERSON

RUSSELL ANDERSON

MATT ARMSTRONG

DOUGIE BELL

JIM BETT

ERIC BLACK

HENNING BOEL

MARTIN BUCHAN

BOBBY CLARK

DONALD COLMAN

NEALE COOPER

DICK DONALD

SIR ALEX FERGUSON

ARTHUR GRAHAM

HANS GILLHAUS

DAVID HALLIDAY

JOE HARPER

JIM HERMISTON

JOHN HEWITT

BRIAN IRVINE

DREW JARVIE

EOIN JESS

STUART KENNEDY

ARCHIE KNOX

GRAHAM LEGGAT

JIM LEIGHTON

ALLY MACLEOD

FRED MARTIN

FRANK MCDOUGALL

MARK MCGHEE

ALEX MCLEISH

JOHN MCMASTER

WILLIE MILLER

CHARLIE NICHOLAS

DAVIE ROBB

DOUG ROUGVIE

TEDDY SCOTT

DUNCAN SHEARER

ALLY SHEWAN

NEIL SIMPSON

THEO SNELDERS

GORDON STRACHAN

EDDIE TURNBULL

PETER WEIR

ALEC YOUNG