Ferguson Floors the Old Firm - Aberdeen 1978-1986
- Graham Dunn
- Nov 20, 2025
- 5 min read
Aberdeen’s 1978–1986 era under Alex Ferguson remains one of football’s most astonishing transformations. Long before his Manchester United dynasty, Aberdeen 1978–1986 Alex Ferguson delivered a level of dominance unseen outside Glasgow: three league titles, multiple domestic cups, a European Cup Winners’ Cup, and victories over giants like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Fueled by the defensive brilliance of Willie Miller and Alex McLeish, relentless standards, and Ferguson’s uncompromising mentality, Aberdeen broke the Old Firm’s grip on Scottish football and carved out a golden era that still stands unmatched forty years on.
“A disgrace of a performance.”
While it is not unusual for a manager to let rip at his players in the immediate aftermath of a post-match interview, it is more so to do it while the players are celebrating on the pitch at Hampden Park after retaining the Scottish Cup.
Even by the contrary standards of Alex Ferguson, nobody was quite ready for his outrage after Eric Black’s extra-time winner had given Aberdeen a one-nil win over Rangers.
“We were the luckiest team in the world,” a visibly annoyed Ferguson said to a perplexed pitchside TV interviewer in May 1983. “We were a disgrace of a performance. Miller and McLeish won the cup for Aberdeen. Miller and McLeish played Rangers by themselves. A disgrace of a performance.”
Ferguson regretted the outburst, later apologising to the players – though is not clear to what extent, if any, central defensive rocks Willie Miller and Alex McLeish shared his view that it had been two against 11 that day.
By the time of the Scottish Cup Final, Aberdeen were on their 24th cup game and 60th game of the season. They could be forgiven for being a bit heavy-legged against Rangers, even if not initially by their manager
This outburst though was instructive about Ferguson’s mindset.
On the one hand this relates to Ferguson’s unfinished business with his boyhood club Rangers. Ferguson had signed for Rangers in 1967 in a then Scottish transfer record, only for him to be left out in the cold after a 4-0 defeat to Celtic in the 1969 Scottish Cup Final – a decision Ferguson believed was related to his marriage to a Catholic.
But it is also illustrative of how Ferguson – and ultimately Scottish and European football – would come to view Aberdeen. They were no upstarts and this was no blip to the Old Firm dominance.
It should be said, Aberdeen are no minnows. They have the third best record in the Scottish League. But such is the grip of the Glasgow clubs on Scottish football that Aberdeen have only won the title four times. And at the time Ferguson arrived at Pittodrie, they had only won it once – and that was nearly 25 years before.
Yet Ferguson expected Aberdeen to win and to do so convincingly.
By the time of the 1983 Scottish Cup Final they had, of course, already started winning. After an underwhelming first season in charge in 1978-79, Ferguson led Aberdeen to the title in 1979-80. That marked the first time neither Celtic or Rangers had won the title since Kilmarnock’s win in 1965. They had also won the Scottish Cup the previous season, and most significantly, the European Cup Winners Cup two weeks before.
Aberdeen had already knocked out Bayen Munich – including the likes of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Paul Breitner and Ule Hoeness – in the quarter-finals, having come from behind with two goals in the last 20 minutes to win the second leg 3-2 after a goalless draw in Germany. Having disposed of Belgian club Waterschei in the semi-final, Aberdeen faced the stiffest of tests in the final in a sodden Gothenburg against European royalty Real Madrid.
Despite the final being played in May, the weather was more akin to Aberdeen than Madrid following torrential rain. Aberdeen settled quickly with Eric Black giving the Dons the lead. But as the pitch cut-up, Real Madrid equalised with a penalty after Alex McLeish’s backpass slowed in the mud. Aberdeen won it in extra time as John Hewitt, just as he had against Bayen Munich, came off the bench to score the winner.
Following Ferguson’s departure Aberdeen took their place back in the chasing pack, completing an almost dream-like period in Scottish football where the Old Firm’s stranglehold on Scottish football was released
It marked the last time Real Madrid lost a European final.
While four days Aberdeen beat Hibs 5-0, they were pipped to the title by New Firm rival Dundee United. They had won 25 of their 36 league games – almost double the number of fourth placed Rangers, but finished a point behind Jim McLean’s team and level on points with second-placed Celtic.
By the time of the Scottish Cup Final, Aberdeen were on their 24th cup game and 60th game of the season. Skipper Willie Miller played in all 60 games, while Jim Leighton, McLeish, Doug Rougvie, Neale Cooper, Neale Simpson, Gordan Strachan, Peter Wier, Eric Black and Mark McGee all played 50 plus times. They could be forgiven for being a bit heavy-legged against Rangers, even if not initially by their manager.
Once rested and recuperated, Aberdeen went again. Winning the title in 1984 and 1985, as well as two more Scottish Cups, a League Cup and another European semi-final over the rest of Ferguson’s eight and a half-year tenure.
Following Ferguson’s departure Aberdeen took their place back in the chasing pack, completing an almost dream-like period in Scottish football where the Old Firm’s stranglehold on Scottish football was released. Forty years on Aberdeen remain the last club outside of Glasgow to win the title and together with Dundee United, the two clubs won four titles in six years. To put that in context, in 54 years either side of this, nobody other than Celtic or Rangers won the title.
How We Ranked Them
We have five categories of greatness from our five-star All-Time Greats category at the top to our one-star Blinkered Greats category at the bottom. The only unprecedented sustained interruption to the Old Firm’s grip on Scottish football in living memory, Ferguson’s Aberdeen have to be
*****
ALL-TIME GREATS
Listen To The Podcast
We were joined by Stefan Shaw to look back at Aberdeen’s unlikely period of dominance of Scottish football.
Further Listening
Aberdeen formed the part of the so-called New Firm with Dundee United, who similarly helped break Celtic and Rangers grip on Scottish football as well as a European adventure of their own.
In November 1986 Alex Ferguson was finally tempted away from Pittodrie when Manchester United came calling, offering him the chance to test himself at a higher level against the elite of English football. And where better to begin than a trip to the Manor Ground. It was a pretty inauspicious start as Oxford won 2-0. History, though, suggests Ferguson redeemed himself a bit over the next 1,500 games.
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