1984/85: Aberdeen

There are places I'll remember, all my life though some have changed. Some forever, not for better, some have gone and some remain. Sometimes it is difficult to start a new blog, but for some reason the lyrics of Lennon and McCartney sprung to mind when choosing to look back at Aberdeen winning the 1984/85 Scottish Premier Division.

At the time, Aberdeen's fourth top flight title seemed to be the continuation of a new chapter in Scottish football. Never before had the championship remained out of the clutches of the Old Firm for three consecutive seasons. Between 1983 and 1985, the New Firm of Dundee United and Aberdeen had changed the footballing landscape.

But like an unsatisfactory ending to a television drama, the story stops in 1984/85. Once Hearts missed a golden opportunity to stretch the run to four years, Scottish football returned to the status quo. Apart from Aberdeen coming close in 1990/91 and Hearts in 1997/98, Scotland has become a two-horse race.

This is no criticism of Scottish football. Scan leagues across Europe and it is easy to find races with just one filly involved. Yet the New Firm years remind those of a certain age of a time when financial differences existed but were cast aside as legends Jim McLean and Alex Ferguson rocked the boat. A return to these days looks as far away as imaginable now.

The 1984/85 season appeared to represent a challenge for Ferguson and Aberdeen. After losing Doug Rougvie, Gordon Strachan, and Mark McGhee in the summer, questions were being asked as to whether those holes could be filled. With injuries to Neale Cooper, and Peter Weir at the start of the season, Ferguson understood the concerns.

"We could be better prepared, but we're ready. I know our fans will be apprehensive, what with the comings and goings and the injuries, but I can promise we will show them the will to win is still there. We are champions and it's all about pride."

Ferguson's previous title winners remained, although Cooper, Weir, and John Hewitt would feature less due to injuries. Jim Leighton played behind the reassuring presence of Willie Miller and Alex McLeish, with Billy Stark, Neil Simpson and Eric Black regulars. But in a season of selection problems, contributions from Ian Angus, Willie Falconer, and Doug Bell were vital.

Full back Stewart McKimmie would sometimes be deployed as a wing back if Ferguson decided to play Miller as a sweeper, with new signing Tommy McQueen used on the opposite flank. Another summer acquisition proved to be a masterstroke. The £100,000 paid to bring striker Frank McDougall from St Mirren was worth every penny.

At first it appeared as if the doubters had a point. Trailing 2-1 at half-time to Dundee, the Pittodrie faithful were relieved when a double from Black gave the Dons a winning start. Yet the 3-1 defeat at First Division Airdrie in the League Cup Second Round would have sent Fergie's hairdryer into overdrive, although the response domestically was immediate.

After the stuttering opening against Dundee, Aberdeen won six of their next seven in the league, conceding a single goal in the process. The only point dropped was in a 0-0 draw against Rangers, but a 2-0 win at title rivals Dundee United was seemingly proof that Ferguson's team were back on track.

There were a couple of bumps in the early part of the season. Losing a penalty shootout against Dinamo Berlin in the European Cup - during which Miller missed an opportunity to put the Dons through - was followed up three days later with their first league defeat at Celtic, although the club still remained top of the table.

Ferguson was not too downhearted about the reverse. "We played them off the park for half an hour," he said defiantly, as again Aberdeen paid the price for a penalty miss. Celtic's 2-1 win was hard to take, especially as Stark saw his spot kick saved with the score at 1-1.

If Ferguson wanted a response, then he got it in spades. Winning their next eight league matches - including a 2-1 win at Ibrox - it was during this time that McDougall began to flourish. His start had been relatively slow, but McDougall then scored ten goals in a run of eight consecutive league matches.

The final match of Aberdeen's eight match winning streak was significant. The 4-2 victory over Celtic at Pittodrie put Aberdeen five points clear of David Hay's team - in the era of two points for a win - with almost half the league season completed. But nothing is ever that straight forward, and as Christmas and the new year arrived, Aberdeen took the season of goodwill too far.

All things are relative of course. But two defeats to Dundee United - the first saw McDougall miss from the spot in Aberdeen's first home defeat for 15 months - and draws against Dundee and St Mirren, saw some journalists question Aberdeen's title credentials, as Celtic cut the lead to just two points.

Speaking before the second Dundee United defeat, Ferguson seemed unconcerned. "After what we have had to contend with, it's unbelievable that we have a four-point lead at this stage. It really speaks volumes for the players who have had to come into the side." His team would respond to the mini crisis.

Winning four in a row - featuring a 5-1 trouncing of Rangers that saw McDougall net a hat-trick - Aberdeen strengthened their position. Even when they dropped a point at home to Hearts to stop the run, Celtic failed to take advantage, losing at Dundee. Despite this, the Dons could not fully pull away from their nearest contender.

The fourth and final league defeat of the season came unsurprisingly at Parkhead. The 2-0 loss put Celtic five points behind with two games in hand. But the lack of consistency would eventually kill Celtic's chances. Aberdeen may have only beaten Celtic once in the league season and lost twice to Dundee United. Yet their ability to deal with teams at the bottom of the table proved vital.

Celtic lost at Morton, dropped a point at a Dumbarton team that would also suffer relegation, and a 1-0 home defeat against struggling Hibernian in March indicated that their hopes of a first title since 1982 were fading. Conversely, Aberdeen beat the bottom three in all twelve league matches of the campaign. 

However, Aberdeen did not have everything their own way. Although they were relentless in their pursuit of their title defence, hopes of a double disappeared in April. Again Dundee United would prove a thorn in their side. After beating Alloa, Raith, and Hearts, a 2-1 defeat in the semi-final replay at Tynecastle gave McLean's men a chance to end the season with silverware.

Alas, McLean's men would lose both finals. A loss against Rangers in the League Cup final in October was a disappointment, due to the fact that Jock Wallace's team would just about scrape fourth in the table, the sixth season in a row that the Glasgow giant had finished outside the top two. After the 2-1 defeat to Celtic in the Scottish Cup final, you started to wonder if McLean's men were cursed at Hampden.

Aberdeen surged towards the title after the Celtic defeat in February. Six wins, including 22 goals and four clean sheets, pushed Ferguson's team to the brink. A 1-1 draw against Celtic at Pittodrie effectively sealed the deal, barring a mathematical miracle. Miller's equaliser led to celebrations at the final whistle and a lap of honour.

The title was officially confirmed when Celtic failed to beat nine-man Rangers on May 1. But just to emphasise their driven desire that spilled from their manager, Aberdeen finished the season in appropriate fashion, as McDougall scored a hat-trick at Hearts, with the same man grabbing the winner in the final match of the season at Morton.

The statistics behind Aberdeen's 1984/85 title win are impressive. A record number of points for the champions (59 from a possible 72); just four league defeats; 89 goals scored, including 22 from the league's top scorer McDougall; just 26 conceded with 18 clean sheets; the first club outside of the Old Firm to defend their title since Hibernian in 1952.

Aberdeen could not make it three in a row the following season. But a cup double was a decent consolation as Ferguson continued to build on his legacy. Unfortunately they exited the European Cup on away goals to Gothenburg at the quarter final stage but it says a lot about Aberdeen and the strength of Scottish football at the time that this was even possible.

Sadly all good things come to an end. Little did we know that Albert Kidd's intervention on May 3, 1986, would be the starting point for the league domination of Celtic and Rangers. The arrival of Graeme Souness at Ibrox and the departure of Ferguson to Manchester United cemented this position.

Of course it's arguable as to whether even a genius like Ferguson could have done anything to hold back the Old Firm tide. But there can be no debate that the period the New Firm arrived on the block was an exciting time for football in the country. The Aberdeen and Dundee United fans who experienced this will certainly never lose affection for the people and things that went before.