Gothenburg Great Neil Simpson has spoken of his delight at being given a specially-created team chart of the most famous match in Aberdeen’s history. Simpson and his team mates who beat Real Madrid to win the European Cup Winners Cup in 1983 have received the unique memento from TV commentator Clive Tyldesley. It records detailed notes on all the players in both line-ups who were involved in the Dons’ against-the-odds 2-1 victory at the Ullevi stadium.
He enclosed a letter with every chart which he has sent to all the surviving players – the youngest of the team, Neale Cooper, died in 2018, aged just 54. Just admire the penmanship Mr Tyldesley wrote to the players and said: “I made my radio commentary debut in 1976 and I’ve hand-written a chart like this for every match that I’ve covered since then. “Names and title information are written in black, player and match data in blue, ages in green and scoring statistics in red.
Paying so much attention to detail “I write the charts with standard biros and file them all away for future reference after each match. “It is an unusual memento because it is a screen shot of the occasion at kick-off and tells nothing of the events and dramas that followed. “But you will have your own personal memories of these and they will hopefully come flooding back every time you look at the chart.
Freedom of the City was deserved “The players listed in the left-hand column were all made Freemen of the City of Aberdeen in 2023 .