THE spectacle of 1990 was the cup final with enough drama to last a lifetime, but Billy Stark concedes he couldn’t have contemplated the notion that it would be the last time Aberdeen savoured such glory.
Twenty seven years have come and gone since that extraordinary day at Hampden between the Pittodrie club and Celtic. To many inside Hampden Park on May 12, that afternoon’s excitement is now just an ever-distant memory, only there to highlight the short-comings of the teams that followed in their wake in pursuit of the oldest trophy in world club football.
In what was the first ever Scottish Cup final to be decided on penalties, it would be Alex Smith’s Aberdeen who would eventually come out on top. After 60,000 watched a tense 0-0, the floodgates soon opened from 12 yards. Indeed, it took a Theo Snelders save at 8-8 from Anton Rogan to give the team in red the upper hand, the unlikely goal hero of Brian Irvine then stepping up to clinch a famous victory.
Formerly a Pittodrie player himself, Billy Stark was in green and white that afternoon, a soul spared from penalty kick duty after being substituted after 90 minutes. From the touchline, he witnessed his old team make history with a squad filled with the likes of Alex McLeish, Brian Grant, Jim Bett and Charlie Nicholas. Now the two teams are going to meet all these years later in Saturday’s showpiece at Hampden, Stark casts his mind back to that dramatic day in Glasgow.
“It was a really good game,” he explained. “Aberdeen were probably slight favourites because they had their Dutch contingent, Jim Bett, Charlie Nicholas.
“They were a real quality team. That was our time at Celtic with Dariusz Dziekanowski and Dariusz Wdowczyk, Paul Elliott. It was a good game but 0-0 and that was the first final penalty shootout.
“In the mid 80s, Scottish football went through a revolution, when Graeme Souness came to Rangers, in terms of the money that was generated. There were quality players attracted here, and Aberdeen got them too.
“But I would never have thought that Aberdeen would never have won another Scottish Cup. Until possibly now.”
Back to the present day, even the most diehard Don wouldn’t put their team down as favourites going into this one. With the wind of an invincible Premiership season behind Celtic, Brendan Rodgers’ team already have their name on that famous trophy in the eyes of many. The fact Celtic have won all the previous meetings this term between the two sides only adding to that school of thought.
Yet Stark isn’t so sure. Aberdeen of course hammered Partick Thistle 6-0 only at the weekend while they have flexed their attacking muscle at times.
“They’ve had a terrific campaign and this is their second final. Derek will have done his homework on what went wrong in the previous one and he’ll have tried to come up with a way to win this one,” said Stark.
“You’re relying then on your defenders dealing with the likes of Scott Sinclair, Leigh Griffiths and Patrick Roberts or whoever it may be and that is a risk but sometimes you need to gamble and be positive to win a final.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here