NOVEL IDEA
IT’S one of Scotland’s most famous footballing grounds.
But for more than a decade, Aberdeen FC’s Pittodrie stadium was also the home to one of the country’s first prisoner payback schemes.
After each home game, a group of trusted inmates would get to leave Craiginches prison to work at the ground, picking up rubbish, sweeping the terraces and cleaning up the mess left by supporters.
It was all down to a project set up by prison officer Bryan Glennie, who got Aberdeen managers including Sir Alex Ferguson, Ally MacLeod and Billy McNeill to play ball.
The 73-year-old spent 24 years working at the Granite City’s Craiginches jail, where he persuaded the gaffers to let the prisoners play a role at Pittodrie.
The dad of two, who reveals Aberdeen FC’s relationship with the inmates in his book Craiginches, Life in Aberdeen’s Prison, said: “The idea of letting the guys help out at Pittodrie in the 1970s was the brainchild of the then chairman Dick Donald and kit-man Teddy Scott.
“I, in turn, convinced the prison governor it was a good idea, promising I would follow stringent guidelines and would only take four men with me at a time.
“The club loved having them help and the prisoners loved working at a football ground, which brought them into contact with some of their heroes.
“Players like Bobby Clark, Arthur Graham, Drew Jarvie and Davie Robb would speak to them as they worked.
“In later years, as well as general clean-up duties, the prisoners would repair and make nets for the club. The bonds between the Dons and Craiginches were very strong”
Grandad-of-three Bryan headed up a team of convicts who cleaned up the stadium.
The club’s strong links with the jail spanned several years, with many of the managers and players going behind bars to talk to the men.
All this was made possible by Bryan, who retired in 1996, and the staff at the jail, who believed that to earn the respect of prisoners you had to show it.
He said: “Managers Ally MacLeod and
Toyah just turned