Irvine’s open cop bus parade
UP FOR THE CUP EXCLUSIVE
SCOTTISH CUP hero Brian Irvine was right in the thick of the open-top bus parade down Union Street the last time the Dons lifted the trophy.
The Pittodrie favourite fancies being part of another after going from legend in red to one of the boys in blue.
Irvine scored the famous crucial penalty in the dramatic shootout win against Celtic in 1990 but having hung up his boots after a glittering playing career he’s now set to hit the beat as a Granite City policeman.
And there is a good chance Irvine will be on duty if the Dons can lift the Scottish Cup again this week and decide to take the trophy to the fans the following day.
He wouldn’t be the first former Aberdeen star to cross the thin blue line and become a bobby in the city after Jim Hermiston joined the cops – and ended up leading a cup parade the following year when the Dons won in 1976.
Irvine is hoping he gets the chance to repeat the feat and help escort another Scottish Cup cavalcade through the city centre. He said: “It would certainly be a funny turn of events if it worked out that way.
“I know Jim Hermiston joined the police after he finished playing and he was actually on duty when Aberdeen paraded the Cup.
“I think there were a few of his old team-mates on the open-top bus that day. It would be different for me but interesting.
“I remember being on the open-top bus down Union Street after we won in 1990.
“It was the realisation of a boyhood dream. We came back up the road from Glasgow on the Sunday after winning, we changed bus and went straight on to the parade. That was the point when what we’d achieved really sunk in.
“To share in the excitement and joy that winning a trophy brings to the city is a wonderful thing and it would be great if Aberdeen could repeat it this year.
“I’ve seen how much it means to the whole city. It still feels like yesterday when we won it rather than 27 years ago but it’s too long for a big club like Aberdeen. I’d love to see another parade.
“They have a chance. Obviously it will be very difficult because of the way Celtic are playing but you never know in a one-off game.”
Irvine has gone down in folklore after slotting the historic penalty in the 9-8 win – the first Scottish Cup shootout decider.
It was the only spot-kick the defender took in his entire 20-year career but he insisted he wasn’t nervous despite the huge pressure.
Irvine said: “I know a lot of
I only took one penalty in my entire career and it was a pretty good one BRIAN IRVINE
people will talk about taking penalties and the nerves but I didn’t think of it that way. I just saw it as an opportunity.
“I was fortunate that it was a penalty to win it rather than to stay in the shootout. I might have felt a bit differently had it been the other way around.
“But after Anton Rogan missed it was a chance to go and win the Cup. Had I missed we would still have had another opportunity so the pressure maybe wasn’t as much for me.
“It was strange. I felt pretty calm. When I walked up to take it I remember looking around and trying to take everything in.
“We were shooting into the Aberdeen end and that made a big difference. It was just a sea of red.
“Back then penalty shootouts were pretty rare. This was before the England guys missing in the World Cups and the Pizza Hut adverts and so on, so there was a bit of a novelty factor around it.
“But it was the dream scenario. It’s a penalty to win the Cup for your boyhood team. There is nothing that could surpass it. “Even if you did the same thing the following year nothing would top the first time.
“Thankfully it went in and I was just delighted for the team, the club and the supporters. It just happened to be that I was the lucky man who got to score the winning penalty.
“I only took one penalty in my entire career and it was a pretty good one.”
Irvine admits it’s a tall order for Aberdeen to repeat the feat on Saturday against a Celtic side who have already locked up the League Cup and Premiership trophies this season.
But he reckons if any team is capable of cuffing the Celts it’s Derek McInnes’s men.
Irvine said: “I’ve got a good feeling about the game. Celtic have had Aberdeen’s number a bit this year but they have the players who are capable of winning on their day.
“If they can keep it tight at the back guys like Jonny Hayes, Niall McGinn and Adam Rooney are always likely to get a goal.
“It should be a great game and I would love to see Aberdeen winning the Cup again.”