It was 33 years ago today, but I will never forget night we tamed Barca
THE legendary Jim McLean liked to bill his Dundee United side as a cornershop outfit who were competing against supermarkets.
On March 18, 1987, his modest band of bargain buys secured their place in Scottish football history as the mighty Barcelona checked out of the UEFA Cup at the quarter-final stage following shock back-to-back defeats at Tannadice and then the Nou Camp.
If our game faces an uncertain future in 2020, at least it retains a glorious past. Memories of that Wednesday evening in Catalonia 33 years ago this very day will still bring a smile to the faces of United fans, even as their club — like every other throughout the country — hunker down to deal with the inevitable fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.
‘It goes down as one of the great nights in Scottish football history and it’s a great memory for myself,’ said Iain Ferguson, whose late headed goal in the Nou Camp sealed a 2-1 win on the night and a 3-1 triumph on aggregate.
‘Nobody gave us a prayer when we drew Barcelona, but we beat them 1-0 in the home leg at Tannadice, with Kevin Gallacher scoring spectacularly from the right flank early on.
‘I remember Kevin later saying in an interview we had practised that particular move in training. Well, I must have been off that day!
‘But it was a winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Barcelona so, if Kevin says he meant it, we will just take him at his word.
‘However, few people gave us a chance over in the Nou Camp. We were 6-1 against at the bookies, but I’m surprised it wasn’t far bigger odds than that. For us to beat Barcelona home and away was a terrific achievement.’
A visionary coach, McLean invited sports psychologist Jack Black to work with his players between the two games.
It proved a brief experiment as his team nearly crashed out of the Scottish Cup at home to Forfar.
‘The sports psychologist used relaxation techniques and told you to close your eyes and imagine you were on the beach,’ recalled Ferguson with a chuckle.
‘I was looking out of one eye at Dave Bowman and he’s looking at me, going: “Are you imagining you’re having a fight on the beach? So am I”!
‘The sports psychology stuff was well before its time. He was telling us to imagine scoring a goal and imagine how that felt.
‘But we ended up needing a penalty with the last kick of the ball to get a 2-2 draw with Forfar. Thankfully I scored it and we got a replay.
‘The first thing Jim McLean did after the game was throw the psychologist out of the dressing room. We beat Barcelona, then we were losing to Forfar until the very last kick of the ball! That shows you the ups and downs in football.’
United drew Barca after previously taking care of Lens, Universitatea Craiova and Hajduk Split.
In the Tannadice side’s first European adventure — in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a precursor of the UEFA Cup — they had actually beaten the Catalan giants home and away in 1966.
Surely, history would not repeat itself in a tie given extra British glamour by the fact Barcelona were managed by Terry Venables and boasted Gary Lineker — the leading scorer at the previous summer’s World Cup in Mexico — and Mark Hughes?
In contrast to those big-earning stars, McLean’s men were on wages starting at £125 per week and up to £600 including win bonuses.
After a strong first-half display at the Nou Camp, there was a disaster of sorts just before the interval when Ramon Caldere levelled the tie on aggregate after his mis-hit shot flew past Billy Thomson.
Yet, the expected McLean rant failed to materialise in the dressing room.
‘With wee Jim, you got a rant and a rave at every half-time, even if you were 4-0 up,’ smiled Ferguson (right). ‘But he was very happy with us. He was maybe the calmest I ever saw him.
‘He told us to keep to the game plan. I remember him saying if we scored a goal, then Barcelona needed to score twice — and they would not be capable of doing that.
‘Sure enough, we had a couple of chances in the second half. Paul
Sturrock dragged a shot past the post and I was pushed in the back and claimed a penalty that we didn’t get.
‘With about five minutes to go, John Clark bulleted a header home from an Ian Redford delivery to make it 1-1. At that moment we all saw that Barcelona as a team had cracked.
‘Then, very late in the game, Jim McInally played in Paul Sturrock down the left touchline. Nowadays you would head straight to the corner flag but, thankfully for me, Luggy went to the bye-line instead and he had a little look up.
‘Kevin Gallacher had made a great run to the front post and got an elbow in the face for his trouble.
‘I peeled off to the back post and, as soon as I saw the ball in the air, I couldn’t wait for it to come to my head. ‘I managed to put it in. What a fantastic feeling it was to score a goal at such a magnificent arena and to help a team like Dundee United beat Barcelona home and away.’ Venables had to endure the wrath of irate Barca fans, as the travelling United fans memorably sung: ‘Bring on the Forfar!’ Ironically, John Holt, who was named man of the match by McLean, had weeks earlier come close to joining the Station Park side — due to the promise of an assistant manager’s post plus a sales job with a car. Emboldened by their Barca heroics,
United duly swept past Forfar 2-0 in the cup replay as McLean’s men went all the way to the Scottish Cup final.
Not all fairytales have a happy ending, of course. After beating Borussia Monchengladbach in the UEFA Cup semis, United lost to IFK Gothenburg in the two-legged final, three days after losing the Scottish Cup final in extra-time to St Mirren. A gruelling 70-game schedule had caught up with the valiant Scots.
It was a small consolation, but the supporters’ warm response to the Swedes of Gothenburg as they paraded the trophy around Tannadice won the club the first-ever UEFA Fair Play award, which amounted to £20,000.
The memories endure over three decades later, and Ferguson retains his own place in history. That’s in addition to the wonderful freekick winner he scored for Hearts against Bayern Munich in the
UEFA Cup in 1989 and the only goal of the 1984 League Cup final for Rangers against Dundee United.
‘I’m the last Scottish player to score in the Nou Camp,’ said the 57-year-old. ‘I was lucky enough to have a good career and score decent goals in big games.
‘But it’s 33 years ago that happened and it’s time someone took that record off me. I don’t know if that will happen or not. But I’ll always look back on scoring against Barcelona with pride.’
For Ferguson, the key to United’s remarkable odyssey to the final undoubtedly lay with their boss.
Famously known as ‘the joiner from Larkhall who thought he was a carpenter from Nazareth’, McLean’s keen self-regard was vindicated as he turned United into a force at home and abroad.
Prior to his arrival at Tannadice, no United player had ever been capped for Scotland, yet soon the international squad featured five of his players, while the club were winning two League Cups and a Premier Division title.
Now 82, McLean lives with dementia in a care home but his remarkable career was recently celebrated in a warts-and-all play,
Smile, staged in Dundee and given the full approval of his family.
‘Jim was a genius of a coach,’ said Ferguson. ‘He was never happy. He was never content. But there was nothing wrong with that. He always pushed you to be the best you can be and he taught me as much in my two years at United as I learned anywhere else in my career.
‘But his man-management skills often left a lot to be desired. He got his point across by using the Sir Alex Ferguson hairdryer method. I think the two of them shared a room in Inverclyde on a coaching course and came up with it together.
‘He slaughtered a lot of boys when there was no need for it, but what a coach he was.
‘I had an answer for every manager I played under, but not Jim McLean. I never answered him back. Not because I was scared of him — but because he was always right.
‘We knew we had a great coach. We all knew exactly what we had to do and how to react in certain situations. That meant we didn’t have to rely on any individuals because we won as a team.
‘Jim made us a very difficult team to play against in Europe and I think there are comparisons with the way Steven Gerrard has had Rangers playing in the Europa League this season. Europe just seemed to suit us.
‘I do think Jim McLean should have won more silverware than he did but his achievements will stand the test of time — not least those wins over Barcelona.’