Past McMaster of two cup rivals
BETFRED CUP SEMI-FINAL He may have grown up in Greenock and been player/ coach at Morton, but Pittodrie is still home for Aberdeen legend. Stewart Fisher reports
JOHN McMaster’s story is a tale of two clubs. Brought up in the tough Gibshill area of Greenock – one of eight children, his father drowned in a freak fishing accident in the town’s dry dock when John was just five – Morton has been part of his identity ever since the days when he used to be punted into the Cowshed to watch Allan McGraw terrorise defences during the 1960s. His idol eventually became his gaffer, McMaster being enlisted by McGraw for a 10-year stretch as player-coach at the club where he set a raft of young players, including current Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes, on their path into full-time football.
But make no mistake: Aberdeen, where he spent 14 years as a versatile midfielder then left-back, is McMaster’s team. He was in the North East long before Sir Alex Ferguson, the man he refers to simply as “the boss” arrived in town. But under him he won two European trophies, three Scottish Cups and two Premier League titles. Despite a few near-misses, though, a League Cup medal remained elusive. The closest he got was playing the early rounds of Aberdeen’s 1976-77 triumph – the 40-year reunion is on the way – losing to Rangers in the 1979 final and Dundee United in the 1980 version, then chaperoning a young Paul Wright when missing out on the victorious squad in 1985.
No wonder then McMaster will feel slightly conflicted when he watches his two former teams run out at Hampden Park on Saturday to contest a BetFred League Cup semi-final. Now 61, McMaster will ostensibly visit the national stadium as part of his day job, a scout for Swansea City who has helped recruit Scottish youngsters like Stephen Kingsley, Jay Fulton, Botti BiaBi and Adam King. His club currently have an interest in a number of Morton players, the foremost of which is Jay Quitongo, the striker and son of former Hamilton and Hearts player Jose. The 19-year-old has scored against Kilmarnock, Hamilton and Dundee United in this competition and was subject to a failed £100,000 bid from Rotherham in August. But it will mean much more to him than that. While his sons, John Junior, Scott and Steven will take their seats in the Aberdeen end, his grandson Liam, a 12-year-old coming through the Morton academy, will be bussed up to the match in the colours of the Greenock side.
Aberdeen will be huge favourites in what is Morton’s first national semi-final for 35 years. But even in the heyday of Ferguson and McMaster, the Cappielow side had a habit of throwing a spanner in the works.
“Morton had some great results against us,” said McMaster. “Fergie, the Boss, always talks about it, but I was only beaten twice in my whole career against Morton. And Morton were on the wrong end of a few hidings from us as well. But I always remember a game at New Year or something.
“It was the only game that was played that day because it was frosty but Fergie wanted the game on because he wanted to steal a march or catch up on Celtic and Dundee United. And it backfired, because it ended 1-0 to Morton. They were top of the Premier League back then, a decent team who were good to watch as well.”
It was during Billy McNeill’s one season in charge at Pittodrie that McMaster made real inroads into the Aberdeen first team, but he watched Ferguson and his coach Archie Knox use senior players to mentor aspiring youngsters on YTS schemes and immediately implemented something similar upon his return to Inverclyde.
McMaster speaks warmly of Ferguson, for the protection he gave him following a bad injury suffered in a Ray Kennedy tackle in a famous 1980 European Cup tie against Liverpool which put an end to his hopes of a Scotland call-up, and helping smooth his move to Morton.
“Calling him [Ferguson] ‘the boss’ is just out of respect,” says McMaster. “You mean it, because he was the boss. He was fantastic on and off the park with me. What a lot of people don’t see is that he cares, there is care there.
“And Gordon [Strachan] has that kind of thing in him as well. But you had to be winners.
“Pretty much everything they did up there I tried to do when I got to Morton. I was fortunate that Allan gave me carte blanche to work with the young players and I did that for 10 years. When I went down there I was one of the only full timers.
I told Allan that I wanted to be a player/coach and he said that was fine, that would suit him too. Ferguson advised me to go there but I was more or less set on Morton anyway because I had missed out on Morton. They had signed pretty much everyone from the Port Rovers bar me!”
McMaster glows with pride when he speaks of the fees in the region of £2.5 million which his nascent youth policy, with five scouts and a couple of coaches, managed to bring in to the Cappielow side during his time there.
McInnes may be the most recognisable name, but big money also came in for the likes of Alan Mahood, Brian Reid, Mark McGraw and Archie Gourlay. “Derek will be a bit conflicted on Saturday as well,” said McMaster. “I first set eyes on Derek when he was 15 at Parklea.
“There was a young boy who was on the YTS with us, Chris Burton, and he came up to me one day and said ‘is it okay if my mate comes in to train with us’. I said aye but our scouts were aware of Derek anyway.
Morton had some great results against us. Fergie, the boss, always talks about it, but I was only beaten twice
I am proud of what he has achieved but I am proud of what they have all done.
“Morton is a homely sort of club and I had a great time here. The chairman, Mr [Douglas] Rae, has done magnificently, getting the club to where it is. They have a good youth policy now, which is going a bit slower than they thought, but there is good talent there and they will get there.
“Morton are a championship team but Jim Duffy, Craig MacPherson and goalkeeping coach David Wylie have got players in and got them working to a system.
“All of a sudden they are fourth top of the Championship. Any fan that shouts at Duffy is crazy, honestly. But I think it is going to be an Aberdeen win, I think they are stronger in all departments. Morton will all have to be eights and nines out of 10, with no passengers. And if they get their opportunities then they will need to take them.”
McMaster’s best years as a player were at Pittodrie – “Morton supporters were expecting the John McMaster they had seen at Aberdeen and they never really gave me a chance,” he says – but he still won two championships while at Cappielow.
“John Boag [a local lad and former junior player] was at Morton at the time,” he recalls. “I had made about 12 appearances one season so I had qualified for a medal but I didn’t understand why I didn’t get my medal. I asked Allan about it, ‘where’s my medal boss?’.
“He said ‘I gave it to wee Boagy. You’ve got enough medals’.”