Sir Alex’s hairdryer blew me off course
Paul recalls how Dons debut under Fergie turned into hell
Paul Taylor’s personal account of Aberdeen’s European Cup-Winners’ Cup success doesn’t have a happy ending.
He was the only player at Pittodrie to refuse a place on the plane to Gothenburg in 1983 despite Alex Ferguson’s request.
It has taken the Edinburghbased divorce lawyer three decades, a midlife crisis and a career less ordinary to recount one of his greatest ever regrets.
The 50-year- old civil litigator with TC Young Solictors tells his tale which starts in Methil then goes from bad to worse.
He said: “My f irst game for Aberdeen was at East Fife and we were winning 3- 0 at half-time.
“The first thing Fergie said at half- time was that under no circumstances should we lose the clean sheet in the second-half.
“East Fife hit the bar, Fergie started to get a bit vocal then moments later we lost a goal. I was thinking we had still played well so everything should be fine.
“At full-time Fergie’s assistant Archie Knox came over to me and said: “Whatever is said in that dressing room, don’t worry about it as you did quite well.
“I was feeling pleased with what Archie had said. But I was about to get my first experience of the aggressive side of management.
“We were kept waiting and then Archie came in and kicked the treatment table which Stevie Cowan was sitting on. The leg broke off and he was sent flying.
“A man came in with a tray of tea and that was soon shattered all over the place. Fergie had just grabbed it from the guy’s hands.
“I sat there thinking, ‘ What on earth is going on here?’
“It caused me to go into myself as a footballer, I knew then what was about to come my way if I fell short of their standards. I went in for a cup of tea in the players lounge and Archie was there but I was too scared to tell him how I felt. It was a few weeks before I asked him just what the hell had happened. I wasn’t used to it but that changed over time.”
Taylor’s post- t raumat ic Bayview disorder saw him fail to make the grade that season and he revealed the tears he shed upon receiving some bombshell news nine months later.
He said: “I was told I was being released just a few days before Gothenburg. But Fergie said he was taking the entire club and he wanted me to be there as well.
“I was so upset and was crying so I told him I could not go as I would not feel part of it.
“But I should have gone there and enjoyed it with the team.”
Paul , who will play for Scotland Seniors at t he Wor l d Cup next month over in Thailand, also turned out for Mansf ield, Dunferml ine , Dumbarton, East Fife, Berwick and Whitburn as well as a spell overseas in Finland.
But another twist of fate led him to his current job. He said: “I had a midlife crisis and went through a divorce. The idea of devoting myself to helping people in a similar position really appealed.”