The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Tributes pour in for Aberdeen’s only foreign boss Ebbe Skovdahl
Tributes have been paid to former Aberdeen manager Ebbe Skovdahl, who has died, aged 75. The Dane, Aberdeen’s first and only foreign manager, was in charge between 1999 and 2002.
A Dons statement read: “Everyone at AFC is truly saddened to hear of the passing of former manager Ebbe Skovdahl.
“Ebbe joined the club in 1999 and spent four years at Pittodrie, leading the Dons to two national cup finals. Everyone associated with Aberdeen remembers Ebbe with great fondness and our thoughts are very much with his family and friends at this difficult time.”
The news was confirmed by Skovdahl’ s family through another of his former clubs, Brondby.
His son, Rene Skovdahl, who is himself a football manager in Norway, said in a statement on the Brondby website that his father had cancer “for the last few years of his life”.
He added: “Over the years, we have seen and experienced up close how much our father has meant to so many people, and it is something that warms us in a difficult time, and that we will have with us going forward.”
Skovdahl had three spells in charge of Brondby, helping them knock Liverpool out of the Uefa Cup in 1995, and also a season at the helm of Benfica before moving to Scotland.
Aberdeen finished bottom of the Scottish Premier League in his first season in.
But they avoided relegation partly because of league reconstruction and because First Division champions Falkirk did not have a stadium that met the criteria of the top flight.
The Dons lost in both cup finals in the same season.
He then led the club to seventh and fourth-placed, although there was a shock loss in Europe to Irish side Bohemians.
Skovdahl, who was the uncle of former Denmark internationals Brian and Michael Laudrup, resigned in December 2002 and was replaced by Steve Paterson.
Former Aberdeen midfielder Eoin Jess wrote on Twitter: “Very sad news. He was one of the great characters that I have been involved with in football. A true gentlemen. RIP Ebbe.’’