‘27 years of waiting is too long for Aberdeen’
AN Aberdeen icon, Alex McLeish won five Scottish Cups in eight years. The last of those triumphs came in 1990 and there hasn’t been another one since.
‘I can’t believe it’s 27 years since they won the Scottish Cup,’ admits McLeish. ‘It’s too long.
‘It is a hard game for them on Saturday, a dangerous game. Hibs will be on a high.’
Saturday’s first semi-final sees the former Scotland manager backing two horses. A legendary Aberdeen figure, McLeish managed Hibernian between 1998 and 2001, leading the side to a Scottish Cup Final defeat to the last Celtic team to win a treble. A cog of Martin O’Neill’s midfield that day was one Neil Lennon Esq, the man now charged with reaching another final.
‘Wee Lenny has great experience and I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion for the Dons,’ added McLeish. ‘But it would be good to see them lifting the Scottish Cup again.
‘Hibs are a really dangerous opponent for Aberdeen. They had over 100 years of hurt — but they have great memories of last season now. They have great momentum.’
Momentum was the fuel for Alex Ferguson’s all-conquering Dons teams during a threeyear spell when they were unbeatable in the Cup and McLeish said: ‘We won threein-a-row in ’82, ’83 and ’84. We won again in ’86 and then 1990 on penalties against Celtic.
‘We took it for granted then. You go through your career thinking: “It’s going to be the same every year”. That’s why you get all the advice from the old pros to savour it when you win it.
‘Sometimes it dries up and you see what they mean after a period of time. It was a great spell for us and Dundee United, a time when teams outwith the Old Firm finally believed they could come down to Glasgow and win.’ It didn’t last forever. Aberdeen
did win a League Cup under Derek McInnes and established themselves as the second best team in Scotland; a feat they look odds-on to repeat despite the elevation of Rangers to the Premiership.
For a manager’s tenure to become an era, however, it usually needs more than one piece of silverware. Asked if McInnes might actually sacrifice another second place finish now for a Scottish Cup win, McLeish speculated: ‘I think he would, yes.
‘We are all greedy, we want everything. But if you were saying “Scottish Cup or second place”, I think he would take the silverware.’
Already this season the Pittodrie side have made one Hampden final, a passive, disappointing performance ending in a 3-0 defeat to Celtic in the League Cup.
‘They need to show they have learned from that,’ said McLeish. ‘Derek has done a good job given the budget hasn’t been huge. He has had quite a solid team and, in terms of selection, it’s been pretty consistent. ‘It’s been the same players year in and year out. At some stage that will come to a stop and then whether Derek stays and builds again remains to be seen. ‘But I think he would probably be itching for a stab at the silverware. He would look back with great pride over the period he has been there if he won a couple of trophies.’