Latest news with #TheoSnelders
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: 'I was on cloud nine...' Brian Irvine recalls 'intense high' of penalty shootout winner against Celtic which sealed Dons' last Scottish Cup triumph in 1990
The longest walk in the game of football leads you to one of two places. Most of those who've erred in a penalty shoot-out in a cup final stumble into the pits of despair. Many struggle to leave. The majority who've been successful from 12 yards inhabit a place where joy is unbridled. Even 35 years after stroking home the winning penalty for Aberdeen against Celtic, part of Brian Irvine still resides there. Scarcely a day has passed since without the former defender being asked to recall the moment his strike confirmed a 9-8 victory on penalties for Alex Smith's side after a goalless 120 minutes. One question from his inquisitors is a constant. It relates to the instant one sees the ball hit the back of the net and you know it is all over. What was it like? 'The high was just so intense,' he tells Mail Sport. 'Literally, you've got that definition of cloud nine. 'It's just unbelievable, the high of scoring and thinking how much it meant to so many people, the supporters and the team. It's just an amazing, amazing feeling.' Irvine was the last outfield player to step up that afternoon at Hampden meaning a miss would have seen the goalkeepers, Theo Snelders and Pat Bonner, next spot the ball. By that stage, the failure of Dariusz Wdowczyk to convert Celtic's first and Brian Grant to score Aberdeen's fourth felt like ancient history. After a subdued period of extra-time, the drama as the shoot-out effectively entered sudden death was gripping. The worst kept secret in Scottish football was that Charlie Nicholas was set to rejoin Celtic from Aberdeen immediately after the final. When Mike Galloway beat Snelders to put Celtic 4-3 in front, the former Arsenal striker was left with no margin for error. 'It was one of the best penalties,' Irvine recalled of a conversion at the end housing the Dons fans. 'The way he put it right in the top corner - it was either brilliant or maybe he meant to miss and it just sneaked in!' Nicholas's unerring accuracy was matched, in turn, by Alex McLeish, Stewart McKimmie, David Robertson and the teenage Graham Watson. When Snelders dived to his left to deny Rogan, Irvine prepared to walk up from the half-way line and to take the first penalty of his professional career. 'If the guys who went before me had missed, Celtic would have won because they were always scoring,' Irvine explained. 'So, the pressure on me was less because by the time I went forward, it was a chance of winning. The situation, for me, was more positive. 'You're certainly not thinking it's a chance to put my name in folklore. 'The reason I was down the list was I had no confidence in penalties. As a boy at school, I was never confident hitting one. I always missed.' If he'd dreamt of such a life-affirming moment as a child he can't remember it. Born in the West of Scotland, Irvine started out at Falkirk in 1983 but was an Aberdeen fan long before the club conquered Europe that year. When Alex Ferguson approached him two years later, he couldn't sign quickly enough. 'I had an offer to go to Charlton which was better terms as it was London,' he said. 'But when I heard Aberdeen were interested, I signed as quickly as I could. I was an Aberdeen supporter even though I lived in Airdrie. 'I didn't even know what I was signing. I thought I was signing a three-year contract, but it turned out to be a four.' For an emerging central defender in Scotland back then, splitting the atom would have seemed an easy task than breaking up the partnership of Willie Miller and Alex McLeish. 'That was not in my mind,' said Irvine. 'It would have been too overwhelming. 'It was just a case of turning up seeing how you could get on with the reserves. 'Eventually I got a chance. I got more game time and a wee bit more experience. 'It just built up for a few seasons until we got to 1989-1990.' Miller made only 15 appearances that year but did start the League Cup Final against Rangers in October. Irvine, who replaced Eoin Jess at Hampden, recalls the 2-1 triumph in extra-time, as the day the guard changed. 'From that point on, I was playing every week alongside Alex,' he said. 'I was then pretty much a regular on the team as Willie was coming to the end of his career. 'That was a breakthrough season for me. Also, with the final against Celtic, that gave you that bit of credibility with the supporters.' With one cup secured, Alex Smith's side went after the second like an attack dog. They won 6-2 away to Partick Thistle and beat Morton 2-1 at home. Irvine scored as Hearts were thrashed 4-1 in the quarter-final and again as the Dons demolished Dundee United 4-0 in the semi. They were favourites to beat Celtic in the final even before they won 3-1 at Parkhead in a league match 10 days before. With players of the ilk of Jim Bett and Hans Gillhaus in their side, the only real surprise was they required penalties to do so. Irvine has a rare moment to himself with the trophy his penalty helped to secure 'Celtic had a lot of resources going into redeveloping the stadium,' Irvine recalled. 'They were struggling. In fact, because they didn't win the Scottish Cup, they didn't even qualify for Europe because they finished mid-table.' These were very different times. In the six seasons from 1988-89, Aberdeen would finish second to Rangers on five occasions. The decline came suddenly in 1994-95 when a play-off win against Dunfermline was required to preserve the club's top-flight status. Irvine already had enough on his plate that year when he learned he was suffering from multiple sclerosis. He still played for a further two seasons at Pittodrie before stints with Dundee and Ross County. Thirty years on from getting the bombshell news, he still lives a full life. 'You just take it one day at a time,' he explained. 'On the whole, it's been relatively benign. I have sensations and feelings rather than it affecting movements. 'You just make the most of each day and be thankful for each day.' His Scotland career had ended by that point. He earned nine caps against some illustrious opponents and was considered unfortunate not to make the squad for Euro '92 in Sweden. 'I made my debut against Romania and faced Germany, Holland and Italy,' he said. 'I played against (Jurgen) Klinsmann, (Roberto) Baggio and (Ruud) Gullit. 'I don't think they're all sitting somewhere saying they played against Brian Irvine, but that was the level of players you were up against.' After playing, he remained at County as a coach and helped out Martin Rennie at Cleveland City Stars and Carolina Railhawks after taking charge at Elgin. A season spent with Rennie in Seoul remains his last involvement with front-line football. He fulfilled a lifetime ambition by joining the police force in his early 50s but discovered it was not for him. 'It was a kind of stress that you maybe didn't need,' he explained. 'At that age, it was quite difficult to get to grips with it. 'But I was glad I went through it, the process of the training. I did the two years, passed the exams and managed to come through.' His kept the family house in Inverness that he bought when he signed for County and lives there to this day, juggling his shifts in the stockroom of a supermarket with care and charity work which has taken him to Malawi and Uganda. 'When you go through to the Aberdeen games, everybody knows you and everybody asks about the cup final 35 years ago,' he said. 'You contrast that with your everyday life. It's like a night and day. It's almost like a phone box you go into and change into someone else.' He'd have cleared his diary for Saturday even if the Dons hadn't been bound for Hampden. Whatever the outcome, he celebrates his 60th birthday that day. 'I've got a ticket organised, so I hope to go,' he said. 'I still have affection and a strong bond with Aberdeen.' Like most Dons fans, he will travel south more in hope than expectation of seeing Graeme Shinnie lift the trophy. It was a day that cup final heroes Snelders and Irvine will never forget We all know that anything can happen on the day, though. From time to time, unlikely heroes emerge and change history and their lives. Irvine will attest to this. 'Suddenly, you're doing a lap of honour with a trophy with all these heroes in front of your own fans,' he recalled of the defining moment of his career. 'You've seen Aberdeen winning cups before on TV and now here we are taking part and contributing ourselves. It was surreal, but such a wonderful experience. 'I've always said Aberdeen will win the cup again one day. 'If everybody plays to their full potential, I think obviously Celtic will be favourites. 'But a football fan will always be hoping that maybe something happens in the game which can swing it in their side's favour. 'I think the great thing for football is that supporters can go into any game with hope. If you're a strong underdog, it doesn't matter.'
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'No one recognises me at Pittodrie' - Aberdeen's unlikely 1990 hero
Graham Watson scored a sudden-death penalty when Aberdeen last won the Scottish Cup in 1990. You'd be forgiven for thinking he is given a hero's welcome on his each and every return to Pittodrie. But that isn't the case."Unless they knew me, I don't think anybody would recognise me at Pittodrie now," Watson said."Some people will probably look at the cup final team picture and query 'who's that guy?'"Among a star-studded side, the defender was an unlikely hero at 19 years was, reluctantly, tasked with lining up against against Republic of Ireland and Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner to keep his team alive in the Watson came off the bench in extra time for just his fifth first-team appearance after making his debut less than a month previously and kept his cool amid the Hampden "bedlam" to make it teenager's strike paved the way for Brian Irvine to score the winner after Anton Rogan's spot-kick was saved by Dons keeper Theo Snelders. "I didn't even expect to be in the 13," 54-year-old Watson said, reflecting on his career-defining day 35 years on and ahead of Saturday's Hampden rematch between the added: "Even when I was on the bench, I didn't think about going on the park. I felt like a spectator."When I did get on, I had a few involvements in the game and then it just kind of ran to penalties and I was thinking there's no way I would be part of any conversations for taking a penalty."It was just a major relief when I saw it going in. It would have been good to score the winner but it was still good to score one. It would have been a disaster if I'd missed."The 1990 triumph would be the pinnacle of Watson's otherwise low-key career. He broke his leg in a friendly in Holland a few weeks later and missed the entire following 13 appearances in the 1991-92 campaign, he dropped back into the reserves and then left Pittodrie in 1994 and had spells with Clyde, Livingston and Forfar before embarking on a long career in the police."It was funny because I went up 10 years ago for the 25-year anniversary and some of the other players didn't even recognise me because obviously I'm bald now and have put on a bit of weight," said Watson."Some professionals play for 20 years or make 400 appearances for a team and don't win a cup final so for me to have 15-20 appearances for Aberdeen and get a cup winner's medal there, I feel pretty lucky."
