Fergie Rises by Michael Grant

Author:Michael Grant [Grant, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The eve-of-final visit to the Ullevi served two purposes: the press conference and a late afternoon training session to allow the players to familiarise themselves with the surface and its surroundings. There was one additional little incident. Stein had told Ferguson that he should take a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky and present it to Di Stéfano as a gift. That little act entered Aberdeen folklore as a classic example of Ferguson’s mind games; a gesture that portrayed him and his club as grateful and awed to be in the presence of the mighty Di Stéfano and Real Madrid. John McMaster remembered: ‘He took Jock Stein to the ground. Fergie thought we would be in awe of Di Stéfano at training. But the boys didn’t care, didn’t even give him a look. The next minute all the Real Madrid boys are staring at Jock Stein. Fergie was miles ahead in his thinking.’

Back at Fars Hatt that night the players were divided into two teams for a quiz session. The contest became so engrossing they were still arguing over the outcome at breakfast next day. As an exercise in taking their minds off Real Madrid it worked brilliantly. Fingers had banned Ferguson from taking part on the grounds that he would be too competitive. Instead the manager agreed to act as referee. Ferguson also found time for a team talk on the Tuesday. He warned that the ball would stick in the mud and any passes back to goalkeeper Leighton should be lifted slightly above the surface. Miller had looked at the Ullevi pitch and felt the grass was a little long for his liking. No one realised quite what a factor the weather, and the pitch, would become. It had rained on and off during the morning and early afternoon of 11 May, but around 3pm the sky over Gothenburg truly opened. Around 3,000 Aberdeen fans converged on a city centre shopping mall, drawn initially to gain shelter and then by the word-of-mouth news that the European Cup Winners’ Cup itself was temporarily on display in a jeweller’s shop window.

Meanwhile, the Aberdeen players and management were taking their afternoon nap, unaware of the rain lashing down. Ferguson woke around 4.30pm, took a look out of the window and muttered ‘Oh, Christ.’ A quagmire of a pitch would do nothing to help ball players like Strachan, Weir, Black and McMaster. Stein was on the team bus from Fars Hatt to the Ullevi. During the journey he turned to the players: ‘Lads, I prayed for rain for you because I thought it would give you a better chance, but I think I’ve overdone it.’ For a while there were fears that the game would not go ahead at all. There were Chinese whispers about the need for a 24-hour postponement, which intensified when the deluge continued after the Ullevi’s covers were taken off. Fingers said: ‘The big issue was the weather. All this indecision, was the game on or off?

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