It has been a sad weekend for football in the Granite City with two figures with links to Aberdeen passing away.
The announcement of the death at 84 of Aberdeen’s greatest sportsman Denis Law on Friday led to an outpouring of tributes for the great man.
The platitudes which have been paid are richly deserved as Denis was a true icon of Scottish football.
I only met Denis once, at a function in Aberdeen, and I can only echo what everybody else who knew him have said in that he a charming and knowledgeable guy.
I was lucky enough to see Kenny Dalglish play live and he was fantastic but I only saw video footage of Denis on the pitch.
Knowing how good Kenny was, it says so much about Denis that so many people regard him as Scotland’s greatest ever player.
Denis was one of the best to lace up a pair of boots
He was a man who, despite playing all his club football outside Scotland, was as proud a Scot as you will find.
It’s remarkable to think a guy who looked as frail and timid off the park would be such an amazing player on the pitch.
But it speaks volumes about his desire as well as his ability that he not only succeeded in forging a career but was one of the best to ever do it.
The only Scot to win the Ballon d’Or, he was part of a fabulous Manchester United forward line which included Sir Bobby Charlton and George Best.
To think that incredible trio is the one attack to all win the award while playing for the same club tells you not only how good they were but why they are held in such high regard by United fans.
He was also a close friend of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson who visited Denis regularly.
Denis is the last one to go of the Holy Trinity, as the trio were known, and the King of the Stretford End will be sorely missed.
Jimmy Calderwood was a larger than life character
The Granite City was still coming to terms with the loss of one of their own, who had been diagnosed with dementia in 2021, when another sad announcement followed on Sunday that former Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood had died at the age of 69.
Jimmy had fought valiantly after going public with his diagnosis of early onset dementia in 2017 in the hope of raising awareness of the condition.
He is the latest in a long and sadly growing list of players who have suffered from the condition since retiring from the game.
It was Jimmy and his trusted lieutenant Jimmy Nicholl who replaced Steve Paterson and I at Pittodrie in 2004 and he did a fine job during his five years at Pittodrie.
The two Jimmies were quite the double act. They loved a laugh and a joke with anyone but behind their jovial jousting with their colleagues in the game was a steely determination and drive to succeed.
I know that from facing them both when they were in the Dunfermline dugout during my time as assistant manager at Pittodrie.
The word ‘character’ has been used so often to describe Jimmy, and I struggle to think of a better word to describe him.
He was the larger-than-life character everyone says he was and a guy who always left you laughing after having a chat.
But he was an excellent manager too and his track record at the Pars, the Dons, Kilmarnock and Ross County proves that.
Scottish football will be a poorer place without him.
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