Aberdeen legend Dougie Bell went from European euphoria to heartache in just 10 days in 1983.
Club great Bell will be inducted into the club’s hall of fame at a ceremony at The Chester Hotel tomorrow.
Bell enjoyed a glittering career with the Dons, winning the league title three times, Scottish Cup twice and the European Super Cup in 1983.
There is little doubt he would have been a Gothenburg Great, too.
But an ankle injury denied him his place in the team for the Cup Winners’ Cup final against Real Madrid in 1983.
Football is known for its dramatic highs and lows, and Bell played a key role in the Dons securing their date with destiny against the Spaniards.
Sir Alex Ferguson selected Bell ahead of teenager Neale Cooper for the semi-final against Waterschei at Pittodrie, and Bell showed why – as he produced a display many regard as his finest in a Dons jersey.
There was only 85 seconds on the clock when Bell’s surging solo run set-up Eric Black for the opener and he went on to run the Belgians ragged as Aberdeen claimed an unsurmountable 5-1 first-leg victory.
Gothenburg beckoned, but Bell’s cup final hopes were dashed just days after his stunning Pittodrie display as he fractured his ankle in the Scottish Cup semi-final win against Celtic.
Bell recalls: “The Cup Winners’ Cup was great, although I was so disappointed I didn’t play in the final.
“I played against Waterschei on the Wednesday and the semi-final against Celtic was on the Saturday.
“I fractured my ankle in the game and played the whole match with that.
“I never realised I fractured it and just played on. It was only when we were on the bus back to Aberdeen my ankle swelled up like a balloon.
“That was three weeks or so before the final.”
Efforts to get fit for Cup Winners’ Cup final proved to be in vain
Ferguson knew his midfielder was in trouble and Bell knew it, too, but he was determined to push his body to the limit for the cause.
He said: “Sir Alex and Archie Knox picked me up the next day and took me to hospital.
“I had the ankle put in plaster and then it was taken off after 10 days.
“I even played the last game of the season when I came on as a sub against Kilmarnock.
“The club arranged a game on the Sunday before the Gothernburg trip and it went again when I was tackled.
“I knew then there was no chance.”
Stein’s words provide solace to Bell 40 years on
Bell was understandably devastated to miss such a momentous occasion for the club. But the words of another managerial great on the way to the final in Gothenburg gave him some solace.
He said: “Jock Stein sat beside me on the bus to the stadium.
“He said he thought I had a great season and in the European games I played a big part in getting to the final.
“He was nice to me and that meant a lot him saying that because he was a legend.
As the 40th anniversary of the club’s greatest triumph approaches Bell, now 63, remains philosophical about what might have been.
He may not have featured on that famous rainy night, but he takes satisfaction from the role he played in helping his club get there and the other successes before and after Gothenburg.
Bell said: “I was lucky because the manager played me in a lot of the bigger games.
“I played in three league title winning teams, won two Scottish Cups and the Super Cup.
“It is nearly 40 years now and great that we are still the last team to beat Real Madrid in a European final.
“I was lucky that I played most of the games that year – it was a great team Aberdeen had.
“I didn’t get a winner’s medal. It was just the players and subs that got them.
“But I played the two Super Cup games and got a medal, so there was a bit of consolation for that.
Bell a key figure in club’s run to Gothenburg
Waterschei was Bell’s night, but Aberdeen’s confidence was sky-high by then thanks to a stunning 3-2 win against Bayern Munich in the quarter-final.
The game remains known as Pittodrie’s greatest game and it was the night where Aberdeen believed they could go all the way.
Bell said: “That year I really enjoyed the European home games and I did well.
“Sion was the first one and I enjoyed the European games at Pittodrie.
“The manager used to encourage me to take people on and there was a great atmosphere in the European nights where I really thrived.
“That really got me going.
“The Bayern Munich away game was good. I liked the away games, because it was tight and you had a wee chance to take the ball on a run and take some pressure off the defenders sometimes.
“But it after the Bayern home game that there was a realisation we could go on to win it.
“They were the favourites to win it that year and when we drew Waterschei in the semi-final we fancied our chances against them.”
Bell knew Dons were destined for success
Signed on a free from St Mirren in 1979, Bell established himself as a vital part of the Aberdeen success in Europe throughout the early 1980s and his direct running and natural ability were well suited on the European stage.
By the time Aberdeen’s history-making European run of 1982/83 had begun, Bell was a serial winner, having crowned his first season with the club by winning the Premier Division in 1980.
Gothenburg was three years in the making, but for Bell the signs were there from day one.
He said: “It was a great achievement at Easter Road to win the title. It was surreal.
“Sir Alex gave me a chance. He told me to come up and I trained all summer in Aberdeen, so I was pretty fit when pre-season started.
“There were players there like Willie Miller, Joe Harper, Steve Archibald and Gordon Strachan. It was a good squad and I could see they were going to do something.”
Bell honoured at induction in his late wife’s home city
Joining Bell in the class of 2022 are former captain Russell Anderson and strikers Duncan Shearer and Frank McDougall.
Davie Robb, scorer of the winning goal in the 1976 League Cup final triumph against Celtic, will be inducted posthumously.
For Bell, the recognition of joining his distinguished former team-mates and other legendary players in the club’s hall of fame will be a poignant moment.
His late wife Hazel, who died of cancer in 2020, hailed from the Granite City and it is clear she will figure prominently in his thoughts when his induction is official.
He said: “It was a great surprise to be told I was being inducted. I was really chuffed because my wife is Aberdonian.
“Hazel passed away a couple of years ago, but she would be really proud I am in it.
“She used to go to all the home games I played, with her dad and her brother-in-law.
“She was always a fan, so it is great to get into the hall of fame.
“I know she would be really proud.”
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