Former Aberdeen captain Russell Anderson will always be grateful for the impact Craig Brown had on his career.
Brown was in charge of the Dons when Anderson returned to his hometown team in January 2012 following an injury-blighted spell with Derby County.
The central defender went on to captain the Dons to League Cup success in 2014 – a year after Derek McInnes succeeded Brown in the Pittodrie hotseat.
Anderson remains thankful to former Scotland boss Brown, who died on Monday at the age of 82, for bringing him back to the Granite City.
He said: “My relationship with Craig goes all the way back to the first time I was called up to the Scotland squad.
“It was a last-minute call-up for Gary Naysmith and myself ahead of the France game (in 2000) for the unveiling of the new Hampden.
“More recently he took me back from Derby and I don’t know how my career would have finished if he hadn’t done that.
“He actually phoned me the season before in the summer to ask if I would be interested.
“There was a draw and an attraction with the way he sold it and it did seem like something I would seriously consider but we had just moved the family a few months before and I felt I needed to give Derby one more season to see how it would play out.
“He was good enough and genuine enough to speak to me nine months later when I asked to use the facilities at Aberdeen after I got my injury (a ruptured hamstring).
“I finished up at Derby and he was more than willing to offer me the facilities to get me back on my feet.
“If it hadn’t been for him it would probably have been unlikely that I would have come back to the club at that point and I wouldn’t have been part of the team that went on to win the cup.
“I have an awful lot to thank him for.”
A positive influence on the Dons
Anderson says Brown brought a huge amount of positivity to the Aberdeen dressing room.
He fondly recalls one team talk before a benefit match for Neil Simpson in 2013 against a star-studded Manchester United team that included David De Gea, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and then Scotland captain Darren Fletcher.
He said: “I was thinking recently about when we played Manchester United in 2013.
“They had the decency to bring up a very strong team and I remember Craig’s team talk before the game.
“He said: ‘I wouldn’t take any one of their players over anyone in this team’ and we all loved that.
“You have to be positive as a manager. It is infectious and it rubs off.
“Players can sense if there is any great doubt but he was always very positive.
“He was also a very nice person, first and foremost.
“He knew football inside-out, there was no way he could have had the career he did if he didn’t.
“He was a real people person. Everybody took to Craig.
“I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say a bad word about him.”
Brown succeeded Mark McGhee at Pittodrie with the club rooted at the bottom of the top flight but he quickly steered the club away from the threat of relegation.
He said: “Aberdeen and Craig Brown was a good fit.
“It is a good club and there are good people working there.
“Yes, there will be periods when the team does well and periods when it does not so well.
“Everyone at Aberdeen had so much time for Craig.
“That went right the way through the club, it didn’t matter who you were, Craig had time for you.
“Even on the corporate side, he was really popular and became very friendly with a lot of supporters.
“He got invited to everything because he was somebody you wanted to spend time with.”
Anderson believes Brown’s excellent recruitment played a pivotal role in helping the Dons end a 19-year wait for a trophy with victory in the 2014 League Cup final against Caley Thistle.
Along with Anderson, Brown also signed Niall McGinn, Mark Reynolds and Jonny Hayes who would all go on to become pivotal players for the Dons.
He added: “As someone who was on the outside looking in at that point, when Craig came into the club, it was in a real mess.
“He kept them up that season which was a remarkable achievement that can’t go unnoticed.
“Beyond that season, you have to look at the players he signed and his recruitment was good.
“I’m sure Derek McInnes would agree that a lot of the pieces of the jigsaw were already there.
“Derek went on and signed more good players to enhance the team but there was a lot of good work done by Craig.
“We were just disappointed that we didn’t finish as far up the table as we should have in his final season.”