Agenda and draft minutes

With reference to Article 12 of the minute of its meeting of 14 December 2022, and in accordance with arrangements made pursuant thereto, the Council convened this day at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, for the purpose of conferring the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen on Aberdeen Football Club and the Gothenburg Greats.

The proceedings were opened by the Lord Provost who said:-

“It is with the greatest of pleasure that I have the honour of speaking in support of awarding Aberdeen Football Club and each of the Gothenburg Greats the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen.

The team which has become known as the Gothenburg Greats after winning the UEFA Cup Winners Cup on 11 May 1983 at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg by beating the legendary Real Madrid 2-1 after extra time, gave Aberdeen a night which has lived long in our memories. Many here today will not necessarily have been born then but are very aware of the important place this team has in Aberdeen folklore.

As Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned in his video message, Aberdeen remain the last team to have beaten Real Madrid in a major European final, 40 years ago, which is quite a statistic.

In the same week, the team returned to Scotland and beat Hibernian at Pittodrie in the Premier Division, and the following Saturday went on to retain the Scottish Cup by beating Rangers 1-0 at Hampden. Later that year, they went on to beat SV Hamburg to win the UEFA Super Cup on another great night at Pittodrie.

The domestic record of Aberdeen Football Club during the 1980s, the core of the team being the players and staff who were responsible for the European successes, included 3 Premier Division Titles, 4 Scottish Cups, a Scottish League Cup and a Dryburgh Cup.

The squad gained 315 Scottish international caps between them; 8 of them went on in their careers to successfully manage various clubs in the Scottish and English Football Leagues and three went on to manage Scotland’s National Team - Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish and their manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

In addition to the players who became synonymous with Gothenburg, we need to add some more names - Sir Alex Ferguson, Archie Knox and the late Teddy Scott who were equally fundamental to the success in Gothenburg and the other successes already mentioned today.

The coming together of the right components for success: players, management, the board and the loyal fans are and were essential in the success of Aberdeen Football Club in the 1980s in particular.

The Freedom of the City is the highest honour that the City of Aberdeen can bestow on anyone, be they citizens of the city, individuals who have greatly enhanced the City of Aberdeen by their actions or similarly given exemplary service to the country or humankind.

Since 1834, the Freedom of the City has been conferred on 74 recipients including Prince Albert; Field Marshal Douglas Haig after World War I; Sir Winston Churchill after  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.