"Do you know what I was doing 29 years ago today? I took a wee team Aberdeen to beat Real Madrid in a European final with 11 players home bred and the oldest was 27 years of age," Sir Alex Ferguson boasted at his Premier League pre-match press conference on Friday.

Before ending 26 years of hurt to deliver Manchester United their eighth English title or preside over the 1999 Treble hegemony, Ferguson broke the Old Firm dominance north of the border.

Already Aberdeen had won their first Scottish title in 25 years in 1980, but the Govanite then steered them to a major European final.

And in the pouring rain of Gothenburg's Ullevi stadium, it would be John Hewitt who wrote one of Scottish club football's greatest chapters.