Time to deliver

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Jul 6, 2008 | by IAN BROADLEY

JIMMY CALDERWOOD insists that it's time Aberdeen lived up to Alex Ferguson's legacy instead of always being intimidated by it.

The Dons' greatest ever manager brings his Champions League stars from Old Trafford to Pittodrie on Saturday.

It's a game to honour the side Fergie steered to his first European success in the Cup Winners' Cup Final against Real Madrid 25 years ago. That was the crowning glory of a spell that saw 10 major prizes stuffed into the Pittodrie trophy cabinet in only six years.

However, a meagre three have followed in the 22 years since Sir Alex left for Old Trafford and Aberdeen boss Calderwood knows that is not good enough.

Too many of his predecessors have crumbled under the pressure of recapturing those glory day but Calderwood relishes the challenge.

He said: "It will be a great occasion to welcome Sir Alex back to Pittodrie even if he causes me nightmares living up to that legacy every Saturday.

"Hopefully that might die down a bit after this 25th anniversary celebration but to be honest it's something we should be rightly proud of and not intimidated by.

"We must use that as an inspiration to be successful in the future, not an excuse for failing as that is what made this club and earned it the right to be respected inside and outside Scotland.

"I worked for years in Holland. While they didn't know much about Scottish football they did know the name of Aberdeen because of what happened here in the Ferguson era.

"I'm having to live up to the achievements of the great man but all you can do is go out and make your own history in this game."

Ferguson last brought his team to Pittodrie to play a testimonial for his former coach and kitman at Pittodrie, Teddy Scott.

But Calderwood knows from personal experience just what loyalty means to someone who was also brought up in Govan.

It was as a toddler that the Dons boss first got a glimpse of his Manchester United counterpart playing alongside his uncle Angus Shaw on public parks in Glasgow.

And it's a connection that Sir Alex has maintained throughout his years of triumph at Old Trafford.

The Aberdeen boss said: "He is a very good friend of my uncle's as they played at Harmony Row as teenagers together and I used to go and watch them when I was just a little kid.

"Alex pays for the whole team to go down to Old Trafford every year, including a couple of boys who come back from South Africa, and looks after them.

"He is a winner and can be a really hard man as you have to be to achieve what he has done.

"But when you are in his company he is absolutely brilliant as I know from my uncle's stories of those trips.

"They go into the office after the game then it's a few drinks and the great man still enjoys a wee singsong so that sort of thing says a helluva lot about him as a person."