This is a massive match – we won’t let anyone down

Coach Taylor set to relaunch his cup love affair

By Richard Easton

Published:

FORMER DON: Ian Taylor as an Aberdeen player in 1971.

DREAMING OF GLORY: Ian Taylor is ready to help Banks o’ Dee dump Fort William out of the Cup at Spain Park.

CRUCIAL: Dee ace Myles Brownhill.

BANKS o’ Dee’s Scottish Cup hopefuls will be able to call on the vast experience of coach Ian Taylor as the club prepare for their first ever tie against Fort William.

Taylor was on the bench when Aberdeen lost to Celtic in the 1967 final and was an unused member of the squad when the Dons gained revenge at Hampden Park three years later.

Now, more than 30 years on, he is back in the Scottish Cup again with the Super League champions as they prepare to host the Fort on Saturday.

Q What does it mean to you to be involved in the Scottish Cup again?

A This game is as big as any game I’ve been involved in. I was involved in big games when I was a player, but being a coach you have a lot more responsibility.

While it means a lot personally, it obviously means a lot to everyone involved with the club. It’s without doubt the biggest match the club has had since they won the Scottish Junior Cup in 1957, and it’s maybe even bigger than that. We just hope that we can do ourselves justice.

Q What memories do you have of the Scottish Cup?

A My best memory of the cup was probably when I was at Motherwell in 1975 and we were playing Celtic who had players like Kenny Dalglish and Dixie Deans.

We were 2-0 down to them at half time at Celtic Park, but we came out after the break and got one back and I got the equaliser before Willie Pettigrew got the winner.

It was a great result for us, because in those days Celtic were sweeping all before them.

From a disappointing aspect, I missed out on two cup finals with Aberdeen. In 1967 I was on the bench, but in those days you could only use a substitute if someone was injured. It just goes to show you how the game has changed.

Then, in 1970, I was in the squad that got to the final but never made it on to the pitch. That was hard because I was obviously delighted that the club won the trophy, but it was difficult to celebrate with my mates like Martin Buchan and Bobby Clark because I didn’t really feel part of it.

Q Who will be the key men for Dee on Saturday?

A Everyone knows that our biggest asset is the pace we have going forward.

When you have players with the pace of Myles Brownhill and Gordon Carstairs, you can’t fail to make chances.

Ritchie Taylor is also key to the way we play. He’s big and strong and he holds the ball up so well.

We have got players like Ritchie and Ally Reid who have played in the Scottish Cup before, and their experience could prove to be invaluable to us.

Q Can you claim a Highland League scalp in the shape of Fort William?

A If we are to progress, we will need all 11 players to be at their best.

They are a young, fit, enthusiastic side who will be coming here thinking that they have a great chance of reaching the next round because they have drawn a Junior club.

We haven’t had a chance to have them watched, so we will be relying on a lot of information from our friends, Dave Cormie at Inverurie Locos and John Sheran from Cove Rangers.

We are not taking them lightly but we just haven’t had the time to check them out.

This is a massive match for the club and we are determined not to let anybody down.

All we can do is go out there and give it our best shot.

Q Realistically, how far can Dee go in the competition?

A Culter getting to the third round last year was a tremendous achievement, and that is really the target we have set ourselves.

If we could match that then it would be fantastic, but we need a lot of things to go in our favour.

We have a tough match on Saturday, so we are trying just to focus on that and not get ahead of ourselves.

Q What did you think about Joe Harper’s claim in his Evening Express column that Banks o’ Dee don’t deserve to be in the Scottish Cup?

A I had a bit of a joust about this with Joe about a year ago when he first made the comments.

We are obviously looking at it from different angles, but I have to say that I think that it’s a great thing for Junior football in Aberdeen.

I think Joe has just made those comments to provoke a reaction from people.

I saw some teams in the competition last year who lost something like

11-0, so if they can get into the competition I don’t see why we can’t.

Everyone at the club believes that it could be the first steps to the pyramid system and we want to be involved in that should it happen.

If Joe thinks that we are no better than a pub team, then all I can say is that this is the best pub team that I have ever been involved with!

But for now, I think I’ll just keep my powder dry and if we get through I’ll say ‘Hey Joseph, there you go!’