Tomorrow is my 70th birthday and for this week’s column the Evening Express have asked me to take a look back.
On and off the pitch I’ve had a great time and the years have gone by in a flash.
I certainly don’t feel 70, that’s for sure. I’m still very active and don’t have any plans on slowing down.
Looking back on my playing career I loved my football and loved playing for Aberdeen.
Becoming a hero of the Red Army and the club’s record goalscorer means a lot to me.
It was a merry-go-round from Morton to Aberdeen to Everton and Hibs and back to Aberdeen where I finished my career in 1981.
It gave me so much pleasure, fun and excitement as well as winning trophies and playing for my country – what more can you ask for?
When you grow up as a kid you want to play in cup finals and win things and I did that at 22 when we beat the second best team in Europe – who were Celtic – in the 1970 Scottish Cup final and I scored a penalty in front of 108,000 fans at Hampden.
At Aberdeen I also won the League Cup in 1976 and the Premier Division in 1980.
But the biggest battle I’ve overcome was after the stroke I had in October 2004.
It happened when I was working as an after-dinner speaker in Kirkcaldy.
The stroke has changed my habits – I don’t drink anywhere near as much as I used to.
And it’s changed how I think. One minute you are happy and active and the next minute you are lying in hospital paralysed down one side and wondering what’s going on.
I took a sip of energy drink and my doctor told me that caused the stroke.
I was very fortunate that it wasn’t worse because a lot of people have strokes that are very bad or even fatal.
I still walk with a limp and don’t have a lot of feeling in my right hand – but things could have been much worse.
When I was in hospital there were people who had had strokes and they were 100 times worse than me.
The doctors said if I hadn’t been a footballer who was used to training and exercising every day then the stroke would have affected me a lot more. But I did my training and it helped.
I still have plenty more planned for the years ahead.
This year I’m hoping to visit Steve Archibald in Barcelona and when I spoke to him about it he said: “oh brilliant, bring your trainers and we’ll get you playing in a legends five-a-side match with ex-Barcelona players.”
I feel very lucky to still be here so here’s to a few more years – long live the King!
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