"He never felt scared to play you, no matter what age you
were. If he felt you were good enough you played. I was 16
and going into a strong team, which helped - but he was not
worried about playing anyone at any age.
"I was grateful for that and I hope I never let him down.
Sir Alex drilled into us that we should not be afraid of any
team. We started defeating Celtic and Rangers in the early
1980s, and he played to our strength.
"He and Archie Knox were very good at researching other
teams, and we knew everything about them. We went into every
game respecting the opposition. But we did not fear them,
and that was the way he managed us.
"The ability and strength was there - but he gave us self-
belief as well. It did not matter if it was Real Madrid or
Greenock Morton; we had the same attitude and commitment,
and that is why Aberdeen were successful.
"All my days at Aberdeen are good ones - from the trophies
to the lads I played with. I won four Scottish Cups, two
league titles, a League Cup, a European Cup Winners' Cup and
a European Super Cup during my time there. It was a fair
haul at that age. But it was great to play in a such a great
team with a strong manager."