Manchester United legends Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt have both said that Sir Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen side winning the European Cup Winners' Cup against Real Madrid was a greater achievement than anything he managed during his 26-year spell at Old Trafford.
Ferguson took charge at Pittodrie in 1978, after earlier management roles at East Stirlingshire and St Mirren. Over the next eight years, he led Aberdeen to three league titles, four Scottish Cups and one League Cup.
Gothenburg Glory in 1983
His most celebrated moment with the Dons came at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg in May 1983, when John Hewitt scored an extra-time winner to beat Real Madrid and lift what was then Europe's second most prestigious cup competition.
Aberdeen had earlier knocked out Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, and in November of the same year defeated Hamburg 2-0 over two legs to win the European Super Cup.
Scholes and Butt on Ferguson's Legacy
Ferguson moved to Manchester United in 1986 and went on to dominate English football, winning 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups and four League Cups, as well as two Champions League titles in 1999 and 2008.
Speaking on The Good, The Bad and the Football podcast, alongside Gordon Strachan and comedian Paddy McGuinness, Scholes said: "Going back to Aberdeen, and I was thinking about it on the way here, beating Real Madrid in the Cup Winners' Cup and then Hamburg in the Super Cup is just outrageous."
Butt added: "I think that is a better achievement than what he did at United sometimes", to which Scholes replied: "Probably, yeah."
Strachan Recalls Ferguson's Methods
Strachan, who followed Ferguson to Old Trafford, also revealed how the manager used 'youth-team babysitters' to monitor his Aberdeen players off the pitch.
He stated: "He terrorised us. I mean, we couldn't go out. He'd know exactly where you were during the weekend. And matter of fact, even if I went on Saturday night with my wife, he would get the youth team players to babysit for us, right? I had Bryan Gunn, remember the goalkeeper. He was my babysitter."
Strachan added: "He made sure the youth team never went on a Saturday night, but on Monday he used to get them going 'Where was Strachan? What time did he come in?'"
