MAY 11, 1983. Gothenburg, Sweden.

The European Cup Winners Cup final between underdogs Aberdeen and Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s Dons against the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano’s Madrid.

There was a stunning upset, with the Scottish club winning 2-1 in extra time.

And recently-appointed Saints assistant manager Eric Black would win a place in folklore by scoring in his club’s most famous win.

Black was just 19 and he wasn’t to know it – how could he? - but he would never net a more important goal in a career which was prematurely ended by injury.

Only seven minutes had elapsed when Black fired in a 20-yard volley which keeper Agustin tipped against the bar and out for a corner.

Gordon Strachan – remember him, Saints fans? – took the flag-kick which deflected off defender Alex McLeish’s head.

Black instantly pounced on the loose ball, firing Ferguson’s side in front.

Though Real captain Jaunito equalised from the penalty spot seven minutes later, the underdogs were not to be denied.

And in extra time, Mark McGhee’s cross was headed in by John Hewitt.

It was Aberdeen’s first ever European trophy, and remains so.

Black had scored the Dons’ first goal of their European journey that season.

He opened the scoring in their 7-0 first round first leg destruction of Swiss club Sion in only the second minute, and added a second later in the game.

The Dons beat Dinamo Tirana and Lech Poznan before meeting German giants Bayern Munich in the last eight.

Having drawn 0-0 in what was then West Germany, Ferguson’s side were trailing 2-1 with 13 minutes left of the second leg at Pittodrie.

But the hosts struck twice for a famous win, before hammering Waterschei S.V. Thor Genk 5-1 in Scotland in the first leg of their semi final.

The Belgians – who disbanded in 1988, a remarkable feat for a club who had reached a European semi final 15 years earlier – won the second leg 1-0, but the Dons had obviously done enough to go through.

Ferguson’s Golden Generation contained names like Strachan, McLeish and McGhee - former Scottish internationals who would go on to become managers in their own right.

There were some big names in that Aberdeen side – captained by Willie Miller with Jim Leighton in goal - but a teenage Black played as important a role as any in the club’s greatest ever season.

His goal in Gothenburg was his 18th of 1982/83 in all competitions.

And there was more to come.

A few days after lifting the European Cup Winners Cup, Aberdeen won the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park – beating Rangers 1-0.

Black grabbed the only goal, as the Dons won the silverware for the second season running.

Despite his young age, Black was a prolific marksman in 1982/83.

Hat-tricks He bagged 12 Scottish League goals as the Dons finished third – just a point behind champions Dundee United (who included ex-Saints boss Paul Sturrock in their side) and level on points with Celtic but possessing an inferior goal difference.

A quarter of Black’s league goals had come in one game, with his hat-trick helping Aberdeen win 3-1 at Celtic in March 1983.

He had scored a League Cup treble against Dundee earlier in the season.

The new Saint finished the term as the Dons’ third top scorer – behind 27-goal McGhee and 20-goal Strachan.

The latter was a regular scorer despite playing in midfield, though he was also the club’s regular penalty taker.

Black won a second European medal the following season, 1983/84, as Aberdeen defeated European Cup holders Hamburg 2-0 on aggregate to win the European Super Cup.

The Dons were close to a second successive European Cup Winners Cup final, too, losing 2-0 on aggregate to Porto in the semi final.

Black enjoyed his best goalscoring season under Ferguson in 1984/85, netting 20 goals in all competitions in 35 appearances.

His hat-trick in a 5-0 win at Hibernian helped the Dons win the Scottish League title – their last such success – while Black also scored twice on his European Cup debut.

His brace helped the Dons beat Dinamo Berlin 2-1 at Pittodrie in a first round first leg tie. Aberdeen lost the second leg by the same score and went out on penalties.

Black scored in his third cup final for Aberdeen in October 1985, netting twice as the Dons beat Hibernian 3-0 to lift the Scottish League Cup.

He would also score in the European Cup that season as his side reached the quarter finals before losing to Gothenburg.

Ferguson, of course, went on to establish a dynasty at Manchester United.

Many of his players also continued to win honours – Strachan, for example, helped Manchester United win the 1985 FA Cup final and Leeds win the last ever First Division title in 1991/92 before embarking on his own managerial career which currently sees him in charge of the Scottish national side.

McLeish won 13 trophies in his long career with Aberdeen, while as a manager he won seven with Glasgow Rangers and the 2010/11 League Cup with Birmingham.

As for McGhee, he went on to win two Scottish League titles and two Scottish Cups with Glasgow Celtic, while as a manager he has won promotion with Reading, Millwall and Brighton. He is currently manager of Motherwell.

Black, though, only ever won one more trophy after leaving Aberdeen in the summer of 1986 to join Metz.

Ferguson didn’t want to lose his striker, however.

In fact, he was furious that Black had chosen to leave for a little-known French club.

Ferguson described Metz, who had just finished sixth in their country’s top flight, as an “insignificant club in Europe” – a charge that Black had to agree with.

“You take a step in the unknown,” he said in an interview earlier this year. “That is what I did. I never even knew where Metz was.”

Within two years, Black was scoring in his fourth major cup final.

This time his equaliser helped Metz draw 1-1 with Sochaux in the final of the French Cup, and Metz won on penalties to claim what remains the club’s last major honour.

“At Aberdeen it seemed to be a case of every year winning a couple of trophies, going away on holiday and coming back and winning another couple of trophies,” Black has recalled.

“When you go to a more provincial club like Metz, who have won only four trophies in their history, it was a really big deal.”

Ferguson, still raging, dropped Black from the Aberdeen team that won the 1986 Scottish Cup final.

”I watched it in the house,” Black said. “It was slightly less exciting than it would have been playing. I can understand maybe why he did it… But I decided I wanted to leave and I was going to leave.”

Black was a pioneer of sorts, becoming only the second Scot to play in the top flight in France – ex-Coventry and Nottingham Forest striker Ian Wallace having played for a short spell at Brest in 1984.

In his wake Other British players followed in his wake, including England striker Mark Hateley and Glenn Hoddle, who signed for Arsene Wenger’s Monaco the following year.

In the mid 1980s, British clubs regularly lost their top players to continental Europe. Mark Hughes and Gary Lineker both joined Barcelona in the summer of 1986 while Graeme Souness and Trevor Francis had joined Sampdoria a few years earlier.

Black might well have beaten both Hoddle and Hateley to Monte Carlo in the summer of 1986, prior to moving to Metz.

He was all set to sign for Monaco – who had new Saints boss Claude Puel in their squad – only for the move to fall down when Nancy refused to allow Wenger to leave and take over at the club.

“I had it all signed and sealed, done and dusted,” Black has said. “But crucially there was a clause in the contract that if Arsene was not released from his contract from Nancy to take over at Monaco, which subsequently was the case, it was null and void.”

After scoring 70 goals in 180 appearances at Aberdeen, Black scored 26 times in 80 outings for Metz.

Sadly, he was forced to retire early from the game due to a back problem in 1991. He was just 29.

It later transpired that Ferguson believed that Black’s retirement was due to the amount of games he played at a young age.

Black re-appeared in football in 1998/99 as an assistant to Josef Venglos at Glasgow Celtic and then under John Barnes the following season However, in February 2000, Black was dismissed along with Barnes following Celtic’s humiliating defeat to part-timers Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup.

Black was out of the game for over a year before being handed his first managerial role at Motherwell.

On his appointment in October 2001, he said: “I look upon my Celtic experience as just that, a wealth of experience in a short space of time and I hope to bring that to Motherwell.

“At this moment in time Motherwell have offered me the opportunity to be my own man and I’m delighted to take that.”

Black didn’t last too long in charge at Fir Park, though. He won only seven of his 27 games in charge, losing 16 of them, and left before the end of April 2002.

He moved south of the border to become Gary McAllister’s assistant manager at Coventry, before stepping up when McAllister departed in January 2004.

Black took charge of 20 games with the Sky Blues in 2004, which saw them win nine and draw two.

He was eventually ousted in favour of one-time Saints midfielder Peter Reid, a decision that angered Coventry fans.

It was thought that Black brought an attractive and effective style of football to Coventry and his departure was not welcomed by supporters.

He was back in the game by July 2004 with Birmingham City, becoming Steve Bruce’s new assistant manager.

At the time of his arrival, Black stated that he’d be drawing on experiences with Ferguson at Aberdeen.

“I’ve worked with some excellent managers and I think everybody gives you something,” he said.

“You’d be foolish if you didn’t take something from whoever you work under.”

Black was in charge of one game as caretaker manager following Bruce’s exit to Wigan Athletic, which was a 2-0 defeat to Portsmouth.

He left St Andrew’s in November 2007.

In 2009, Black was working with Bruce again at Wigan Athletic as an assistant between 2007 and 2009.

He then joined Bruce again at Sunderland.

Again, the current Hull boss departed - this time sacked by the Black Cats - and took charge of one game as caretaker before he left in early December 2011.

Only a month later Black was back in work as assistant head coach to Blackburn’s manager Steve Kean.

He replaced Paul Clement, who is now assistant boss at Bayern Munich.

And again, Black had the thankless task of becoming Rovers’ caretaker boss after the resignation of Kean in September 2012.

In fact, that was the thankless task of all thankless tasks given the hatred and vitriol which had cascaded down from the stands at Ewood Park onto Kean.

Black lost just one of his six games as caretaker boss, but he left Ewood Park at the end of October 2012.

After a short spell as advisor to Blackpool caretaker boss Barry Ferguson in 2013/14, Black was hired at Wigan again to become first team coach to ex-Saint Uwe Rosler.

At the end of the 2014/15 season, he joined Rotherham as first team coach under Steve Evans.

Evans was dismissed as manager in September 2015 and Black took caretaker charge of the Millers for just one game prior to the arrival of Neil Redfearn.

A fluent French speak thanks to his five years in France with Metz, Black was made assistant manager at doomed Aston Villa in January this year under Remi Garde.

Then, after Garde’s tenure ended after just 147 miserable days in charge at Villa Park, Black was called up for caretaker duties once more.

He could do little but oversee Villa’s inept side relegated to the Championship.

He was in charge for seven games, losing six of them and winning just one point – from a 0-0 home draw against a Newcastle side that were also relegated. One of his losses was a 4-2 home reverse against his new employers.

In early June, Black departed Villa with Roberto di Matteo coming in to take charge.

Black then joined Saints to be assistant manager to Puel, the man who he was close to playing alongside for Metz three decades earlier.

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