Scottish Football Stories

When it comes to cult signings in Scottish football, Aberdeen’s capture of Dutch goalkeeper Theo Snelders has to be up there with the best of them.

Snelders had the cool name, he had the cool look – bearing more than a passing resemblance to film star Tom Cruise – and, as Aberdeen fans quickly discovered, he was an excellent goalkeeper, too. He would have to be; signed from Twente Enschede in the summer of 1988 to replace Jim Leighton, who had been brought to Manchester United by former Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson, expectations were high amongst Dons fans. They needn’t have worried. As James McLeod wrote in the December 1988 edition of Scottish Football Today magazine:

“The Guilders the Dons sent to Twente Enschede for the tall 24-year-old only a few months ago, have turned to gold.”

Cup final heroics & moment of madness

Such was the Dutchman’s impact in his first season in the North-East, he was named Scottish PFA Players’ Player of the Year in 1989. Perhaps Snelders’ most iconic moment in an Aberdeen jersey arrived the following season, when he saved Anton Rogan’s spot-kick in a thrilling Scottish Cup Final penalty shoot-out victory against Celtic. The triumph secured a cup double for the Dons; the flying Dutchman had been in impressive form at Hampden earlier in the campaign, making a string of impressive saves, as Aberdeen defeated Rangers 2-1 (after extra-time) in the League Cup Final. The final whistle blew with the ball in Snelders’ hands, and the Dutchman punted the ball high into the air in triumph.

Snelders performed another iconic punt at Hibernian’s Easter Road in November 1991. However, this time, the big man was seething with rage. In an episode that the Herald’s match report described as ‘an incident of remarkable indiscipline for a player of Snelders’ experience’, the goalkeeper reacted furiously to the award of a penalty against his side. The Dutchman sent a right hook crashing into the face of Hibernian striker Keith Wright, and when the referee reached for his pocket to flash the inevitable red card, Snelders punted the ball over the stand and out of the ground. More theatre was to follow as defender Brian Irvine, who had conceded the penalty in the first place, took Snelders’ gloves and jersey and saved Pat McGinlay’s resultant spot-kick.

Aberdeen has ‘a big place in my heart’

Not only did Snelders catch the eye with his catalogue of saves, he performed them sporting some memorable jerseys, too. Umbro’s yellow, JVC-sponsored, top with black and grey shoulders and button-collar would be sure to fetch a small fortune on football jersey websites. However, some of the mid 1990s options may come a little cheaper.

In seven full seasons in the North-East, Snelders and his Aberdeen teammates finished runners-up in the league – behind Rangers each time – on five occasions.

In early 1996, and with former understudy Michael Watt jumping ahead of the Dutchman in the pecking order, Snelders moved to Rangers for £300,000. This has forever been remembered as a peculiar move. Firstly, given the frosty history between the two clubs, and, secondly, due to Rangers being renowned for having a wealth of options between the sticks. Contending with Andy Goram and, later, Lionel Charbonnier and Stefan Klos, Snelders made only 18 appearances during a three-year spell in Govan, before returning to his homeland in 1999.

Snelders is a regular visitor to Scotland and, speaking to the Press & Journal newspaper, spoke of his enduring love for the Granite City: “Aberdeen means so much to me,” he said. “I got married when I was there and both my kids were born in Aberdeen, so it has a big place in my heart.”

The flying Dutchman is, undoubtedly, one of the most iconic foreign players to have graced the Scottish game.