WSA Fun Fact #3

Getting the Royal Treatment

WSA Assistant Coach Constantin Ignat played against legendary Scottish manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Of course, if he wasn't a sir back then, but his teams were just as successful.

Back in 1981, Coach Ignat played for a Romanian club called FC Arges Pitesti. Arges had done well enough in their league the previous year to qualify for the UEFA Cup. At the same time, a team in Scotland not named Celtic or Rangers was rapidly on the rise. This club of course was Aberdeen led by an ambitious, young Scottish manager named Alex Ferguson.

Notice the Ignat in the team lineups. He is #10

"It was a long time ago, but I remember in Scotland we were beat pretty bad" recalls WSA's assistant coach. Aberdeen beat Coach Ignat and Arges 3-0 in Scotland. 

However, things got interesting in the second leg. "We were up 2-0 and attacking for that third goal, but Aberdeen hit us on the counter." The two sides would eventually play to a 2-2 draw in Romanian, meaning the future knight's side advanced 5-2 on aggregate. Aberdeen would, however, lose in the next round to Hamburger SV.

In the next few years, Aberdeen go on to dominate Scottish and European football, beating Real Madrid in the 1983 Cup Winner's Cup Final. Alex Ferguson left Aberdeen in 1987 to join Manchester United, and the rest they would say is history.

Coach Ignat would also have success later in his playing career, joining the Winnipeg Fury and winning a CPSL title with them.