Fifty years ago the Northern Lights of Aberdeen were indeed shining. In 1955 the Dons won their first league championship, leaving the Old Firm in their slipstream, and they went on to complete a golden calendar year by lifting the League Cup the following October.

“We were ahead of our time,” says Bobby Wishart, the team’s inside forward. “We were playing 3-4-3 back then and we had something the other clubs didn’t — searing pace up front. Jackie Hather was the fastest thing I’ve ever seen on a football field, with Graham Leggat and Paddy Buckley not far behind. Archie Glen was the equal of Willie Miller in defence and we had a fabulous goalkeeper in Fred Martin.

“But the secret ingredient was trainer Davie Shaw. He was the tactical mastermind, while the leadership of skipper Jimmy Mitchell ensured we were a very together team, the spirit in the camp was marvellous. Nobody fancied playing against us, particularly at Pittodrie.”

The team pictured here, lining up against Celtic in the season’s penultimate game, had high hopes of mounting a consistent challenge to the Glasgow hegemony. It would be another 25 years, however, before Alex Ferguson’s great side brought a second league flag to the Granite City. [The numbers refer to a photograph, which is not carried on the website.]

1 Robert Paterson Replaced injured skipper Jimmy Mitchell at right-back in the title run-in. Signed from Queen’s Park in 1948, his senior career lasted until 1959, when he retired as a Dumbarton player. He then worked as an accountant in Aberdeen and was the club’s auditor. Retired and living in Glasgow

2 David Caldwell A ball-playing full-back, he was not a regular because of national service commitments, but after left-back Billy Smith broke a leg, he played a major role in the push to the title. From Clydebank, he subsequently served Rotherham, Morton, Toronto City, Fraserburgh and Keith. He was later a marine engineer, and now lives in retirement in Aberdeen

3 Fred Martin Right up there with Bobby Clark and Jim Leighton in the list of distinguished Aberdeen and Scotland goalkeepers. Confident and commanding, he will perhaps be tainted by being in goal when Scotland were hammered 7-0 by Uruguay in the 1954 World Cup finals and in the 7-2 Wembley defeat by England in 1955. He signed from Carnoustie Panmure in 1946 as an inside forward, but switched to goalkeeper while on national service. Back at Pittodrie, he impressed in his new position and spent 14 years with his only senior club. After football he went into the whisky trade and is now retired in Perth. An inaugural inductee into the Aberdeen Hall of Fame

4 Joe O’Neil Another of the reserves who played his part, standing in for injured right-half Jackie Allister. He followed Dons manager Dave Halliday to Leicester before finishing his football career as player-manager of non-league Bath City and settling in the West Country. He died last year

5 Alec Young A boilermaker in a Govan shipyard, he was snapped up by Aberdeen after starring at centre-half in Blantyre Victoria’s Junior Cup-winning side of 1950. Although just 5ft 8in, his fierce sliding tackles and surprising aerial ability more than made up for any lack of height. He left the club in 1958, aged 33. He was player-manager at Ross County for six years before opening a grocery shop in Fortrose, where he still lives

6 Archie Glen The left-half from Ayrshire was stand-in skipper for the injured Mitchell, and his winning penalty at Clyde clinched the title. He became Dons captain full-time the next season, won two Scotland caps, and remained with the club until he retired in 1961. He then worked for a decorating firm in the northeast. He died in 1997

7 Graham Leggat The flying, goal-scoring winger was a member of the first Scotland under-23 team, going on to win 18 full caps. He marked his international debut, against England at Hampden in 1956, with a memorable goal. A qualified PE teacher, he played for Fulham, Birmingham and Rotherham before, after 248 goals in 500 games, he emigrated to Canada. As a TV presenter he became the face of Canadian soccer and is credited with doing much to make the game popular across that nation. He still lives in Toronto

8 Henry ‘Harry’ Yorston The nephew of pre-war Aberdeen legend Benny Yorston, he was known as ‘The Golden Boy’. A talented inside forward, he suffered from playing for a provincial club and won just one Scotland cap. He quit Aberdeen in 1957, aged 28, to become a fish porter while he played out his career with Buckie Thistle, Fraserburgh, Deveronvale and Lossiemouth. Had a major pools win in the seventies but died 10 years ago

9 Paddy Buckley The bustling centre-forward won three caps, while in competition for a dark blue jersey with Willie Bauld of Hearts and Hibs’ Lawrie Reilly. Injury cost him a place in the 1954 World Cup squad, and a severe knee problem led to his premature retirement in 1957. He returned to his native Leith and now, in frail health, is in a nursing home in Tranent, East Lothian

10 Bobby Wishart A product of the rugby-playing George Heriot’s school in Edinburgh, he signed from Merchiston Thistle. The inside-left then moved to Dundee in 1961, winning a second championship medal in 1962 and keeping Craig Brown out of the team. He ended his career with Airdrie and Raith, and while still playing was taken under the wing of then Hearts chairman Bill Lindsay, succeeding him as secretary of the National Farming Union Scotland. He later joined the Britannia Building Society as its Edinburgh manager, a post he held until retiring in 1993

11 Jackie Hather The long-serving English outside-left, like Leggat on the other flank, combined a goal threat with great pace, which earned him the nickname ‘The Hare’. He died in 1990