Former Aberdeen boss, Jimmy Calderwood passes away
Former Aberdeen and Dunfermline Athletic manager Jimmy Calderwood has died aged 69.
Calderwood was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2017, three years after his final managerial post with Dutch side De Graafschap.
The Glaswegian led Dunfermline to promotion from the Scottish second tier in 2000 and guided them to a record fourth-place finish in the top flight four years later.
His Aberdeen team famously drew with Bayern Munich in the 2007-08 UEFA Cup.
Calderwood also had short spells with Kilmarnock and Ross County – the latter featuring a Scottish Challenge Cup win – and spent much of his playing and coaching career in the Netherlands.
A midfielder, Calderwood won an apprentice contract with Birmingham City in 1971, going on to make over 150 senior appearances.
He joined Sparta Rotterdam in 1979, where he played alongside Dutch football giants, and future coaching luminaries, in former Rangers boss Dick Advocaat, Danny Blind and Louis van Gaal. Calderwood would see out his playing days in the Netherlands before becoming a coach.
Calderwood moved north from Dunfermline to Aberdeen, spending another five years at Pittodrie.
His best domestic season came in 2006-07, when the Dons finished third in the league – our highest placing in 21 years – and claimed European football. That sparked an improbable Uefa Cup run during the following campaign, when Dnipro were dispatched in the qualifying round, FC Copenhagen hammered in the group stage, and qualification to the last 32 secured.
Aberdeen drew Bayern Munich and battled to a storied 2-2 draw at Pittodrie before being losing in the return leg.
Calderwood left Aberdeen in 2009, and kept Kilmarnock in the top flight after taking over at Rugby Park in January 2010.
He oversaw Ross County’s Challenge Cup win a year later, before returning to the Netherlands with Go Ahead Eagles.
He revealed his dementia diagnosis in August 2017 in a bid to raise awareness of the condition.
