The Hamburg friendly did not capture the public's imagination

Only 5,000 fans turned up on Thursday night to see the German side win 3-2.

And the Scottish club then woke up to newspaper headlines claiming that members of their European Cup-winners' Cup winning team had felt snubbed by the event.

Former captain and BBC football pundit Willie Miller said: "If you are going walking down memory lane, you should take those who gave you the happy times along with you."

Hamburg were the side beaten as Aberdeen went on to lift the European Supercup in 1984 and Miller said: "You'd think they would want the players there who won them the European trophies in the first place."

We must hold our hands up on this one and apologise Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness

Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness had earlier apologised to John Hewitt, who scored the winning goal as Aberdeen defeated Real Madrid in the 1983 Cup-winners' Cup final in Gothenburg and was opening a new landscaped area outside the Richard Donald Stand.

"We must hold our hands up on this one and apologise to John Hewitt," he said.

"It was assumed that, when he was invited to open Centenary Way, he would attend the game afterwards.

"The Gothenburg greats have a huge role to play, not only in the centenary but in the anniversary of Gothenburg, which has been celebrated and will continue to be celebrated on many occasions.

"The centenary campaign will focus on Gothenburg in May, when there are a variety of events planned which will honour those players and allow everyone to reminisce about that exceptional time in our history.

"It would be unfair to continually parade the Gothenburg players when there are other players, other eras and other triumphs from our past to be remembered during the centenary.

"We are trying to make the celebrations as all-encompassing as possible, with events such as an audience with legends from the 40s, 50s and 60s, schools projects, corporate events and a family day."

A musical play celebrating the 20th anniversary of the win over Real, entitled Glory of Gothenburg, is running at Aberdeen Arts Centre Threatre until 29 March.

The play, written by Graeme Watson, features actual match highlights and hit songs from the Eurythmics, Spandau Ballet, Wham and others from that era.