Aberdeen captain Willie Miller and renowned Scottish football writer Hugh MacDonald pick up the tale in the documentary.
“He’ll think you are just here to enjoy the moment,” Miller says of what Ferguson was told about Di Stefano.
“And then go into your dressing room and tell your players that these opponents just think you are here to make up the numbers.
“He’s playing Real Madrid in a cup final, but he’s still saying to Stein, ‘What would you do?'”
What the ploy did was lull both Di Stefano and Real into a false sense of security while riling up the Dons players.
Ferguson’s Aberdeen flew out of the blocks in Gothenburg.
Eric Black put them ahead after seven minutes before a Juanito penalty levelled proceedings.
The match entered extra time and, with penalties looming, John Hewitt headed a 112th-minute Aberdeen winner.
Former Brighton & Hove Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee teed up that famous goal – and he also speaks revealingly in the BBC Sport documentary about how Ferguson had played a trick on both dressing rooms.
Aberdeen’s 1983 side, much like the Class of ’92 Ferguson was to eventually oversee in Manchester, put youth to the fore and McGhee says: “We were pretty gullible in the sense that we believed what he told us.”
McGhee’s unwavering belief in his manager was reflected in how Ferguson backed his players, even before the match kicked off.
Immediately following the Di Stefano dinner, Stein caught up with Ferguson to see whether his plan had been swallowed by his opposite number.
“Stein asked the boss, ‘How did that go?’ Kennedy says. “And the boss said, ‘1-0’.”
