The Dundee Programme Collector

"Drab" Dundee Dazzle in Ibrox Fog

2011-11-11T09:00:00.035Z

Great sides are remembered for seminal performances that served to underline their brilliance. In November 2010, Barcelona: currently the most revered team on the planet, blew Real Madrid away, five-nil, at Camp Nou; in November 1961 Dundee unleashed Gilzean on their very own title rivals. The result of the Rangers-Dundee league game has since passed into Dundee folklore and Rangers infamy. However, it is worth noting the game almost never went ahead due to the fog that had descended in Glasgow that day:

"Of all the hazards of weather that besets sport in winter fog is by far the most serious. Grounds staff can contain the effects of the menace of rain, snow, and frost, but they are helpless when fog blankets the playing pitches. One of several Scottish League matches due to be played today which are at the mercy of the fog is that between Rangers and Dundee at Ibrox Stadium...The game is the most important of the league season so far in that Rangers, the First Division champions and undefeated in this season's competition, will be opposed by the club most likely of all to take the league title away from them...Rangers can afford the loss of a Saturday attendance, such as today promises to be, more than Dundee, but if they miss the immediate opportunity to reduce Dundee's lead in the championship the title may slip away as the backlog of games builds up." - Glasgow Herald, 11th November 1961

As the above segment of the article indicates- this was a Rangers team very much on a roll: undefeated in the league and in the final of the League Cup. It was a grand era for the Govan side and they certainly made an impact on Europe reaching the final of the Cup Winner's Cup the season before, and the semi final of the European Cup the season before that. As well as dueling with Dundee in the League Cup sections and league championship, the Glasgow side would reach the quarter finals of the European Cup; underlining their own abilities to compete for multiple honours at home and abroad.

Despite the Govan side's dominance at this time Dundee had quite a favourable recent league record against the Light Blues at Ibrox; having left the ground with at least a point in each of the last four visits:

"Dundee have an impressive record at Ibrox in recent years and are playing with great confidence these days...There is no better half-back line in Scotland than that composed of Seith, Ure and Wishart and few teams possess such striking power in attack as those two tall forwards, Cousin and Gilzean, give Dundee...If the weather is kind the largest league attendance of the season, possibly 70,000, will see what should be a match to remember."

The fog, of course, did not stop the game from going ahead, but it did limit the attendance to only 35,000 as there was some confusion amongst the home and away fans about whether the game was going ahead or not. The following Monday's Herald explained:

"Rumour became fact in Glasgow on Saturday almost as quickly as the Dundee forwards riddled the Rangers defence later in the afternoon. Even before the gates at Ibrox had been opened many thousands of people who were on their way to the Rangers-Dundee match abandoned their journey as news that the game had been postponed because of fog passed through the city.
At 2.15, three-quarters of an hour before the advertised kick-off, the prospect of play was not bright, for though the sun shone from a blue sky in the distance Ibrox was still shrouded in fog. But as the atmosphere became clearer the referee declared the match on, and the gates were opened just before 2.30. The kick-off was delayed 12 minutes in order to admit the crowd who had gathered outside the stadium and who were issued with tickets which they were asked to retain in case early abandonment was necessary.
The attendance was 35,000- probably only half of the number who would have paid for admission had not false information permeated the city. So both Rangers and Dundee lost a great deal of money, and the financial reward for their succession of fine performances which Dundee deserve was at least halved.
Dundee have two great consolations, however. There can now be unqualified praise for their achievements- they are firmly established at the top of the league, five points ahead of their closest rivals and seven ahead of Rangers, the champions, who have rarely suffered so decisive a defeat as Dundee administered to them on Saturday- and they are clear favourites to win the championship and qualify next season for the rich rewards that the European Cup has to offer.
The feat of Gilzean, Dundee's inside left, who scored four of their goals against Rangers, must surely rouse the Scottish International selectors to reconsider their plans for the World Cup play-off match with Czechoslovakia. Not only did Gilzean, who has been an under-23 cap, score four times but he was within inches of scoring four more, and in every aspect of forward play was the superior of Brand, Rangers' inside left. Furthermore the collapse of Rangers, which was not surprising to those who have watched the deterioration in their play in recent weeks, seems to suggest that some of their players are no longer in the form or mood which makes Internationalists."

On the match itself, the paper pays quite a bizarre, back-handed compliment to Dundee's achievement:

Dundee Drab Only in Dress

"Of all the teams in the Scottish League Dundee probably are the most sombrely dressed. As they trooped on to Ibrox Stadium on Saturday in their dark blue shirts, white pants, and dark blue stockings with white tops, one thought of competence and solidity and even of conservatism of football method; if the uniform meant anything Rangers, in vertical light blue and white stripes, lighter blue, shimmering shorts, and vivid scarlet hose, looked the gay cavaliers of the game, the modern stylists of football.
But dress does not make the footballer any more than it makes the man. Those who wear the drab Dundee shirts these days are worthy of being considered in the class of great Scottish clubs of the past; there is abundance of skill and the essential leavening of dour uncompromising will to win-just such a combination as raised Rangers and Celtic in the past to the peaks of success"

Eventually, from the fashion critique emerged a recognition from the Herald that this Dundee team was about to achieve great things. The match report is a joy to read but what is even better is to view the foggy highlights and witness the artistry for yourself...

"...Rangers really have no answer to this at all..."

One step backwards, two steps forwards

2011-10-03T16:31:00.000+01:00

Pittodrie was the venue and Aberdeen, Dundee's great rivals of the era, the opposition of Dundee's first league defeat of the 1961-62 campaign. In many ways it was a disappointing performance not helped by an early first half penalty. In the programme notes for the Hearts game a week later, it was acknowledged that the poor performance of the attackers up front was chiefly to blame for the defeat. In many ways the result was a turning point for the Dark Blues and the changes made for the following week's 2-0 victory over Hearts set in motion the famous line up that would embark upon a formidable set of performances that would eventually bring the championship trophy back to Dens Park.

It was noted in the Hearts programme that in the corresponding league fixture the previous season, Gordon Smith played for the opposition. Smith was famously brought in by Shankly with a few other players to add experience to the squad to compliment the talented youths coming through the ranks at Dens.

Dundee then travelled to Third Lanark on the 30th September and came away with another victory to banish the Aberdeen performance to distant memory, and begin to make their championship credentials, and intent, known to the rest of the league.

Barcelona v AC Milan, Champions League Final, 1994

2011-09-12T21:39:00.000+01:00

In May 1994, UEFA got a dream final for their flagship competition when Cruyff's "Dream Team" met Capello's AC Milan: Europe's most formidible club side of that and, just perhaps, any era. Barcelona were hoping to extend their domestic dominance- Barca won their fourth consecutive Liga title that year- into Europe. The club had only won the tournament two years before, and saw this final as a chance to take over Milan's crown as Europe's pre-eminent club side.

Wembley Kings Mk 1- 1992 European Cup Winners

Milan, on the other hand, had lost the previous year's final to Marseille and hadn't won Europe's premier cup tournament since 1990; despite continued dominance in Italy. The sides boasted players such as Maldini, Guardiola, Romario, Stoichkov, Rossi, Boban, Desailly et al and the final was certainly memorable. However, what is remembered is how Milan squashed Cruyff's Dream Team and snuffed out any hint of the Catalans usurping Milan as European kings.

Milan took full advantage of poor Barca defending and some luck for the second goal to trounce the Blaugrana 4-0. Milan's empire finally crumbled the following year by virtue of a 1-0 defeat to Ajax in the final, and the rise of Juventus as Italy's domestic power. Barca, on the other hand, never recovered and limped out in the quarter final of the following season's campaign to PSG. They did; however, manage to thrash Manchester United 4-0 en route to that stage; thus showing Alex Ferguson how far behind his team was behind Europe's elite. How history likes to repeat, it seems. At home, two trophyless seasons was enough to see even Cruyff get the sack.

1994 Champions League FInal Venue

Milan would bounce back sooner than Barca with a 2003 Champions League win which signalled the start of another, much shorter, period of European success; with three Champions League final appearances in five editions. Barcelona had to endure scraps in the form of a Ronaldo-inspired Cup Winners Cup victory in 1997 and a couple of Champions League semi final appearances. However, all this mattered not as they witnessed Real Madrid add three Champions League crowns to the six European Cups sitting in the Bernabeu Museum. Even Valencia managed two runners-up spots, beating Barca in the semis of the 1999-2000 tournament. Barcelona would have to wait until 2006 for their shot at another final, and they haven't looked back since...

Dundee 4-1 Dundee United, Sep 9th 1961

2011-09-09T20:13:00.000+01:00


Cover of Derby Match Programme, 09-09-1961

In its preview of the second round of fixtures for the 1961-62 season; The Glasgow Herald, perhaps unsurprisingly, singled out an all Glasgow clash between Partick and Rangers as the game of the day; despite conceding that Partick don't boast a particularly good record against the Ibrox club. The paper does think that the match at Dens will be a "stirring contest"; however, with a "close result" expected. The result was anything but, with the Dark Blues winning 4-1. The first team continued the good work of the reserves who won the "mini derby" 3-2 at Tannadice with McGeachie among the scorers. The match report of the first team's game can be read on Dundee-Mad.

Centre fold of Derby Programme

Dundee 2-2 Third Lanark, League Cup 02-09-1961

2011-09-05T21:02:00.002+01:00

And thus, on the 2nd of September 1961, Dundee rounded off their League Cup campaign with a 2-2 draw against Thirds at Dens. Although the sectional group included Rangers; it was an altogether disappointing campaign with just the two wins from the six games, and Dundee had to content themselves with a second place finish.

"Rangers Held at Dens - an exciting contest"

2011-09-02T20:02:00.000+01:00

Or so went the Herald headline for the match report of the 1-1 draw in the League Cup between Dundee and Rangers on 30th August, 1961. Rangers failed to win for the first time that season and fell behind in the third minute to a Robertson goal. Dundee's attack showed up well with Cousin and Gilzean, the latter recently selected to represent the Scottish League against Eire, receiving the best plaudits. The Dundee defence; however, was not so well received:

"Rangers' four man attack had the Dundee defence- Ure excepted-shaken at times. Cox lost almost every duel with Scott, who might have won the game for Rangers had his finishing been as accurate as his work in the outfield.

Cox, unfortunately, resorted to tactics which were hardly in character for him."

Nevertheless, it was described as Dundee's best display of the season, and these two sides would still have two mouth watering ties to come...

The result cemented Rangers' place in the quarter finals of the cup.

Airdrie 0-5 Dundee, League Cup 26th Aug 1961

2011-08-26T09:00:00.004+01:00

After the impressive victory over Falkirk three days earlier, Dundee picked up where they left off by notching a 5-0 win over Airdrie in the League Cup. Gilzean (2), Cousin, Smith and Penman put the West of Scotland side to the sword with Rangers easily casting aside Thirds in the group's other match. The results left Thirds and Airdrie out of the tournament and with Dundee hanging on to faint hopes of progression- being four points behind with only two left to play. The next game in the tournament was Rangers at Dens in what promised to be another great showdown between the two sides.

Dundee Impress at Brockville: Falkirk 1-3 Dundee, 23rd Aug 1961

2011-08-23T09:00:00.000+01:00

"Falkirk took a real trouncing at Brockville Park, where Dundee, splendidly urged on by Ure, were the complete masters", wrote the Herald in its match report. Dundee shook off their indifferent League Cup form to register an opening day win in the League Championship. Smith and Cousin gave Dundee a 2-0 half time lead which was added to by Wilson in the second period, with Falkirk notching a late, late consolation. Aberdeen, however, stole the show by surging to the top of the table with a 7-0 win over Stirling Albion.

The result at Brockville will have given some cheer to the Dens faithful given the team's unlikely prgression in the League Cup.

Third Lanark 3-2 Dundee, League Cup 19-08-1961

2011-08-19T12:00:00.001+01:00

The third game in the League Cup sectional stage of the 61-62 season was another disappointing one for the Dee. Harley scored two for Thirds in Glasgow, and Wishart obliged with an o.g.: Smith and Gilzean netted for Dundee. The result left Dundee 4 points behind Rangers with the Gers just needing to beat Thirds in the next game to be sure of a quarter final spot.

Meanwhile our city neighbours managed a thrilling 5-3 win over Aberdeen, and St Johnstone managed a 0-0 draw away to Partick to remain top of their section ahead of Hibs and Celtic in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Email Updates

2011-08-16T14:40:00.001+01:00

If you would like email updates when new posts are made to the blog then drop me a line at dundeepc1893@yahoo.com.

50 Years Ago: Rangers 4-2 Dundee, League Cup Sectional Tie, 16th Aug 1961

2011-08-16T09:00:00.002+01:00

"An exhilarating contest", is how the Glasgow Herald described this encounter between two great rivals of the late 50s and early 60s. Rangers' Brand was on sparkling form by all accounts and before scoring in the 12th and 13th minutes he hit the post and crossbar; however, this Dundee team was not to give up so readily and, after settling into the pace of the game, Penman and Cousin levelled the scoring before half time. Dundee started the second half the better team, but Rangers soon took a hold of the game again; nevertheless, it still took them until nine minutes from time to regain the lead through Wilson. This setback prompted Dundee to surge forward in search of an equaliser, but the gaps at the back allowed Rangers, by virtue of Millar, to put the game beyond doubt in the 83rd minute.

So Rangers deservedly won a pulsating fixture; however, they were not to have it all their way in the corresponding league fixture later that year...

In the other group game Thirds and Airdrie played out a 2-2 draw and so Dundee dropped to second place in the section.

50 Years Ago Yesterday: Dundee 2-0 Airdrie, League Cup Sectional Match

2011-08-13T17:33:00.001+01:00

The 1961-62 season opened on the Glorious Twelth with the League Cup sectional games. Dundee started the campaign well with a 2-0 win over Airdrie at Dens in front of 13,000, with goals coming from Wishart and Cousin. In other sectional games the Glasgow Herald reported in length about the fact that the,

"....grounds of Third Lanark and Partick Thistle are not sufficiently well equipped to cope expeditiously with the many thousands who gathered for the opening matches..."

The paper went on to report the disturbances at the turnstiles and during the games, particularly in the Third Lanark v Rangers game and especially when Rangers scored. The report continues:

"When allowance is made for those who feel frustrated in not being able to gain admission in the proper manner one must point out that among the followers of Rangers and Celtic are many who have reached such a pitch of fanaticism that they are completely without regard for person or property. The expression `We are the people' of which Rangers supporters are so fond is no careless compound of words; those who use it really believe that they are the only people who count. Furthermore, many of the teenagers involved in trouble at Cathkin Park are the type who are constantly guilty of misbehaviour at football matches; the young supporter of both Rangers and Celtic is often a menace to the game."

On the field Rangers won 2-0 which left Dundee and Rangers joint top of the section.

German ITK

2011-07-27T21:12:00.000+01:00

A number of years ago I printed off a post from the Manchester United fans website www.m-u-f-c.co.uk and recently found it lurking in a box in the loft. I thought I'd repost it here as it still makes me laugh. The intro implies the post itself was taken from another site and then reposted on m-u-f-c. The last few lines perhaps hint at the motivations behind the post and the contempt the author feels towards his target audience.

"German ITK

This was posted on another "football" message board, it cracked me up so I felt justified in showing it to a wider audience. Those who are familiar with the style of writing will no doubt feel the same..."

"german itk
poland - the truth

Just want to clear up all the sh*t that's been posted about Poland. First off, pre- '39 yes, you could say there was a bit of a Germany/Russia "love in". Basically we both knew we couldn't go firm-on-firm with each other for a couple of years. September '39 we piled in to Poland from the west side, Russia came in from the east. Anyway, the poles had some game lads but didn't stand a chance. F*uck me you should have seen the scruffy c*nts, on f*cking horses! Ours were all dressers, all quality chaps.

So that was that for Poland, we bided our time and let the Russian mob think they had some sort of result, while we bowled all over Western Europe taking liberties everywhere we went. At this time we was UNDISPUTED NUMBER 1 FIRM in my opinion, although others may see it different - WE DON'T TRAVEL DO WE!!!!????? We obviously expected to get a result in Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg etc, but even we was surprised when we went through the French firm in a couple of weeks. For f*cks sakethey even had a mob of English guesting for them till they got on their toes at Dunkirk. Looking back I reckon we should have chased harder and finished the English then, but at the time we was happy enough with the result.

We was on such a roll, we decided to take it to England - mid '40. now I know England was on the back foot, but you have to say fair play to us for having a pop, they were virtually unbeaten at home for nigh on 900 years. Anyway, like I say we took it to them with our Luftwaffe firm, and for a long time it looked like we'd come out on top. Fair play to the English though, the Spitfire and Hurricane mobs were top drawer and in the end we had to pull out. Didn't help that the fat c*nt leading our firm into that row (H***** G******) had already claimed a result! Can call him what I want now - he topped himself before his court case on a Section 250!

We did get some major results against the English at sea - they thought they could hide behind escorts but we broke through again and again. Then some clever f*cker sussed how to tap into our text messages (you should have seen the size of the f*cking mobiles in them days). That was game over in the Atlantic.

The guvnor (AH) was well f*cked off, but he had decided we now had the numbers to take it to the Russians on their own manor. If you ask me he had enough on his plate with the English - and trying to sort out the Spurs mob at home (in fairness that was more HH acting on his own). Anyway, we had a good go in summer '41 - any honest Reds on here will admit this - we run you all over the Ukraine and had you on the backfoot at Leningrad. At the same time we legged you all the way back to Moscow - poxy winter definitely robbed us of the result there.

That was a big winter all round. We'd had a bit of mutual respect with the Japanese mob for a while, but I've got to say I was well surprised when they steamed into the Yanks on their own turf. Suddenly we're at odds with every c*nt and his dog. It all calmed down a bit late winter, for me we spent too much time slapping shirts and not enough time concentrating on their firm - it was inevitable the Reds would come back, the numbers they can pull when they have to is f*cking amazing.

Anyway, we run them again through '42, and chased them all the way back to Stalingrad. F*ck me did it go off there! It was toe-to-toe for months - seriously. I know everyone talks the numbers up but I'm not lying if I say we took a good 200,000 there. Trouble is them f*cking Reds just wouldn't give up, and in the end we had to turn it in. It is well known one of our top boys (FvP) went down too easily for a lot of people's liking. In the end we had about 90,000 nicked, so you can't say we didn't make the effort.

Looking back that winter was where it all started to go wrong. England had got a major result at a pre-arranged meet in North Africa, the Septics were chasing the Japs across the Pacific, and that f*cker (B***** H*****) and his mob were steadily bombing the f*ck out of us. We thought we could count on that little eyetie b*stard (BM), but he got sorted out by his own firm, and suddenly we were on our own.

I've got to be honest and say we didn't get too many results after that, Kharkov maybe, but then we got turned over big time at Kursk, when it was strickly Firm-on-Firm - all top boys, no baggage - and after that a lot of our older lads decided to turn it in. Some even had a go at THE top boy (AH) but it never came off.

After England and the Septics decided they would come across to join in it was curtains, we got squeezed back from both sides and in the end, no question Russia got the result when it came on top in Berlin. Crazy days though, makes me laugh with these lads today and all this "we brung 60/100/150...you didn't show" etc. F*cking hell lads - 60 years too late for the party.

No doubt some gobby f*cker will come on and dispute what I say, but respect to the proper lads who know the score.

Keep it real - what DID happen, not what's gonna happen."

Dundee FC, Jim Bellamy and the Barca Connection

2011-06-23T18:34:00.000+01:00

FC Barcelona are undoubtedly the best club side on the planet at the moment, era defining even, and with Messi in their ranks they have a player who, at only 23, is already being considered the best ever and is a living icon. The Catalans’ links with the city of Dundee are well documented by virtue of Dundee United’s meetings with Barcelona in Europe and recent friendlies. However, Dundee FC has its own links to the current Spanish champions stretching back almost 90 years. At the end of the 1922-23 season, Dundee embarked upon their first foreign tour to Spain and recorded some notable results including a win and a draw against the Spanish Cup holders Athletic Bilbao (3-0 and 1-1); a 2-0 win v Real Madrid and two victories v Valencia (3-0 and 1-0). However, it wasn’t until the final two games of that tour until Dundee would meet their match and in which the locals would turn out in force. On the 3^rd of June 20,000 people turned out- almost twice the figure for the Real Madrid game- to watch Barcelona beat Dundee 3-1. One day later and, incredibly, 28,000 would witness a 2-0 victory for the locals.

The next summer, following the successful tour of 1922-23, Dundee returned to Spain to embark on another- this time on the back of a strong league campaign, finishing 4^th in the 22 team top flight. This time Barcelona provided the opposition for the opening two games. Once again the Barcelona faithful turned out in great numbers with 25,000 attending the home side’s 2-0 defeat. Four days later just the ten thousand would watch Dundee win 2-1. This second tour was ultimately more successful with just the one defeat to Deportivo La Coruna. In Norrie Price’s “Up Wi’ The Bonnets” the author highlights a rather tempestuous match against Real Madrid in which the Dundee players, the referee and even armed police had almost come to blows due to a soft penalty awarded by an otherwise disinterested referee to the home side.

These Spanish tours were successful and were no doubt one of the highlights in the club’s 30 year history. Five years after their last Spanish tour a former Dundee FC player, Jim Bellamy, took the coach’s job at Barcelona following a stint at Italian club Brescia. James Francis Bellamy was born on 11^th of September 1881 in Bethnal Green and as a player he was quite the journeyman taking in Barking, Grays United, Reading, Woolwich Arsenal, Portsmouth, Norwich, Dundee, Motherwell, Burnley, Fulham, Southend, Ebbw Vale and Barking Town. Arsenal.com states that 1905-06 was his best for the Londoners where he played in 15 of the first 17 fixtures but he was relegated to the fringes in the following two seasons. Bellamy would make 29 appearances for the London club but that figure is dwarfed by the 118 he would make for Dundee FC.

Bellamy wrote himself into Dark Blue folklore by virtue of being a member of the 1910 Scottish Cup winning side and he proved integral, scoring the equaliser in the 2^nd replay with Sailor Hunter later obliging with a winner to bring the trophy to Dens for the first and only time. The cup win was possibly Bellamy’s finest hour as a player but better was to come in management.

Quite how Bellamy ended up in Italy and then Catalonia from his last posting as a player at Barking isn’t clear but he was to write his name in Barcelona, and indeed, La Liga history by taking the inaugural title back to Les Corts- Barca’s home ground at the time. He wouldn’t know it of course but Bellamy started Barca on their way to their current total of 21 league titles and counting. Barcelona’s official website gives only a short bio in which it mentions his achievement:

“James Bellamy, together with Romà Forns, had the honour to have formed part of the coaching team that led Barcelona Football Club to win the first League in history.

Furthermore, the club won the Campeonato de Catalunya in the 29-30 and 30-31 seasons.”

During Bellamy’s time at Barcelona he spoke to El Mundo Deportivo- a Barcelona based sports newspaper- about his time in England, Scotland and Italy and how the different styles of football contrast. Why he is perhaps not too fondly remembered in Barcelona becomes clear in the second part of his bio on FC Barcelona.com:

“However, to his detriment, it must be said that with him as coach, Barça underwent one of the most deplorable events and its biggest defeat in all of its history, losing 12-1 in the League Championship.”

That defeat is still a Liga record. The well travelled Bellamy also managed in Germany but whether this was before or after his stint at Barca is also unclear. Bellamy died in Chadwell Heath on 30^th March 1969. It would be nice to think that he looked on with admiration and pride at the successes of Dundee and Barcelona in the 50’s and 60’s.

Barcelona v Real Madrid

2011-04-10T22:52:00.001+01:00

Barcelona v Real Madrid, European Cup Semi, 1960

This week’s first leg Champions League results have; barring a catastrophic reversal of fortunes for the teams involved in the second leg; confirmed a third European Cup/Champions League semi final meeting between Barcelona and Real Madrid. The matchup will present an opportunity for the Catalans to redress the balance somewhat as Madrid have come out on top in both previous clashes at this stage.

In the 2001-02 competition, both clubs finished top of their respective groups; with Madrid winning their group rather more convincingly than their cross country rivals. Both teams also had to overcome first leg defeats in the quarter finals to set up the “Match of the Century” first leg clash at Camp Nou. Five hundred million tuned in to the game in which the Galacticos of Madrid put to bed an awful run of results in Barcelona’s home ground by winning 2-0 with the goals coming from Zidane and McManaman (clearly, the term “Galactico” was banded about loosely in some cases). Barca managed a respectable 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu in the second leg but the damage was already done. Madrid then went on to win their 9^th European Cup against Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden.

To find the other semi final match up you have to go all the way back to 1959-60 and the meeting of Alfredo Di Stefano’s outstanding Madrid and Luis Suarez’s C.F. Barcelona (as they were known then). Both teams were driven by some magnificent Hungarians- Madrid in the form of Puskas and Barcelona by the trio of Kubula, Kocsis and Czibor. Both teams were prolific scorers en route to the final with Barcelona thrashing Milan 5-1 at Camp Nou. Barcelona also put to bed once and for all the delusions of grandeur that the, admittedly, great Wolverhampton Wanderers side of the era frequently displayed by squashing the English side 9-2 on aggregate. That set up a tasty clash of the Spanish giants in the semi final. Much like the semi final that followed 42 years later, Madrid won by two goals in the Camp Nou. This time, however, Madrid took a 3-1 advantage to Barcelona’s ground. Still, since the ground was built in 1957 Barcelona had won every single competitive game there until that semi final meeting. The similarities to 01-02 don’t end there as Madrid went on to win their 5^th trophy at the same venue as 2002- Hampden- beating another German team- Eintracht Frankfurt- in the final.

Wolves v Barcelona, EC QF, 1960

It wasn’t to be all doom and gloom for Barca as they went on to win that season’s Fairs Cup- that particular competition ran from 1958-1960 thus allowing Barca to qualify for the European Cup in the meantime by winning La Liga in 58-59 thereby being in the unique position of playing in European football’s premier and secondary tournaments. Barcelona would also take some solace in becoming the first side to knock Madrid out of European competition by disposing of them in the early rounds of the 1960-61 European Cup.

Barcelona v Wolves, EC QF, 1960

Much like 1960, the 2011 event promises to be a clash of two of world football’s most irresistible teams. Mourinho v Guardiola; Ronaldo v Messi; 80,000 in the Bernabeu and 98,000 at Camp Nou with the winner rewarded with a place in the new Wembley’s first Champions League final. Will Barcelona return to the scene of Koeman’s thunderbolt of a free kick in 1992 or will Madrid keep up their 100% semi final record against their eternal rivals?

DPC gets with the times

2011-04-06T00:06:00.000+01:00

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More (long overdue) posts will follow soon.

Neil McCann Interview on Sky Sports News

2011-02-15T22:41:00.001Z

Dundee 2-1 Raith, Sat 12th Feb 2011

2011-02-14T17:32:00.001Z

It's been a while since I posted anything on here due to researching and updating my Victorians website (it's a bit self indulgent I know) but I couldn't let the recent Dundee-Raith game go unannounced on here. I was ill in bed for this one and missed one of the most enthusiastic Derry celebrations in living memory. C'est la vie.

Harkins (84th min to equalise from the Shankly)

From the Derry:

Neil McCann (90+5 mins winner from the Derry)

From the Main Stand:

Forςa Barςa, Force of Nature

2010-11-30T13:02:00.001Z

Last night's spectacular win at the Nou Camp for Barcelona will go down in El Clàssic history. However, it was not Barςa's first five star performance in the league fixture. The first came in April 1935 when Barςa won 5-0 in Barcelona with goals coming from Ventolrà (43, 62, 68, 82) and Escolà (48). This would partially make up for going down 8-2 in Madrid earlier in the season. Escolà would again be on the scoresheet in the next league hammering of Real Madrid in March 1945. Scorers in this game were Cèsar (41, 46); Bravo (52); Escolà (77) and Gonzalvo III (86). In September 1950 Barcelona thumped Madrid 7-2 at home with goals coming from Nicolau (9, 56), César (14), Marcos Aureli (39, 88), Gonzalvo III (62), Basora (82) and with Molowny (15), García González (66) replying for Real Madrid.
The next five goal margin for Barcelona would be the epic Cruyff inspired 5-0 win at the Bernabeu in February 1974:

Goalscorers that historic day were Asensi (30, 54); Cruyff (39); Pèrez (65) and Sotil (69). The club and fans would then have to wait until the Dream Team beat their eternal rivals 5-0 at Camp Nou in January 1994. Romário (24, 56, 81); Koeman (47) and Iván Iglesias (86) would get on the scoresheet that day.

Unfortunately for Barcelona, Madrid would return the favour one day short of a full calander year later with a certain future Barcelona star in Luis Enrique scoring for Madrid.
That takes us to the present day and last night's epic win but as well as playing in the Romário Um-Dois-Tres game, Guardiola has his own five star record. That is now five out of five wins in the fixture for Pep. Here's hoping that continues.

Guardiola's Managerial Victories in El Clàssic

1: 13th December 2008, 2-0 (Eto'o & Messi)

2: 2nd May 2009, 6-2 (Henry (2), Puyol, Pique & Messi (2))

3: 29th November 2009, 1-0 (Ibra)

4: 10th April 2010, 2-0 (Messi & Pedro)

5: 29th November 2010, 5-0 (Xavi, Pedro, Villa (2) & Jeffren)

Forfarshire Legends

2010-11-19T23:08:00.002Z


1892 FA Cup Final Match Programme - Dickson's likeness can be found 3 images down and 1 to the right

Recently, fans of Dundee FC have been given the opportunity to enjoy another book about the club in the shape of Kenny Ross's "Dundee Legends". This book seeks out over 80 of the club's finest servants and celebrates their achievements. Similarly, I'd like to do the same for players active in Forfarshire County pre-Dundee FC and the first such player featured is a gentleman by the name of William Alexander Dickson.
William Dickson was quite possibly one of the the most famous of the county's players prior to professionalism. Born in Crail on 27th August 1866, he would make his name across the water with Dundee Strathmore. His stint at the club coincided with perhaps the club's most successful era. During this time the club, with Dickson, would finish runners-up of the Forfarshire Cup in 1886-1887 and 1887-1888 and the Dundee Charity Cup in 1885-1886. The "Stripes" were particularly unlucky in the Fofarshire Cup finals owing to playing two of the finest pre-professional era teams to come out of the county - Dundee Harp in 1886 and Arbroath in 1887. The latter final saw Dickson score for his team, but to no avail in a shock 10-2 defeat.
By 1888 William Dickson was well known nationally but had still to pick up an international cap. This had, naturally, not gone unnoticed in Dundee and the Scotsman reported the following in March 1888 after Dickson's latest snub:

"Our Dundee correspondent writes: ~ The news of the remit of the match was received in Dundee with feelings of incredulity and amazement, and the disaster was attributed wholly to what is considered as the selfishness and partiality of the Scottish Committee in selecting such a team and, in particular, such a front line. The eleven chosen has, as a whole, been generally condemned, not only on the ground that it was far from being a representative one, but that even within the limited circle from which it was drawn several better men for their respective places could have been secured. A strong feeling prevails in Forfarshire that the county is not getting justice in the matter of the selection of international teams, and among footballers, notwithstanding strong club jealousy, the almost unanimous verdict is that Dickson, of Dundee Strathmore, is at present the finest centre forward in Scotland, and that he should have been preferred to one who is looked upon as having served his day and generation."

Harsh words indeed, borne out of a frustration that modern day city of Dundee football fans can identify to all too well. Whether this strongly worded article in the national press was responsible for Dickson's subsequent call up to the game against Ireland as a late replacement for Sandy Higgins is not known, but he had, at last, his chance to play in the dark blue of Scotland. On the eve of the game, the Dundee Courier noted its approval - in an "it's about time" fashion:

"After many years of weary waiting, Dundee has received representation in an international eleven. The tardy recognition has not come in a direct manner, but still footballers in this quarter must be grateful for small mercies. We are sure that the whole of Forfarshire will be gratified to learn that Dickson, of the Dundee Strathmore, has been invited to play centre forward in the team which tomorrow at Belfast will endeavour to make a better fight in behalf of the national honour than the eleven which was so disastrously beaten last week by the representatives of the Rose. The invitation, it is needless to say, has been accepted, and it is hoped that the Dundee champion will materially add to the already large majority of goals at the credit of the Thistle against the Shamrock. The invitation came through the inability of Higgins to take the place assigned him."

Dickson did not disappoint and did indeed add to the majority of goals for the Thistle scoring 4 (all in the first half) in a 10-2 win for the Scots. However, instead of being a platform for more appearances, he is only one of 2 players to score 4 goals in his only Scottish international appearance- a dubious honour and one no player should have bestowed upon him. Perhaps the selection committee were trying to placate the footballing public and authorities in the north eastern outpost of Scottish football's sphere of influence with the token gesture to cap Dickson? Whatever their reason, Dickson was lured south to Bolton then Sunderland- a crack team of the era. He only spent brief sojourns there, however, before securing a move to the emerging force that was Aston Villa. Dickson, as can only be expected made his mark at the club, scoring 33 goals in 58 league games. He was given the honour of leading Villa out in the 1892 FA Cup final at Kennington Oval in front of 25,000. It was to be another runners-up medal unfortunately, as Villa lost 3-0 to West Bromich Albion in a final noted as being the first for using goal nets and, according to Villa historian John Lerwill, also notable for Villa fans' feelings that the goalkeeper- Jimmy Warner- had thrown the game.

Soon after, Dickson joined Stoke where he ended his career in 1897. Dickson stayed in that city where he became a licensee until his death on the 1st June 1910. William (endearingly referred to as Billy by the Villa football fans) Dickson undoubtedly hit the heights someone of his talent so richly deserved, however, there is a sense that it could have been so much more. As a Dundee Strathmore player he could have had a clutch of local titles to his name had he and the club not had the misfortune of peaking at the same time as "the invincibles" of Dundee Harp and the remnants of the famous "36-0" team of Arbroath. Internationally speaking, the fact he was selected once, and even speaking 122 years after the fact, is nothing short of scandalous. That said, it should not detract from what a truly special talent he was.

117 Not Out - Just.

2010-10-24T15:22:00.003+01:00

Dundee Football Club Collapse
_________

Grievances of Players
_________

Proposed Amateur Combination
_________

Considerable talk was occasioned in Dundee yesterday by the decision come to by the Executive of the Dundee Football Club to wind up its affairs. The football public have during the season been keenly alive to the non-success of the club, but it was hardly expected the Directors would not continue the club till the end of the season. Not only were the devotees of football in the city taken aback by the information, but several of the players, more especially Leckie, Davidson and Lyon, who were recent importations to the club, have been practically thrown on their own resources by the hurried intimation they received of the result of the meeting, notice to attend which they only received that day.

In 1898, Dundee FC found itself on the verge of financial meltdown and much of what was reported at the time sounds eerily familiar. The above article from the Courier on Saturday 10th December 1898 goes on to say the named players stated that for the remainder of the season they would have difficulty in finding new employment and would happily leave the city should they receive the £3 to £4 they are each owed. These players seem to be the exception, however, as Keillor and the others all had employment and were only paid 5s per week “retainer” by the club. Keillor himself was asked to join Rangers. The article finishes by saying there is a keen interest in establishing an amateur team in the city – “a team such as existed at one time in Dundee, vix., Our Boys...no doubt the lovers of the game in Dundee, as well as some of the best amateur players, would at once come forward and help to keep alive what was at one time the principal game in the city”.

A few days later on the 13th the paper reported on a meeting of the SFL:

The Collapse of the Dundee
_______

The League’s Sympathy

A special meeting of the Scottish Football League was held last night in Glasgow to consider the position of Dundee. Mr J. H. McLaughlan presided, and there was a full attendance. For some unaccountable reason the Dundee Club failed to send a representative. The opinion of the representatives was that Dundee was too valuable a centre for football to allow its club to fall out. The club representatives present all promised full assistance, especially those involved in Dundee’s debt. It was ultimately agreed to wire the League’s sympathy with the Dundee Directors, and to ask them to send representatives to an adjourned meeting in Glasgow on Wednesday evening first. Meantime Dundee was instructed not to part with its players.
Yesterday two of the Dundee Club players secured situations, both Leckie and McDonald having agreed to transfer their services to Derby County. The suggestion to hold a meeting next week of all those interested in the game in Dundee has been well received, several prominent football enthusiasts doing all they can to have a representative gathering.

The following day’s edition reported that the Dundee directors met and decided to send a deputation to Glasgow to see what assistance would be obtained. Thursday’s paper reported that two directors and “two local gentlemen, who have come forward with an offer of assistance to the Dundee Club” met with the Scottish League in private. Offer of help to the end of the season was arranged- “It is understood the League clubs will liberally aid the Dundee”. Dundee were due to play at Ibrox that Saturday and Rangers offered to pay the expenses and wages of the Dundee men if they fulfilled the fixture. However, the directors themselves stated that sending a retinue of players to Ibrox was out of the question given the Directors’ decision to wind up the club. Furthermore the Directors stated they had not been approached with a view to send a squad to Glasgow and permission to use the name of the Dundee Club. They add that they are fighting to keep the club alive by handing the whole concern over to interested parties for a “certain sum of money”. A meeting with interested parties was to be held that day.

The “Dundee Football Fiasco” moved the former captain of Dundee Strathmore FC, who was then living in Edinburgh, to write a letter to the editor of what he called the “valuable and enterprising Courier”. “Many thousands like myself are vexed at the present crisis of the Dundee, and sympathy, I am sure, is next to world-wide. As one of the first Association players in Juteopolis, I only wish the public should see and realise the present predicament, and if not remedied first-class football will be conspicuous by its absence in Bonnie Dundee.”

Back to the Rangers game and the Courier on Sat 17th December indicated there was no movement on finding a buyer for the club or the formation of a new team. A shareholder meeting was to be held to determine whether to go into liquidation. There were many in the city prepared to travel to Ibrox as part of a new team made up of mainly amateurs. The Courier itself queries if this is in breach of League rules as the current Directors would have to give permission for players to take the field. As it was though “there was good reason for doubting the fixture being fulfilled.”

An ominous headline followed on 19th December- “Company to be Wound Up”. The Chairman is quoted at the shareholders meeting- “That it has been proved to the satisfaction of the meeting that the Company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business, and that it is advisable to wind up the same, and accordingly that the Company be wound up voluntarily, and that John Mess, chartered accountant, Dundee, be, and he is hereby, appointed liquidator for the purposes of such winding up”.

The Chairman was seconded by Mr Wm. Ruxton. “He remarked that their action might be the means of keeping the League in Dundee. If the Directors of the Company had not had to take over the old debts about two years ago- which he understood were contracted in 1895- the position that day would have been different (Applause). It was hard lines that the present Directors had been saddled with such an incubus.”

The Courier article continues by giving a resolution to the Ibrox affair by saying- “the team’s appearance at Ibrox on Saturday was gratifying not only to footballers in the North, but also to the enthusiasts in the West.” We also learn of the “curious situation” that the players ran a risk of playing at Ibrox as they weren’t registered seeing as DFC were liquidated and they were now representing the “new club”. However, the Scottish League and Scottish Football Association kindly decided to look upon the new club as the same entity as the previous one “simply under different management”. This was dependant on the actions of the liquidator however- “Should he decide that the club must cease to exist, then naturally all connection with the Association is at an end…If he thinks the club should be reconstructed, and if gentlemen are found willing to do so…then matters are all right. Meantime the situation is very curious, and should afford plenty of talk for the meeting which is to be held in the Gilfillan Hall tomorrow night of those who wish to assist in the reorganisation of the club.” Curious indeed.

The steps to get the “new club” organised were reported on the 22nd and the Harbour Board were approached with a view to securing Carolina Port until after the end of the season. “so far as can be learned the gentlemen approached have expressed themselves in thorough sympathy with the movement to keep alive football.” The rest of that season’s fixtures were also guaranteed. Perhaps most interestingly, Leckie and McDonald, who left for Derby County were reported as being interested in a return as the Committee sought to assemble a strong a team as possible.

Dundee fans were given a Christmas present in the form of the headline from the Courier on Boxing Day 1898- it simply said “Dundee Reviving”. It is a far departure from the horror headlines of the previous days and the article itself described how Dundee went about a hard fought draw and a much needed point. Here’s hoping that Dundee fans of 112 years later can wake up one December Day to a similarly headlined sports article in the local paper.

Another Fine Mess

2010-10-05T20:08:00.006+01:00

Melville (left) and Brannan (right) with presumably a more viable alternative for director than either of themselves

At the time of writing my club stands on the edge of oblivion due to more boardroom ineptitude and egomania. My club-formed when Queen Victoria was on the throne when two clubs, Our Boys and East End- themselves formed 133 years ago, merged to ensure the city was represented in the new national league set up. My club-which has spent almost a century playing top flight football (over twice as long as Dundee United have been playing in the colours of a small citrus fruit) and is one of only 11 teams to win the top league. A team that despite what must be the most unfortunate cup draw in European Cup history (Champions of Germany, Portugal, Belgium and Italy respectively) managed to come within 180 minutes of being the first Northern European side to win the trophy and in doing so setting up a World Club Cup tie with Pele's Santos. A team that has played in the second highest attended match in European club football history- Barca v Madrid, Inter v Milan or Rangers v Celtic haven't seen a crowd as seen in the 1952 Scottish Cup Final. A team that has supplied players to the national team in 3 different centuries. A club that has survived liquidation in 1898; two World Wars; administration and Alan Kernaghan. A club that despite the last 35 years being the leanest, success starved periods in the club's history and in the face of the rise of our bitter rivals, has still managed to reach the odd cup final and hang on to a loyal fan base. That dark 35 year period has seen one stable, consistent factor however- the amazing ability of each subsequent board of directors to eclipse the incompetence and buffoonery of the previous incumbents.

Bob "lifelong fan" Brannan and Calum "Dundee are my second team" Melville seem to have brought the club to the brink by cheesing off the taxman by not paying a bill that amounts to roughly the same as the transfer fees paid for Harkins and Griffiths or, reputedly, the package given to the current management team. Quite how we've got here is no mystery-the benefactor business model- we are rather reliably told- is not the way to go. However, the nuances of the reason behind the change of heart are not yet known. What is known is that Brannan and Melville are less likely to be seen together than Clark Kent and Superman. What is also known is that despite very public boosts of his wealth and suggestions of half a million pound bids for United's Scott Robertson, Melville is unwilling, or more unlikely, unable to pay off the taxman in full, as they demand and perhaps more significantly unwilling to continue to meet the losses that are in part his own doing. What is also known that the magic 26% "veto" shareholding held by the group formally known as Dee4life means absolutely sweet F.A. when it comes to ensuring transparency and sustainability. What is also, sadly, known is that administration this time around will mean, at best, the end of any promotion bid, this, and many seasons to come or, at worst, the sad, feeble end to a once great club. There are some passionate Dundee fans in positions of authority at Dens Park working their asses off to get the club out of a mess not of their own making- here's hoping that they succeed for the sake of the passionate but tired, weary fans who continue to turn out in larger numbers than some of their SPL counterparts.

Dundee FC's First Ever Game...

2010-08-27T21:23:00.004+01:00

...ended in a 3-3 draw...against Dundee Harp. It seems that the famous 3-3 draw against Rangers at West Craigie was only Dundee's first ever competitive game.
The game against the Harp took place on Wednesday 9th August 1893 at Dock Street Park and drew great interest from the local public due to the "legalisation of professionalism" says the Courier.
In an eagerly contested game, Dundee's miserable first half performance resulted in going into the second period 3-2 behind. Only excellent goal-keeping by Barret kept the score respectable. An improved defensive display saw Dundee keep Harp's relentless attacking at bay and some excellent wing play by Thomson set up Dundee's equaliser.
The courier was pretty damning of the newly created Scottish League team and signed off by saying "The Dundee will require to improve greatly if they intend to win their first League match with the Rangers on Saturday."

Everton v Strathmore, 16th February 1889

2010-01-06T23:36:00.005Z

Many thanks to the Everton Collection Charitable Trust for giving permission to publish the images of the Everton v Dundee Strathmore programme from 1889. According to the writing on the inside cover Everton won the game 5-1, unsurprisingly, given they were a force at the time.

Check out the website at www.evertoncollection.org.uk

DPC on Hiatus

2009-11-20T23:35:00.004Z

"Due to circumstances beyond my control", or whatever the phrase is, I will not be able to post very often for the foreseeable future. Here, for no particular reason, is a Youtube clip of Dundee derby goals.

They Wore the Dark Blue for Club and Country - William Longair

2009-11-08T16:09:00.000Z

This third such article in this series concentrates on William Longair- a Dundee FC Hall of Fame inductee. It is fair to say he was the original "Mr Dundee FC" given his incredible service to the club. He was an original member of the 1893 team and came from East End FC. There is a terrific article on him on the official website that recognises his contribution to the wonderful early history of the club.

William "Plum" Longair with the Dundee Charity Cup during his time with East End

William Longair was born in Dundee in July 1870 and had a couple of short spells in England before returning to his first love on each occasion. Indeed, his spell at Newton Heath was especially brief with 1 appearance, although he did notch 1 goal in the process.
As previously mentioned in the earlier "They Wore" articles, "Plum" (as he was known) was one of three Dundee players to be selected to play Ireland in Belfast on the 31st March 1894- the same day an under strength Dundee side were defeating "Dundonians" 6-0 at Carolina Port. Sadly it would be his only cap but, gladly, Scotland won the game 2-1 virtue of an Irish o.g. in the 25th minute and another goal 3 minutes later.

Longair's International Match:
Sat 31st March 1894- Ireland 1-2 Scotland, Cliftonville Grounds, Belfast, 6,000

Sadly, Plum would pass away aged only 56, but it is estimated that 20,000 lined the streets at his funeral- a quite remarkable fact and perhaps illustrates the regard in which he was held by the city's footballing public

90's Dundee v Dunfermline Memories

2009-10-31T10:47:00.003Z

Granted, no Dundee wins are shown, but there are a couple of super goals from Shaw and Britton.

2009-10 Season Review- October

2009-10-31T09:00:00.002Z

October started with a cup semi-final against Annan Athletic at Dens. A much changed line up saw the Dark Blues progress 3-0.

"Summergill made some good saves nothing he could do about the goals unfortunately, Annan amazed me for the period up until Dundee scored, they had by far the better of the game, Dundee defence looked definitely rattled when under a bit of pressure, reverting to the old saying "if in doot kick it oot" one ball went clear out of the stadium. Again Cairneys thinking does not match mine, we go 2 down and he substitutes a defender for a defender, granted he later put Storey on, but we had nothing to lose by then, why the fck not Storey for a defender, try to take the match to Dundee. Good luck to Dundee in the final, yesterday would be a good payday for Annan, and Annan supporters were well behind the team, and big J.G. gan tae get yin o they bloody hooters for next weeks game, so that when we get behind it wi the Annan chant, the hooting disny stop." Solwaycoast, Annan-Mad

In the monthly awards, Jocky Scott was awarded the manager of the month while Leigh Griffiths was given the young player of the month award. This complements Harkins's award last month. Partick were the next visitors to Dens Park and Dundee found themselves in an identical position as just before the Ross County game- at home to the league leaders and looking to ensure the visitors don't start putting daylight between us. Dundee scored an early goal and then had to sit back while Partick played some good football. In the second half Harkins got the decisive 2nd goal and Bullock made some incredible saves to keep the score at 2-0.

"We played brilliantly today just lacked something at the end where it counted. And thats where Dundee punished us, Griffiths' goal looked to me [couldn't see very well as it was at the other end but it looked like a simple turn and placed shot past Tuff] Tony Bullock played the game of his life for you today, really got to hand it to the guy for his age he was big difference even at 2-0 and with you maybe more comfortable he still never slacked off. A really entertaining performance but disappointed we couldn't turn it into goals as we have been able to in the past few games. Not too downhearted though still many games to go although this defeat is a big one." Sampfan101, P&B.

A midweek journey to Ayr followed and there were encouraging signs when Dundee went 2-0 ahead. Top of the league beckoned but, alas, that great Dundee disease of the noughties plagued the Dark Blues yet again. Yes, Dundee let another 2 goal lead slip and the game ended 2-2. Jocky decided to revert to a 4-5-1 once Ayr equalised in an attempt not to lose the match, rather than opting for a late winner.

"Absolutely delighted with what I saw tonight. Lets not kid ourselves, Dundee are a very good team, but we matched them with grit, determination, and some decent stuff too. Leigh Griffiths makes Usain Bolt look sluggish, oh to have someone of his ability in our team. " Ally G, Honestpage

Gary Harkins was ruled out of the Morton game after picking up a knock against Ayr. It was interesting to see how we coped without him and happily we picked up our first away league win of the season. Again, the performance was far from perfect but nevertheless the 3 points came our way.

"Mugged. Simples" hoody, P & B

Dundee's squad depth was being tested by the time Raith visited. Lauchlan was in for Cowan and Harkins was benched. Happily though the Dees won the game 2-1 and results elsewhere meant we moved to top of the league. Griffiths took a knock and there will be a worrying few days before the Rangers cup game to see whether or not he will start that game.

"Absolutely gutted we didn't manage at least a point from that. I thought we played pretty well and took the game to Dundee. We failed to clear our lines twice in the first half and were punished for it. Poor goals to lose. Good work from Tadé to set up Darren smith's goal, but I didn't think we had too many clear cut chances in the first. Neither did Dundee in fairness. Dreadfully unlucky in the second half. Bullock had an excellent save near the end, Ferry was unlucky and Dundee got off lightly when their own man put the ball off the post. I thought we should have had a penalty when walker went down, but it's not really easy to tell from the other end." Michael W, P&B.

In the lead up to the Rangers game, Callum Melville announced that Dundee will make an audacious £500,000 bid for Scott Robertson in January. This sparked a war of words between the respective boardrooms on opposite ends of Tannadice Street. Jocky, however, was focused on the cup game and Dundee put in a fantastic effort and despite going 1-0 down, hit back with a tremendous free kick from Griffiths. After the break Dundee took the initiative and had a strong penalty claim denied. A careless own goal seemed to have an extremely negative affect on the players as they spent most of the game deep in their own half. A late seige on the Rangers goal left Dundee exposed at the back and Rangers killed the game. However, despite having players injured, Dundee acquitted themselves extremely well and with two of the next three league games at home there is a real opportunity to cement our position at the top of the league.

Erm, a real opportunity to regain top spot maybe. After being pegged back by Dunfermline at East End park, we gave QOS the opportunity to take top spot- which the duly took. The result may be disappointing in terms of losing a lead once again, but if we can continue our good home form we should be back on top soon.

"Some may argue with me however i think Dundee should feel very lucky to get away with a point today as we played well today and played some excellent stuff in certain periods of the game. Tony Bullock saved Dundee numerous times, especially his cracking save from Graham who really should have hit the back of the net." Parscelona, P&B

4th- Dundee 3-0 Annan Athletic, 2,321, League Challenge Cup Semi-final
Higgins, Clarke, Forsyth

Bullock, Paton (Casement 81), Cowan, MacKenzie, Forsyth (Young 77 ), Cameron, McHale, Hart (Harkins 85), Malone, Higgins, Clarke

10th- Dundee 2-0 Partick Thistle, 5,364, (League position- 5th)
Griffiths, Harkins

Bullock, Paton, Malone, Klimpl, MacKenzie, Cowan, Hart (McHale 82), Kerr, Griffiths (McMenamin 75), Higgins (Clarke 75), Harkins.
Subs Not Used: Soutar, Casement.

14th- Ayr United 2-2 Dundee, 1,710, (League Position-3rd)
Forsyth, Griffiths

Bullock, Paton, MacKenzie, Cowan, Malone, Klimpl, Kerr, Forsyth, Harkins, Griffiths, Higgins (McHale)

Subs Not Used: Soutar, McMenamin, Lauchlan, Clarke.

17th- Morton 0-1 Dundee, 2,217, (League position- 2nd)
Griffiths

Bullock, Paton, Malone, Klimpl, MacKenzie, Cowan, Hart (Kerr 83), McHale, Griffiths (Higgins 90), McMenamin (Clarke 75), Forsyth.

Subs Not Used: Cameron, Soutar.

24th- Dundee 2-1 Raith Rovers, 5,156, (League position- 1st)
McMenamin, McKenzie

Bullock, Paton, Malone, Klimpl (Harkins 71), MacKenzie, Lauchlan, McHale, Kerr, Griffiths (Higgins 83), McMenamin, Forsyth.

Subs Not Used: Soutar, Casement, Clarke.

27th- Dundee 1-3 Rangers, 10,654, League Cup Quarter Final
Griffiths

Bullock, Paton, Forsyth, MacKenzie, Lauchlan, Harkins, Malone, McHale, Kerr (Hart), Griffiths (McMenamin), Higgins (Clarke)

Subs Not Used: Soutar, Casement

31st- Dunfermline 1-1 Dundee, 4,001, (League Position- 2nd)
Harkins

Bullock, Malone, Paton, Forsyth, MacKenzie, Lauchlan, McHale, Kerr, Griffiths, Higgins (McMenamin), Harkins (Hart).

Subs Not Used: Casement, Clarke, Soutar.

October Goal Count:
(L-League; LC-League Cup; LCC-League Challenge Cup)

Griffiths 4 (3-L; 1-LC)
Forsyth 2 (1-L; 1-LCC)
Harkins 2 (2-L)
Higgins 1 (1-LCC)
Clarke 1 (1-LCC)
McMenamin 1 (1-L)
McKenzie 1 (1-L)

Running Total for Season:

Griffiths 12 (5-L; 4-LC; 3-LCC)
Harkins 8 (6-L; 1-LC; 1-LCC)
McMenamin 4 (3-L; 1-LC)
Courier 3 (2-LC; 1-LCC)
Higgins 3 (1 L; 1 LC; 1-LCC)
Forsyth 3 (1-L; 1-LC; 1-LCC)
Cameron 1 (1-LC)
Malone 1 (1-LC)
Clarke 1 (1-LCC)
McKenzie 1 (1-L)

Average Home League Attendance So Far- 5,247
Cumulative League Attendance (6 games)- 31,484

East End and the Northern League "Championship Question"

2009-10-24T13:53:00.011+01:00

East End FC, as we all know by now, was one half of the duo of clubs that merged to form Dundee FC. Playing between the years of 1877 and 1893, they only had local tournaments, friendlies and a few games in the Scottish Cup each year to keep them going. This invariably meant that the local tournaments were taken very seriously and owing to the number of clubs in the "county" back then, local rivalries were fierce.
One such tournament was the Northern League. This tournament was created in 1891 in response to the national Scottish League, formed in 1890, in which no club from Perthshire, Forfarshire or Aberdeen was represented. On the 14th of March 1891 the then Forfarshire FA president, Mr Harry Bryan (of Arbroath FC), chaired a meeting made up of representatives of Our Boys, East End, Dundee Harp and Johnstone Wanderers of Dundee; Fair City Athletic and St. Johnstone of Perth; Arbroath, Forfar Athletic and Montrose of Forfarshire; Aberdeen, Victoria United and Orion of Aberdeen. The latter three clubs would eventually come together in 1903 to form the present Aberdeen FC. The purpose of this meeting was to agree to the proposed 12 team league and a committee made up of representatives of each burgh (Arbroath, Montrose, Forfar, Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen) were tasked with drawing up the new competition's constitution.
The next meeting in Dundee on the 4th April 1891 was for the new constitution to be voted in and was attended by a large number of people. The first point- setting the number of league members to 12 was defeated. The proposal for only 8 clubs was voted in by 16 votes to 7. This, of course, meant that 4 of the clubs had to be removed from the intial line-up. It was decided that Aberdeen and Perth should each only have one team. Aberdeen (17 votes) was chosen to represent the north over Orion (5 votes) and Victoria United (2 votes) while St. Johnstone (13 votes) were chosen over Fair City Athletic (6 votes). It seems Our Boys and East End's positions were never in question as "Dundee's third club" was between Dundee Harp (14 votes) and Johnstone Wanderers (6 votes). Thus the line-up was:

Arbroath
Forfar
Montrose
Aberdeen
St. Johnstone
Our Boys
East End
Dundee Harp

The office bearers were - President: Mr Doig (St. Johnstone); Vice President: Mr Stewart (Aberdeen); Treasurer: Mr Smith (Montrose) & Secretary: Mr A. Williamson (Our Boys).

The first league campaign kicked-off in season 1891-92. This season saw strong teams in the form of East End, Our Boys and Montrose, but in particular East End were impressive this year, almost sweeping the board of local tournaments. In the Forfarshire Cup East End lost to Montrose in the final in a hard fought game. East End, as they often did, lodged a protest at Montrose's late arrival, but this was thrown out. In the Dundee Charity Cup another hard fought final brought joy this time in the form of a 3-2 win over Our Boys. This just left the Northern League. So it must have been gratifying for East End to edge out main challengers Montrose 2-1 at Carolina Port in a vital league game. However, it would seem East End played an ineligible player in that game and the match was ordered to be replayed. East End were furious and even got their solicitor involved- a Mr D. M. Anderson- who wrote that his clients refused to replay their game as the league "wrongously disqualified" them. Furthermore, he was ready to instigate legal proceedings to have the trophy delivered to East End but has decided to first submit the point to the committee for arbitration. So what was the committee's decision on this serious matter?

"It was all but unanimously decided to take no notice of the letter"

So that was that then. East End were docked 2 points (the points they won in that Montrose game) and therefore ended the season on the same points as Our Boys who finished the season strongly and, in doing so, overtook Montrose who finished poorly. By failing to replay the game East End had to share the title with Our Boys. Nothing obviously came of their solicitor's proceedings.

That historic first table:

East End 19pts
Our Boys 19pts
Montrose 14pts
Dundee Harp 13pts
Arbroath 12pts
Aberdeen 12pts
Forfar 10pts
St. Johnstone 9pts

Dundee v Cologne, 1962

2009-10-16T18:30:00.007+01:00

This match programme is the most coveted of all Dundee's European Cup programmes. This maybe due to the incredible scoreline of 8-1 in Dundee's favour- perhaps it's only with a little bias that I claim this as one of European Football's most amazing results- or perhaps it is simply a rarer programme. The Evening Telegraph may not have printed off as many copies as they did in the later rounds, or it could be as a result of the game drawing Dundee's lowest crowd of that campaign- a mere, piffling 24,500. Less punters would equal less sales. Whatever the reason, and all things being equal, expect to pay more for this programme than any of the others.

The second page is a message from the chairman- Mr J. R. Gellaty. The Chairman recollects the events at Muirton:

"My special recollection of the occasion is the congratulations showered upon us by St. Johnstone Football Club notwithstanding their own disappointment when all the results came in and it was realised that they were doomed to relegation."

If only their fans were quite so accommodating...!
Over the page we have the obligatory pen pics and team photos.

"The Mighty Men from Cologne" brought with them a very talented team. 'Keeper Fritz Ewert had played for Germany and was also a petrol pump attendant at the time of the game. Fritz Pott was expected to be capped against Yugoslavia later that month and also scored for Cologne in the German championship decider. Karl-Heinz Schnellinger played in that summer's World Cup and was voted in the World Best XI. Another international- Leo Wilden- has a "clear-at-all-costs" policy that "does not endear him to everyone". Another petrol pump attendant and another international was brought in the form of Hans Sturm. Karl-Heinze Thielen was a prolific goal scorer with 25 in 30 games the previous season and a Germany B international. Hans Schafer was a World Cup winner in 1954 and was also a petrol pump attendant. Gerd Hornig was the other B international and Hans Stollenwerk played in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. So despite this being Cologne's first ever European Cup, it is clear to see why they were joint favourites.
One team member that did not come, however, was "Little John":

"Cologne have had to travel without their team mascot, "Hennes". He's a billy-goat, born in 1948. And he's looked upon as such a good omen that he has been incorporated in the badge which appears on the team's jerseys. Translated, "Hennes" means "Little John". And "Little John" is an ever present at home matches."

Finally there's a piece about Gordon Smith:
"Scotland's Stanley Matthews...the greatest soccer pin-up north of the border since the war. That's GORDON SMITH. Dundee's 38-years-young right winger. Dundee's championship success had a special significance for him. He brought off the unique record of winning first division medals with three clubs- Hibs, Hearts, Dundee. It's over 21 years since he left Dundee North End to start his great career with Hibs for a £10 signing-on fee."

Winning the title with 3 clubs is one thing- but 3 non Old Firm clubs? A feat never to be repeated in my humble opinion.

European Cup 1st Round 1962-63

2009-10-11T14:42:00.005+01:00

Season 1962-63 is significant for Dundee fans as being the only time our club has competed in Europe's premier club competition. It was to be a baptism of fire as Dundee were drawn against joint favourites for the trophy- Cologne. Cologne earned the right to be part of the draw by winning the 1961-62 German Championship. At that time the German Championship was a round robin event followed up with a final tie to decide the champions- a sort of mini Champions League. Cologne, or FC Köln, won their group by virtue of an excellent 3-1 away win to the fantastic Eintracht and a 1-0 home win over Hamburger SV. They finished off the group matches with an emphatic 10-0 win over FK Pirmasens. This set up a final tie with FC Nürnberg which FC Köln won easily, 4-0. FC Köln would prove to be more than just a mere cup team in 1963-64 when they won the initial Bundesliga.
Other big names to enter the draw included Anderlecht, Real Madrid, Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon with Stade de Reims and Benfica earning byes. Ipswich Town were England's representatives that season-like Dundee, their only national championship success fell in the 61-62 season. Scottish Clubs had already made their mark on this tournament with Hibs in 1955-56 and Rangers in 1959-60 reaching the semi-finals.
The first round matches were staggered with Dundee's tie being included in the first set of matches played on 5th September 1962. Some shock waves were, no doubt, being sent around Europe at the news that Anderlecht had come from 2-0 and 3-2 down to notch a fantastic 3-3 draw at the Bernabeu. Even bigger shock waves were undoubtedly being sent by the news that joint favourites, FC Köln, were slaughtered 8-1 in Scotland. The rest of the ties went pretty much according to script. The 2nd leg matches sprung up few shocks but Anderlecht, however, followed up their draw in Madrid with an 85th minute goal in a 1-0 win in Brussels to become only the second side, after Barcelona to defeat that great Real Madrid side over 2 legs in Europe.

Those 1st round results in full:

AC Milan 8-0 US Luxembourg
US Luxembourg 0-6 AC Milan (14-0 Milan)

Floriana 1-4 Ipswich Town
Ipswich 10-0 Floriana (14-1 Ipswich)

Dinamo Bucharest 1-1 Galatasaray
Galatasaray 3-0 Dinamo Bucharest (4-1 Galatasaray)

Polonia Bytom 2-1 Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos 1-4 Polonia Bytom (6-2 Polonia)

CDNA (Sofia) 2-1 FK Partizan (Belgrade)
FK Partizan (Belgrade) 1-4 CDNA (Sofia)(6-2 CDNA)

Real Madrid 3-3 RSC Anderlecht
Anderlecht 1-0 Real Madrid (4-3 Anderlecht)

Shelbourne 0-2 Sporting CP
Sporting CP 5-1 Shelbourne (7-1 Sporting Lisbon)

Dundee 8-1 FC Cologne
FC Cologne 4-0 Dundee (8-5 Dundee)

Servette FC 1-3 Feyenoord
Feyenoord 1-3 Servette FC (4-4 Feyenoord win replay 3-1)

Fredrikstad FK 1-4 Vasas
Vasas 7-0 Fredrikstad (11-1 Vasas)

FK Austria 5-3 HIFK (Helsinki)
HIFK 0-2 FK Austria (7-3 FK Austria)

ASK Vorwarts 0-3 Dukla Prague
Dukla Prague 1-0 ASK Vorwarts (4-0 Dukla)

Linfield 1-2 Esbjerg FB
Esbjerg 0-0 Linfield (2-1 Esbjerg)

IFK Norrkoping 2-0 FK Partizani
FK Partizani 1-1 IFK Norrkoping (3-1 IFK Norrkoping)

The second round draw included the following teams:

AC Milan
Ipswich
Galatasaray
Polonia Bytom
CDNA Sofia
Anderlecht
Sporting Lisbon
Dundee
Feyenoord
Vasas Budapest
FK Austria
Dukla Prague
Esbjerg
IFK Norrkoping
Benfica
Stade De Reims

Thought for the Day

2009-10-06T17:00:00.003+01:00

Lately I've been busy which has resulted in less posts than I'd have liked, however, there is more to come so please keep checking back.

Today's post is something for us all to think about I'm sure! It is a quote from Rev Harcourt M Davidson back in 1890:

"Football and Church Attendance- The Rev.Harcourt M. Davidson, of St. Andrews Parish Church, Dundee, presiding at the festival of the Wanderers' Football Club last night, said he would not have been the chairman of that or any other meeting were he not entirely of opinion that football was a right, and proper, and manly, and, he would say, a Christian-like occupation for any young man of health. There was no reason why football players should not be present at the Sunday morning church service. It was not the Saturday afternoon that kept the players from church, but what followed. Although they had a black eye there was no reason why they should not be present at church. There had been many an honourable got black eye. If he saw a young man in his church with a black eye, he would just assume that he had been playing football. Football matches, like presbytery meetings, got a great deal of notice in the press. The secular press was down on Presbyteries, and the religious press was down on football, the reason being that neither know very much of what they were talking about."

On that note, it brings to mind another quote of which I know not the origins:

"Sunday is a day for reflection, praise and worship...

...but only if your team deserves it."

2009-10 Season Review - September

2009-09-28T18:40:00.002+01:00

Before any games kicked off this month, Gary Harkins's efforts for the previous month went rewarded with his player of the month award. There is a strong possibility that the 1-1 draw with Airdrie United will be null and void as Livingston could be re-instated to the First Division; Scottish football does love its off field court cases.
The first competitive fixture was for the other dark blues in a 2-0 win over Macedonia, but we didn't need to wait long for Dundee's first game- the day after, in fact. Dundee travelled to Stirling in the Alba Challenge Cup quarter final and circa 700 fans followed the team through. Griffiths notched a brace in a 2-1 win to see us through to the semi-finals. The team's performance prompted mixed comments from home and away fans alike suggesting Dundee deserved the win, but need to improve if promotion is to be achieved.

"...excellent performance from Stirling today, but Dundee's superior finishing proved to be the difference. Good to see a healthy away crowd too, must have been 700 odd Dundee fans made the effort.

We played well, and created lots of chances, but Dundee's 'injured' keeper pulled out a few good saves. Disappointed we lost obviously, but well pleased with how we played. If we keep up that level of performance for most of the season, we'll be playing Dundee again next season, in the league." StewartyMac, P&B.

The disappointment of Scotland's 1-0 defeat to the Netherlands was soon forgotten as the anticipation of another big game in the league campaign built. There was also the news that Dundee had drawn Annan Athletic at Dens in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup- the best possible draw we could have hoped for in our quest for our first trophy of the season.

Another decent Dens crowd saw a Gary Harkins penalty decide the Dunfermline game. It was far from convincing but it kept Dundee's unbeaten start to the season going and the 100% record for the month of September intact.

"Little between the sides first half, we probably started the better and slightly edged the play before the Dundee scored, (being denied two stonewallers in the process, one for a two handed shove on Bayne and the other for a blatant pull back on Cardle as he cut inside and set to shoot). Frustrating because the confidence boost the goal brought to Dundee made a big difference and we really offered no real threat after that and resorted too easily to aimless punts up the park. Kirk should have at least forced a save from the keeper from his one real chance and Phinn was unlucky second half to see a sweetly caught volley from Bayne's knockdown fire straight at the keeper." gingapar, P&B.

Next up- QOS away. This was always going to be a difficult game but Dundee didn't do themselves any favours when Bullock got himself sent off after 5 minutes, giving away a penalty in the process. Judge for yourselves via the link whether or not it was merited. That was effectively game over as Dundee couldn't score while QOS went on to score another before full time.

"Dont want to be negative but the sending off and penalty early on allowed us to win the game, I feel that if it had stayed 11 v 11 Dundee would have got the better of us. Once we got the 2nd I was looking for more but at the end it was a big 3 points for us. Dundee are without doubt a good side but they seemed to lack discipline at times all over the park and another Ref might have seen them finish with less than 10 men. Harkins was again a bit anonymous against us and never got to grips with the game as I would have expected. Griffiths was having strong words with Jocky Scott when he went off. I thought Tosher bossed the game today and was excellent and well desreved the man of the match reward. All the lads done well and David Lilley looked assured at the back and McCausland and Harris had sound games, Reidy had a couple of jittery moments but held his game together. McKenna and Burnsy both did well and Wilson and Tosher showed their quality. The front two worked very hard although I thought Davie Weatherston was often a bit isolated at times especially in the second half. Holmer was excellent, winning almost everything in the air and having lots of neat touches on the ground......await Hard Labours view with bated breathe...... A fine 3 points against what is without doubt the best side in the league"
Musky, QotS-Mad

Next up was the eagerly awaited cup tie against Aberdeen. This was a chance for the team to pick itself up after the defeat to QotS. In another classic night match at Dens Dundee took a 2 goal lead before, surprise surprise, losing it again with 2 minutes left. Deja Vu struck the home crowd. However, towards the end of the 1st period of extra time, Griffiths took advantage of a Langfield fumble to notch Dundee's winner. The win came at a cost with Douglas and McMenamin picking up injuries.

" I did enjoy the game. I also think in patches we played some decent stuff. I also thought Dundee looked a very good counter attacking team with plenty of pace and the boy Griffiths was good. I thought we would sneak it in extra time but wasn't to be and I wonder if had we won would there be boys on here posting how lucky we were and how crap we had played. It was good to see the likes of Pawlett going on a run and bursting into the penalty area even if it didn't end in a goal it was exciting to watch. Paton looks a player and is more composed than any of our other strikers currently." Seanthesheep, Aberdeen-Mad

The cup draw on the 24th of the month paired Dundee with Rangers at Dens in what could be another great cup night at Dens. Once the dust had settled on the Aberdeen game the bread and butter of the league returned in the form of a match up with Ross County at Dens. Bullock received news his red card at QotS has been reduced to a yellow and Jocky fixed up Derek Soutar as cover until January. Two second half goals from Griffiths secured the 3 points. The pairing of Cowan and MacKenzie at the back is becoming a huge favourite with the fans.

"Over the piece Dundee deserved their win.....

County had a real off day, partly due to the the loss of the highly influential Richard Brittain. Both him and Steven Craig were separately stretchered off within the first 20 mins. This obviously affected County's game plan and changed the pattern of the game. Brittain looks like he took a real bad one when in a tussle with Harkins on 10 mins. it seemed that Harkins studs came heavily down on his leg. Although this looked purely accidental the game was stopped for a full three minutes before the stretcher appeared. Craig followed him on 20 mins. although in this case it looked like his injury came from an awkward fall.

Despite these setbacks, the first half was fairly even with relatively little goalmouth action. The best chances during this period came from Vigurs blasting over the bar from a good position on the edge of the box -and with time/space - and at the other end McGovern pulling off a great reflex close-range save from Griffiths, who found himself one-on-one with Griffiths.

During the first ten minutes of the second half County pressed Dundee hard, and forced a series of corners. During this time Vigurs should have scored from the edge of the box, in space, but he tried to pass the ball low into the net instead of blasting it, and Bullock retrieved his effort at the second attempt.

After that Dundee pinned County back for most of the second half. Griffiths put them ahead on the hour mark when he headed the ball unchallenged into an empty net from six yards out following a Harkins corner. A bad defensive goal to lose. His second goal thirteen minutes from the end resulted from a great through ball from Clarke that split the County defence. Griffiths beat the offside trap and raced into the box behind the County defence, dummied the onrushing McGovern, and blasted the ball into the net from the right. When this goal was scored Watt was off the park receiving treatment. The second goal killed the game off, and the County heads went down.

In between both goals McGovern also pulled off a fantastic reflex save from a close range free Higgins header in a very similar position to where Griffiths scored his first from.

Apart from the first 10 mins. of this half a nervy County did little to threaten on the counter, and played extremely deep, often hoofing the ball away from the defensive area.

A total contrast to recent County performances, but the real worry is what effect these injuries, particularly to Brittain, will have in games to come - with such a small squad.

This is not meant to sound like sour grapes, but we weren't that impressed with Dundee. The main difference between the sides was the clinical finishing of Griffiths, a real pain in the a*** to County in recent times.

Despite this setback County stay ahead of Dundee in the league table, but have now dropped to second place." Fyrish-stag, Over the Bridge Forum

As we head into October Dundee still find themselves in all competitions which is as much as can be asked for. However, it seems the team still has much of the proverbial "gelling" to do in order to step up a gear. While the QotS defeat- the only defeat of the season so far- can be put down to unfortunate circumstances given the subsequent rescinded red card, Dundee are not traveling well in the league. On a positive note, it seems that the defence has been aided, in no small measure, to the centre back pairing of Cowan and MacKenzie and the capture of Klimpl at the end of August. The team is slowly improving and the strongest first XI is starting to become clear.

September:
6th- Stirling Albion 1-2 Dundee, 1,277- Challenge Cup Quarter Final
Griffiths (2)

Bullock, Paton, Malone, Klimpl, MacKenzie (Forsyth 65), Benedictus (Lauchlan 25), Hart (Clarke 85), Kerr, McMenamin, Griffiths, Harkins.

Subs Not Used: Geddes, Young.

12th-Dundee 1-0 Dunfermline Athletic, 5,326 (League Position-3)
Harkins

Bullock, Paton, Malone, Klimpl (Cameron 87), MacKenzie, Lauchlan (Cowan 72), McHale, Kerr, Griffiths (Higgins 85), McMenamin, Harkins.

Subs Not Used: Douglas, Clarke.

19th- Queen of the South 2-0 Dundee, 2,875 (League Position-6th)

Bullock, Paton, Malone, MacKenzie, Cowan, Klimpl, McHale (Forsyth 72), Cameron (Douglas 5), Harkins, Griffiths (Higgins 61), McMenamin.

Subs Not Used: Casement, Kerr.

22nd- Dundee 3-2 Aberdeen, (AET- 2-2 90 mins), 6,131, League Cup 3rd Round,
Malone, Forsyth, Griffiths

Douglas (Bullock), Paton, MacKenzie, Cowan, Malone, Klimpl, Forsyth, Harkins, Kerr, McMenamin (Clarke), Higgins (Griffiths)

Subs not used: McHale & Casement

26th- Dundee 2-0 Ross County, 4,682, (League Position- 5th)
Griffiths (2)

Bullock, Paton, Malone, Klimpl, MacKenzie, Cowan, Forsyth, Kerr, Griffiths (McHale 90), Higgins (Clarke 70), Harkins (Hart 85).

Subs Not Used: Souter, Casement.

September Goal Count:
(L-League; LC-League Cup; LCC-League Challenge Cup)

Griffiths 5 (2-L, 2-LCC, 1-LC)
Harkins 1 (1-L)
Malone 1 (1-LC)
Forsyth 1 (1-LC)

Running Total for Season:

Griffiths 8 (2-L; 3-LC; 3-LCC)
Harkins 6 (4-L; 1-LC; 1-LCC)
McMenamin 3 (2-L; 1-LC)
Courier 3 (2-LC; 1-LCC)
Higgins 2 (1 L; 1 LC)
Cameron 1 (1-LC)
Malone 1 (1-LC)
Forsyth 1 (1-LC)

Average Home League Attendance So Far- 5,241
Cumulative League Attendance (4 games)- 20,964

Dundee v Aberdeen, Scottish League Cup

2009-09-22T18:30:00.014+01:00

Back cover of Dundee v Aberdeen Coca-Cola Cup final programme, 1995

Okay, so we have some catching up to do here. Aberdeen have a better head-to-head record in the league cup; hopefully that's something we'll start rectifying tonight. Aberdeen started life strongly in this tournament's early years, and indeed, it's unofficial precursor, played during the war. The two clubs first met in the quarter final of the 1946-47 season in a two legged affair. The first game was played a Dens in front of 28,700 and a Miller goal for Aberdeen gave the Dons a 1 goal advantage to take into the second leg 4 days later on the 5th March. The Pittodrie tie, alas, also went Aberdeen's way with Hamilton (2) and McCall scoring for the home team while Juliussen (2) scored for Dundee in a 3-2 defeat for the Dees. Aberdeen stormed to the final, beating Hearts 6-2 in the semis before succumbing to Rangers 4-0 in the final.

The next time the Dark Blues and Reds crossed swords in this competition was in the 1960-61 sectional ties. Free scoring Dundee romped the group, and the games against the Dons were no different with Dundee winning 4-1 in Aberdeen and 6-0 at Dens. This set up a quarter final clash versus eventual winners Rangers who defeated the Dees 5-3 on aggregate.

The 1966-67 season wasn't one to boost about with regard to this fixture- 5 times these sides would meet in all 3 major competitions and 5 times the red side would triumph. In the league cup sectional ties Aberdeen would win 4-3 at Dens and 2-0 in Aberdeen. The Dons eventually lost out to Rangers in a semi-final replay.

1980-81 Quarter Final 1st Leg [pictured]

The 1971-72 sectional ties were slightly better from a Dundee point of view (a 3-1 home win and a 1-1 away draw), however, neither Dundee nor Aberdeen made it through to the knock out stages- that honour fell to Falkirk.

1987-88 Semi-final

On our way to the 1980-81 "Dundee Final" we knocked out the Dons at the quarter final stage. Again, the format of the time meant a two legged tie. The first leg attracted 10,300 to Dens and they witnessed a goalless draw, which gave Dundee a mountain to climb if they wanted to reach the semi-final. Aberdeen were strong favourites but Dundee again kept a clean sheet on their way to a 1-0 win to set up a semi-final place against Ayr United.

Two seasons later Aberdeen would exact revenge in the sectional ties- a 3-3 draw in Aberdeen was followed up by a 5-1 thrashing of the Dark Blues at Dens two weeks later.

The teams met again one season later in 1983-84, and again, they were paired in the same group. Once again, a draw in Aberdeen (0-0) was followed up by a home defeat (1-2). Aberdeen eventually reached the semi-final and would also knock Dundee out of that season's Scottish Cup.

Memory Match- 1997-98 Cup
Programme Recalls the 1996-97
League Cup Game [pictured]

The next meeting was, thus far, the most important meeting in the competition. Dundee knocked out Queens Park and Meadowbank Thistle before ending Dundee United's hopes in extra time in the quarter final at Dens in front of 19,800 in a thrilling cup derby. Aberdeen saw to Brechin, St. Johnstone and Celtic to set up a semi-final date at Tannadice with Dundee. Aberdeen scored in the first minute against Jocky Scott's charges and added another before full time in a 2-0 win. The match reports credit Aberdeen with a fantastic performance but

Dundee didn't do themselves any favours with losing that early goal and so their 87-88 cup run came to an end. Aberdeen lost the final on penalties to Rangers.

The next meetings were the run of 3-in-a-row in 95-6, 96-7 and 97-8. The 95-6 game was, of course, the Coca-Cola final. This game is bittersweet for both clubs. For Dundee fans it represents a game in which we froze and lost a golden opportunity for a 6th major trophy. Aberdeen see this as the last piece of silverware they won- and it's knocking on for 15 years now- the Aberdeen faithful expect more.

1997-98 3rd Round Tie [pictured]

Another great derby victory in this competition rewarded the Dees with the other half of the New Firm in the quarter final of the 1996-97 season. [As I type, Eddie Malone makes it 1-0 in tonight's game] 8,650 witnessed an 89th minute goal from Jim Hamilton set up a semi-final date against Hearts in Edinburgh; ultimately it's as far as we would progress.

In Dundee's promotion season, Aberdeen would sweep aside
Dundee at Dens 3-0 in front of 7,457 in the 3rd round. This leads us to tonight's game, the 19th league cup tie between the clubs. Currently Aberdeen have the beating of us winning 9, drawing 4 and losing 5. Lets hope we can dent that record somewhat tonight!

1946-47 Dundee 0-1 Aberdeen, QF, 1st leg
1946-47 Aberdeen 3-2 Dundee, QF, 2nd leg
1960-61 Aberdeen 1-4 Dundee, sectional tie
1960-61 Dundee 6-0 Aberdeen, sectional tie
1966-67 Dundee 3-4 Aberdeen, sectional tie
1966-67 Aberdeen 2-0 Dundee, sectional tie
1971-72 Aberdeen 1-1 Dundee, sectional tie
1971-72 Dundee 3-1 Aberdeen, sectional tie
1980-81 Dundee 0-0 Aberdeen, QF, 1st leg
1980-81 Aberdeen 0-1 Dundee, QF, 2nd leg
1982-83 Aberdeen 3-3 Dundee, sectional tie
1982-83 Dundee 1-5 Aberdeen, sectional tie
1983-84 Aberdeen 0-0 Dundee, sectional tie
1983-84 Dundee 1-2 Aberdeen, sectional tie
1987-88 Dundee 0-2 Aberdeen, SF (Tannadice)
1995-96 Dundee 0-2 Aberdeen, Final (Hampden)
1996-97 Dundee 2-1 Aberdeen, QF
1997-98 Dundee 0-3 Aberdeen, 3rd Round
2009-10 Dundee ?-? Aberdeen, 3rd Round

Coca-Cola Cup Final 1995

Corinthian FC v Dundee FC, April 4th 1896

2009-09-18T16:39:00.007+01:00

Three months to the day of their last meeting, Dundee and the Corinthians met again at Queens Club, London. This is the same Queens Club that latterly has become famous for tennis and, reputedly, it was the first multi-sports venue in the world when it was built in 1886 and was named after Queen Victoria. Now, Corinthians managed to attract some very large crowds at this venue and it is said elsewhere that this game attracted 60,000 spectators and therefore broke all attendance records. Sadly, from a Dundee point of view, this would appear to be inaccurate. The game only attracted 2,000. When you consider that, on the same day, England were playing Scotland and that match attracted 55,000 (which, incidentally, was the new record attendance for a game of football); that Corinthian were not at full strength due to supplying 5 players for the aforementioned Home International; that the FA Cup final that year attracted its record attendance of 48,000 and that the visit a few weeks earlier of Scotland's most famous club- Queens Park- only attracted 5,000, then it becomes clear the figure of 60,000 is fanciful.

The Eleven Corinthians Selected for England to play Wales in 1894
Back row: AG Topham, LV Lodge, GO Smith, JG Veitch, R Topham, RR Sandilands
Front Row: RC Gosling, LH Gay, C Wreford-Brown, AH Hossack, FR Pelly

For the match, Corinthians were missing, amongst others, their back L.V. Lodge; half-back A.G. Henfrey and centre G.O. Smith; the latter having taken part in the Carolina Port tie. Corinthians replaced Lodge with Pelly who joined Bray at back with Lawrence in goal with Wilson, Middleditch and Reynolds at half back and the notable forwards turned out to be Sandilands and Gosling. This meant, that despite absent players, Corinthian still managed a very strong line up.
The game kicked off in heavy rain and Dundee found it extremely difficult to break down that home defence. Sandilands and Gosling linked up beautifully for the home team and the latter set up the former twice before scoring a third for himself before half time. Corinthian FC tired in the second half and there was an attempt to explain this in the match report:

"When the second period began the home side did not play so well, and maybe the reason of this, perhaps, was the long wait at the interval, when the professionals [Dundee] were away six or seven minutes. These delays between the two halves of the match are getting worse. They are against the old spirit of the game, for half-time was instituted for change of goals, not clothes."

Play slowed at little in the second 45 but Dundee were playing for pride and Alex Black, who actually only played 1 competitive game for Dundee-in a 3-1 league defeat at Ibrox on Feb 29th 1896- caused no end of bother for the home side. Indeed, it was Black's saved shot that Keillor managed to follow up upon to net Dundee's consolation in a 3-1 defeat. Despite the Dundee team containing 3-4 Scotland internationals and a player who represented the Scottish League, this was still a respectable result for the Dark Blues against a very good side.

Dundee FC v Corinthian FC, January 4th 1896

2009-09-17T12:05:00.009+01:00

Corinthian FC can be described as the English Queens Park, except much more militant. It is said they were formed to develop a squad capable of measuring up to the formidable Scotland international team of the day. Indeed, Corinthian FC supplied 9 of the 11 England players in the Scotland-England international in 1886 and 11 England players in the international matches against Wales in 1894 and 1895. In this respect they were like Queens Park- another prolific supplier of international players of that era. They also shared the same outlook as their Glasgow counterparts in playing the game just purely for the enjoyment that brings. They took this philosophical ideal farther than the Glasgow side, however, as Corinthian FC (formed in 1882) refused to take part in the FA Cup until 1923 as the FA Cup was not a competition where charity was the primary objective. They were more international than Queens Park also having taken part in "missionary" trips touring South Africa in 1897 and Brazil in 1910 to name two notable examples. These trips inspired many and it is said Real Madrid adopted the English side's distinctive white strips and Sport Club Corinthians Paulista (the notable Brazilian side) adopted their name. In 1904 they also left a mark on another great club by defeating Manchester United 11-3, which remains the Manchester side's heaviest defeat. It came to an end in 1939 when they merged with Casuals FC to form Corinthian-Casuals FC, who, to this day, play in the English non-league.

We'll rewind to 1896 and their visit to Carolina Port to visit Dundee FC in which some of the players in the above photo no doubt took part. 4,000 fans turned out to witness the game and the English side had the better of the early stages of the match but the Dundee backs and, in particular, left wing shone and prevented an early advantage for the English team. Longair, playing at centre-half, "tried negotiations" with Corinthian's G.O. Smith and seemed to be winning the battle for supremacy in this part of the field. However, Dundee were not able to hold out for much longer and Corinthian's superior passing reaped rewards in the form of two goals in quick succession.
Dundee started the second half well and Sandy Keillor, in particular, caused Corinthians problems. The English side's quality shone through though and time after time the Dundee backs were called upon to clear the opposition threat. Dundee eventually got a just reward when Keillor notched what would only be a consolation- amid "tremendous cheering". It ended 2-1 to the visitors, but there can be no shame in that result against a very fine side who viewed friendlies, benefit matches and charity tournaments as their raison d'être.

The two sides had it all to do again in April of that year...

Dundee V Dunfermline, 13th April 1996

2009-09-10T18:36:00.005+01:00

The 1995-96 season was a roller coaster; the first half was memorable for the run to the league cup final and a thrilling 3-2 derby win. However, the second half consisted of poor performances and a slide down the table to a final finishing spot of 5th- one of the worst league placings in decades. Add to that two inept derby performances resulting in limp 2-0 defeats each time.
This game was a 1-1 draw in front of 3,218 hardy souls and O'Driscoll netting for the Dees in the second half. Dunfermline still had a title battle with United but Dundee were well out of the race by then and already looking forward to another season in the First Division. The programme very much has that tone about it also and season tickets are already being offered by the time this game (the 33rd out of 36 league matches) was played.

In Jim's View
Jim Duffy's piece at the start of the programme tells us his view on the season- plagued by inconsistency since losing the Coca Cola Cup final and that the final four games are to be used to give youth a chance seeing as we are out of the promotion race and can't afford to bring in any players.

From the Boardroom
Nigel Squire lets loose in his article assuring fans that as soon as there is anything to report on the club or players then the Dundee fans will be first to know.

"Rumours, innuendos, wink-wink, nudge-nudge stories, people again coming out of the woodwork saying they know somebody whose granny knows somebody else who knows somebody at Dens and it's dead true McCann's off to United, all were proved to be rubbish.

Surprise, surprise, Neil McCann is still at Dens."

Squire then hits out at the critics also:

"I see the letter writers have been writing to the Telegraph again complaining about mismanagement by the board.

Well, here is an open invitation to anybody out there.

My position could be up for grabs, just think- Managing Director of Dundee Football Club, and all you have to do is keep a full time team on the park with crowds of 1,700, 2,000, 2,400, 2,700, pay all the other bills and sign some players over and above this.

I know a guy did manage something like that once with a couple of fish and some loaves but, hey, even I couldn't manage that one!"

Junior Dark Blues
The programme has very little decent content in it other than local businesses' advertisements and the usual appearance and season results tables. The Junior Dark Blues page has a (rather depressing) message from "Big Dee":

"It's very, very sad that Dundee FC won't be playing in the Premier League next season, yet again.

It is difficult to explain why they played so inconsistently over the last few months. The players played really attractive football right up until the Coca Cola Cup. I suppose losing the final was a major blow, but that should not have distracted the players from the main objective which was promotion to the Premier League. I hope Jim Duffy manages to hold onto the good players for next year. I hope someone with lots and lots of money will buy the club, someone who is interested in football. I am sure the players will respond to the challenge next year."

Dens Park Bard
Finally, the Dens Park Bard lets us know what he thought of the previous week's defeat against St. Mirren:

"St. Mirren got two cracking goals,
defensively we faltered -
and so it stayed at two to one,
that score could not be altered.

Instead of trying for more goals,
as if it were a crime;
the Saints persisted to the end
in carefully wasting time.

The ball was booted out the park,
a pastime highly rated -
Returned but slowly to the field.
by Saints fans confiscated.

Or by some mystery injury struck,
and trainer's aid required.
some precious minutes passing on
to give the result desired."

Dundee East End - 1877 - 1893

2009-09-04T21:46:00.004+01:00

It is only natural that I follow up the Our Boys feature with a feature on the history of East End - Our Boys' fierce rivals and, ultimately, the club they merged with to form Dundee FC.
Unlike Our Boys, East End did not make an immediate impact on the local scene and despite being formed in 1877-the same year as Our Boys- they did not enter the Scottish Cup until 1882. There may have been good reason for this as East End were very nomadic in that they chopped and changed grounds quite often and flirted with extremes in shirt colours. This may point to unsettled, uncertain origins which may explain why it took a while for East End to establish themselves.
In the beginning East End opted for narrow light blue and white hooped shirts, white shorts and hooped socks and played at Havecroft Park. As mentioned, the early years for East End were fairly quiet. While their future, great rivals, Our Boys, would be competing in the Scottish Cup and playing in high profile friendlies, East End remained rather low key.

Emergence
By the time the Forfarshire Cup started in 1883 East End moved to Clepington Park, now Tannadice of course, and East End began to rise to prominence. East End had also taken part in the 1882-83 Scottish Cup, losing 4-3 to Arbroath in the 1st round. In the 1883-84 Forfarshire Cup, East End reached the 3rd round, going down 3-0 to Dundee Strathmore at Strathmore's Rollo's Pier ground. (If anyone can supply the location of any grounds mentioned, please do so in the comments). Strathmore would also get the better of East End in the Scottish Cup that very same season, this time winning 1-0 in the 1st round. In the October of 1883 East End would go down 8-1 to Our Boys in a game which "The Boys asserted their superiority throughout" according to the national press. East End were still a poor relation of their West Craigie rivals. It was a tentative introduction to competitive football, but the club's stock would only go up from here.

On the Move, Again
1884 saw East End move to Madeira Park, and the Scottish Cup campaign that season was (slightly) more successful. Coupar Angus were beaten 8-1 at the new ground and a 1-1 draw away to Dundee Strathmore was followed up by a 5-2 home defeat in the replay. 1885-86 saw East End paired with Dundee Strathmore once again; the first tie ended 3-3 but East End won the replay 4-1. On that very same day Arbroath beat Bon Accord (in truth, Orion Cricket Club) 36-0. Incredibly, Dundee Harp won 35-0 against Aberdeen Rovers, although, the referee had counted 37 goals but Harp's secretary said he had only counted 35, and thus, unknown to the Dundee official at that moment, he had handed the world record to Harp's Forfarshire County rivals. It may be a mute point though, as the Arbroath-Bon Accord ref later stated the score may well have been as much as 43-0 to the Smokies had he not disallowed what may have been perfectly fine goals. The goals would continue to flow in the county when, after a 2-2 draw, East End dispatched Broughty 8-3 in the 2nd round replay. Free Scoring Arbroath halted East End's cup run, however, winning 7-1 in the 3rd round. East End were now beginning to build some momentum and real progress was being made; this, however, did not stop East End dramatically change colours (left), and stadium, in 1886- this time to Pitkerro Park.
The 1886-87 Scottish Cup kicked off against Aberdeen, or rather it didn't as East End were awarded a walk over. The 2nd round saw a thrilling 5-4 win over Broughty to set up a 3rd round home tie v Dunblane:

"The strangers [away team], who had not their full team, played downhill in their first half, but at the close of the period the East End had 2 goals to one. The second forty-five was very stubbornly contested, but the visitors, who played a very hard and determined game put on two points to their opponents' one, and thus effected a draw-3 goals each."

East End decided to withdraw after this game however, and so the cup run came to an end. In January 1887 a derby between "The East" and Our Boys at West Craigie Park was particularly well covered in the national press:

"The East End kicked off down hill, and quickly invaded, but the boys retaliated. A long spell of runs and counter runs, rather in the favour of the East End, followed, and half an hour's play ended in one of the East End forwards sending the ball through. Nothing further was done in the first half. In the second period the Boys had the best of the play, and while they managed to keep their opponents in check they scored three. The match ended-Our Boys, three goals; East End, one."

Emerging Rivalry
The 1887-88 season a walloping 13-1 victory over Arbroath Strathmore saw East End into the 2nd round where Kirriemuir's Lindertis won 3-2. The developing rivalry with Our Boys was starting to get interesting and they were becoming closer, harder fought matches- the January 1888 derby was drawn 1-1. That same day, Our Boys Rangers (Our Boys' reserves) contested the 2nd XI Forfarshire Cup.
1888-89 charted the beginning of East End's rise towards the summit of the county's club teams. It also was the beginning of numerous important clashes with Our Boys in the four most important trophies around for Forfarshire sides- the Dundee Charity Cup, Forfarshire Cup, Scottish Cup and the soon-to-be inaugurated Northern League. Our Boys drew first blood in the Scottish Cup 1st round however, winning 5-4. By this time East End changed shirt colours to those shown on the right. The Forfarshire Cup brought more joy for The East- the first round saw a very respectable 3-2 win against Dundee Harp at East Dock Street. Harp had contested the first four Forfarshire Cup finals, winning 3 in a row between 1885-1887. The 2nd round was a goal feast at Pitkerro:

"A fast and high-scoring game ended- East End 7 goals; Montrose 5."

The goals did not cease there however, as the semi final, also at Pitkerro, produced another high scoring encounter:

"The East End had the best of the game all through, and at the close the scores stood- East End, 6; Forfar Athletic, 3."

This set up a final with early Forfarshire Cup heavyweights- Arbroath. Arbroath defeated Lochee United 5-1 in the semi-final and Our Boys 4-2 in the 2nd round to reach this stage. It must be stated that in those days, the Forfarshire Cup was a big deal, indeed, some of the crowds for the finals matched those of the Scottish Cup finals. When we think of the Forfarshire Cup these days, we think of tournaments not starting, not being completed, teams fielding youth players, matches arranged at short notice with no press coverage and of course, a competition comprising of only 7 teams. Not so 120 years ago. Back then it ranked as highly as the Scottish Cup and certainly it was more practical in terms of travelling to games. For the first tournament in 1883-84 there were 18 teams- 12 from Dundee (14 if you include Lochee and Broughty Ferry)- this meant a lot of competitive derbies to arouse interest.

So, East End reached the exalted berth of a final spot, but could they do the business? Dundee Harp's East Dock Street was the venue and about 3,500 turned out. East End started brightly:
"Soon after the ball was started the Arbroath custodian was called on to defend. Thereafter both goals were visited in turn but the Dundee team had the best of the play, and kept the Arbroath men busy. Again and again they looked like scoring, but by smart play in front of goal Arbroath prevented this."

However, East End would regret not taking advantage:
"Just before half-time Buick secured possession of the leather, and, passing to Willocks on the right, that player sent in a beautiful shot, and the first period ended- Arbroath, one goal; East End, nothing."

The second half started furiously and "so eager were the players to score that one or two good chances were muddled". However Arbroath's Petrie (who scored a world record 13 goals in that 36-0 win) added a second for Arbroath. This seemed to spur East End but they could only claw one goal back- Arbroath's defence was just too good on the day. It finished 2-1 to Arbroath.

Silverware Beckons
As illustrated above, The East got rid of the light blue trims on the collar and cuffs by 1889-90 and if you look closely you will notice recent Dundee Hall of Fame inductee William Longair sitting in the front row with the (Dundee Charity?) Cup to his right. Last season's Forfarshire Cup final gave East End a taste for more and this was evident in their performances in the 3 cup trophies this year. First up was the Scottish Cup and East End swept aside Broughty 6-1 and Wanderers 2-0, both away from home. Next up was an away tie against Our Boys. East End edged out their great rivals 3-2 at West Craigie Park. The same scoreline at home saw off Cambuslang and a 2-2 draw away to Moffat followed up by a 5-1 win in the replay set up a quarter final spot against 3-time Scottish Cup Winners Vale of Leven. The home tie v Moffat was played at Harp's East Dock Street ground in front of 5,000-a sign perhaps, that East End was outgrowing Pitkerro Park? East Dock Street may have just been more accessible for the out of town side. Whatever the reason, it proved fruitful with Longair opening the scoring but Moffat quickly equalised; however, East End proved to be too strong.
The quarter final pairing was unkind- away to Vale of Leven in Alexandria. Nevertheless, East End started well and a lot of "runs and counter-runs" were evident as was long balls by both teams. Vale eventually managed to break the deadlock and added another before half time. Longair twisted his ankle and could not play in the 2nd half. Despite this, East End gave a good account of themselves but Vale managed another goal just after half time. With the game over as a contest, half an hour of "uninteresting" football followed and East End were unfortunate to concede a fourth with the last kick of the ball. East End lined up: Goal- McIntosh; Backs- Brown & Salmond; Half-backs- Petrie, McHardie & Spalding; Forwards- McCulloch, McLaren, Longair, Proctor & Ramsay.
This was easily East End's best ever Scottish Cup run and they hoped they would continue the momentum into their next cup match- the 1889-90 Forfarshire Cup final on 18th January 1890. East End warmed up for the final the week before with a 4-0 win over Wanderers. Our Boys also warmed up with a fine hard fought win over Dundee Harp at West Craigie Park, a very hard fought game in fact- the game had to be cut short after an Our Boys fan and a Harp fan ran on to the pitch and "exchanged blows"!
The scene was set, the game was held at East Dock Street Park and 6,000 turned out to see Dundee's premier sides contest the final. East End won the toss and Our Boys got stuck in immediately roughing up an East End player, but The East gave as good as they got though and retaliated in kind. The ref was having none of it however, and stopped play to have some stern words. It seemed to have the desired affect as the rest of the game was played out without incident. Half time came and the teams changed ends with Our Boys leading 2-1. Craik scoring for East End.
The 2nd half was eagerly anticipated and once kick off came excitement levels increased. Large swathes of the crowd willed The East to level the score but Our Boys' defence was just too strong and the hardest fought Forfarshire Cup final yet ended in Our Boys' favour. East End lodged a protest due to the crowd encroaching on the field of play, but this was later dismissed.
All was not lost however, as East End made yet another final in the shape of the Dundee Charity Cup, played on May 10th, 1890. The East were in no mood to let another trophy slip from their grasp and promptly thumped Dundee Strathmore 9-1 at East Dock Street, and the Strathmore inside-right Anderson got a nasty kick in the stomach for good measure. Have it.

Three-in-a-Row
Arguably, 1889-90 very much belonged to East End where the Dundee clubs are concerned, but 1890-91 belonged to Our Boys. Our Boys warmed up for the season with two impressive friendly victories over Hibs, 3-2 in March at West Craigie in snowy conditions which restricted the game to two halves of 35 minutes; and a 4-1 victory in May in beautiful conditions, also at West Craigie.
The Scottish Cup campaign saw a walk over in favour of The East over Stranraer and a 4-2 win over Renfrew side Johnstone. This set up a 3rd round meeting with Our Boys at West Craigie Park where 5,000 would witness a 4-0 win for Our Boys.
Inbetween cup competitions and the absence of any league format, friendlies were very much still in vogue and in Dec 1890 Our Boys and East End met:
"These two great local rivals met at Pikerro Park, the ground of the former. A stubbornly contested and exciting game ended in a draw of one goal each"

Our Boys and East End both made the semi-final of the Forfarshire Cup and avoided each other in the draw. East End made no mistake and beat Arbroath 9-2, while Our Boys edged out Montrose 2-1 to set up a replay of the previous season's final.
"Several thousand spectators lined the ropes" at East Dock Street and puddles were evident on the pitch. East End's Craik started play and the game was fairly even for a long period and both goalmouths were visited before Malloch for Our Boys opened the scoring via a counter attack. Robertson soon put the Boys 2 up. Malloch wasted an opportunity to notch a third but soon after made no mistake and netted his second and Our Boys' third. The referee blew for half time, but was reminded that he had, in fact, only played 40 minutes (a rugby background perhaps?). The ref promptly obliged to play out the remaining 5 minutes but not before the obligatory East End protest- which was dismissed. East End managed to pull one back before the real half time whistle. After the break East End's McIntosh pulled another back and another period of level play ensued. However, a quick one-two from Our Boys virtue of a scrimmage (a popular term of the time-possibly meaning a goal mouth scramble) and a strike from Buttar put the Boys 5-2 up. Malloch netted his hattrick and the game ended 6-2 for Our Boys, who retained the trophy. Our Boys went on to take the Dundee Charity Cup later that season also, beating Johnstone Wanderers in the final. A nice little double for East End's rivals.

Carolina Port
Despite Our Boys' exploits the previous season, East End were able to take over the lease of Dundee's best equipped ground, Carolina Port- a ground Dundee FC would enjoy 5-6 happy years at before ground expansion proved problematic. 1891-2 would also see the introduction of the Northern League- a local equivalent of the Scottish League and, initially, for teams from- Perthshire, Forfarshire, Aberdeen and, later, Fife.
The 1891-92 Scottish Cup kicked off with a 3-1 win away to Forfar, then a 7-1 win away to Vale of Atholl. The 3rd round was tied 1-1 with Dundee Harp but the replay ended 2-0 to East End. The 4th round was as far as they got though, going down 6-3 to Monkcastle. So, back to the local competitions and the Forfarshire semi-final of 21-12-1891 threw up an Our Boys v East End fixture. East End went into the game with confidence on the back of a 3-0 friendly victory over Our Boys at Carolina Port a couple of weeks before. The game wasn't widely reported in the national press but we learn that East End won a "hard and fast" match 3-1. The tide was turning back in favour of East End this season it seems. East End met Montrose in the final of the Forfarshire Cup and, unprecedented in the cup's 126 years, East End lost their fourth final in a row, 5-3. Surprisingly, East End protested. This time the complaint was that Montrose turned up late. The cup was withheld until the protest was not upheld and Montrose were awarded the trophy.
Meanwhile East End were going well in the Northern League with wins over Arbroath (5-0) and "keen rivals for the Northern League" Montrose (2-1) and were looking good to take the inaugural league championship. East End carried the good form into the Dundee Charity Cup in May 1892 with a first round win over Johnstone Wanderers at East Dock Street and won 3-2. East End made it all the way to the final where they met Our Boys on 28th May 1892.
Several thousand spectators turned out for the final. The team line ups that day: East End- Benvie, Ramsay, Brown, Gibb, Longair, Lyon, Craik, Fyffe, Reid, Beattie and Gilligan; Our Boys- Gould, Dow, Brown, Matthew, Shepherd, Erentz, Coupar, George, Dundas, Grewar, Buttar. It took two goals from East End's Craik to get Our Boys going and Dundas scored two quick goals for "the Blues" in reply. The game really got going from here and "fast" play followed. East End scored a third shortly before half time. Our Boys had the best of the play in the second half and desperately tried for an equaliser but East End managed to hang on for the win.
The Northern League was also hotly contested between these two sides and ultimately so close that nothing could separate the them and thus they were declared joint champions. The treble only just eluded East End.

Planning for the Future of Football in the City
1892-93 was, of course East End's last season. The club trotted out in light blue and white stripes for this season-the colours Dundee FC would initially adopt. The team was determined to win the Forfarshire Cup and yet another semi-final appearance was on the cards; a fifth straight final was not, however as Dundee Harp won the tie 5-2. That left the Northern League and Dundee Charity Cup. East End couldn't retain their Northern League title and only finished 2nd while Our Boys, on the other hand, finished second bottom. Our Boys' didn't have too much luck in the Dundee Charity Cup either losing 4-2 to East End in the final in front of 5,900 at East Dock Street.
Of course, something far more significant happened in 1892-93. There were hints and suggestions of a merger between these two great Dundee clubs and this finally came to be after a plea by an Our Boys official to unite some of the factions within the city and harness that support for a league club. East End and Our Boys were possibly the best two candidates to merge. Any local senior club with ambitions really had to consider merging to even think about applying for the fledgling Scottish Football League. Johnstone Wanderers and Strathmore did the same of course, and the new club- Dundee Wanderers managed a Division Two spot. This only lasted a season however and losing Clepington Park to big spending Dundee Hibs did it for them, as did Dundee FC beating them to the punch for a Division One spot. Whether Wanderers could have won their league place back is debateable however. The other big Dundee club- Dundee Harp- could also have achieved great things. Three times winners of the Dundee Charity Cup, three times winners of the Forfarshire Cup, with a well equipped ground and a terrific backing- 10,000 once turned out to see them play; Harp were badly run and when they couldn't pay match guarantees the SFA suspended them. They reformed however, and took the name Dundee Hibernian (not to be confused with you-know-who) before cheekily renaming themselves Dundee Harp again. Ladened with debt, perhaps in part, due to losing two major rivals in East End and Our Boys and lucrative Scottish Cup games due to the reorganising of the cup format; they folded in the 1890s. And so, Dundee's senior clubs slowly went one-by-one until two were left standing...Dundee FC & Dundee Hibernian.
The last game I can find reference to with regard to East End is a Northern League game against Dundee Harp on 20 May 1893 where "the Irishmen won by four goals to two goals". By the time of that game it is hard to believe that the wheels of motion towards a merger were not already in place...

SFL AGM 12-06-1893

"The Scottish Football League- The annual general meeting of the Scottish Football League was held last evening in the offices, West Regent Street, Glasgow. Mr A Lawrence, Dumbarton, president of the League, occupied the chair, and there was a full attendance of representatives. The proceedings were in private. In the accounts it was shown that, including a balance of £76, the income for the last year was £850, and the expenditure fell short of that sum by £140. It was decided to devote a portion of the balance to charity. Applications for admission to the League were received from St. Bernard's, Greenock Morton, Port Glasgow Athletic, Hibernians, Cowlairs, Linthouse, Glasgow Thistle, and the Dundee Club. The Abercorn and Clyde clubs, which were lowest in the competition last year, also sought re-election. After discussion, it was decided to admit the St. Bernard's and the Dundee club to membership. The applications of Abercorn and Clyde were refused, so that the number of clubs in the league remains at ten. The proposal by St.Mirren that the gross receipts at matches should be divided instead of the net receipts was rejected."

Acknowledgements
"Up Wi' The Bonnets" & "They Wore the Dark Blue" by Norrie Price
The newspaper quotes are all found in the excellent London Hearts website
Scottish Cup matches were found at RSSSF and Dundee's Footballing Victorians
Club and tournament information was found at the Historical Archive run by Brian McColl
Football strip illustrations copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.
Scottish League.net

2009-2010 Season Review - August

2009-08-30T18:20:00.002+01:00

The 09-10 season was the most eagerly awaited season for a Dundee fan since the 03-04 season. Back then, of course, we had a European campaign to look forward to as well as realistic hopes of a trophy and high league placing. The events of November 2003 put paid to that, but that's another story.
The pre season saw the board eradicate all bank debt as well as attract Calum Melville to the club; and it was to be largely Calum's investment that would bring in some top First Division players as well as players with SPL and international experience.
The pre season friendlies brought mixed fortunes with defeats to FC Augsburg (0-2) and Borussia Mönchengladbach (0-2) in Austria followed up by draws with Aberdeen (1-1, Dens) and Arbroath (1-1, Gayfield). The first, and only victory came at Forfar (1-0). Royal Antwerp and their band of lively supporters were invited to Dens and the teams played out a 3-3 draw.

The first competitive game was the 1st round League Cup home tie against Stranraer. Dundee cruised to a 5-0 victory to give the fans a tasty morsal of what to expect in the forthcoming season. Goals from Higgins (23), Harkins (29), Cameron (37), McMenamin (47), Griffiths (67) sealed Stranraer's fate. The performance impressed some Stranraer fans:

"Dundee were very impressive, particularly Harkins who was tremendous and ably assisted by McHale and Hart in midfield. The guys up front are going to enjoy the ammunition supplied from there this season. Young Kyle Benedictus looks like a real good find too." Blue Moon, P & B.

The opening league game was against Morton, who have proved themselves to be no slouches in the 1st division. After a poor first half showing, Dundee managed a vital 1-0 win after Higgins got on the end of a McHale cross. The away fans' perspective wasn't quite so gushing this time:

"Dee looked an okay side but certainly nothing special. No doubt they'll improve once their new signings bed down. Overall Dee probably deserved to win by virtue of creating a few more chances, but over the piece there wasn't much between the sides." Steak & Barley, P & B

Next up was Raith and Dundee's first competitive away game. Dundee took a healthy support and Raith showed up in large numbers for their flag presentation. Despite Dundee taking the lead, the game ended 2-2.

"Harkins is some player though. Great composure on the ball and always playing with his head up. Dundee should play through him as much as possible. Griffiths too, when he came on, was very good. The rest? Hmmn, not so sure. I still think they'll win the league although maybe I should wait 'till I witness Caley & the Pars before commenting further." Pantene proV, P&B.

Another trip to Fife ensued in the form of Alba Cup business with Cowdenbeath our opponents. A 3-0 victory saw Dundee progress to the quarter finals. Cowden fans weren't optomistic going into the fixture but were pleasantly surprised by the way their team went about things, despite the loss:

"I thought we played well for most of the match. The first goal was a bizarre affair and Dundee didn't take over until the final ten minutes, even then we still pushed forward." Centralparker, P&B.

Five and a half thousand turned out for the 2-2 draw versus ICT. Dundee were aided by the large home support and ICT were aided by our defence, who were abysmal. In an otherwise entertaining match, Dundee twice took the lead, only to concede equalisers, twice. The second half saw chances for both sides to nick it but the scoreline ended 2-2. On that game alone and in my opinion, Malone, Paton, MacKenzie, Lauchlan, Kerr, McHale and McMenamin didn't perform. Bullock, Hart and Higgins did well with Harkins stealing the show. Griffiths and Cameron did well for the time they were on also- and must start at Airdrie.

"At HT I thought Dundee were very fortunate to be level, and they looked a one man team. Mind you, Harkins is a helluva player to have at this level and looks a cert for player of the year. Cracking game, end to end stuff, but I was mighty relieved when the whistle went as Dundee fared better out of the flurry of substitutions. They should have started with Griffiths."
Yngwie, P & B.

Dundee took their shaky defence up to Station Park in the 2nd round of the League Cup soon after the ICT game. A couple of changes were made to the starting line-up and it paid of as Dundee cruised to a 3-0 lead at half time, but as is becoming a bad habit, that momentum did not last. In the end Dundee settled for, an admittedly comfortable, 4-2 win. Craig Forsyth won man-of-the-match.

"Was very impressed with Forsyth. Great to see a player looking to take players on everytime he gets the ball. Cant make my mind up if we were that bad the 1st half or whether Dundee were good, we improved 2nd half but a deserved win for Dundee" Cresto11, P&B.

Back to the league and a visit to Airdrie United. A ficture that hasn't been particularly kind to Dundee and this game was to be no different. McMenamin opened the scoring but Lauchlan's O.G. levelled things and that is how it remained. Another draw in the league and it's clear we need to bring in a couple of players before the transfer deadline.

"we were quite lucky to get the goal at the end of the half which helped us going into the second. thought our defence was great although griffiths did outpace our right back a few times. (i'm sure he was offside once or twice).

when baird came on he started a couple of attacks down the left and I thought we were going to win it near the end when (Lagana or Keegan?) curled it by the keepers left hand post.

overall a decent game i thought, and we certainly deserved at least a point although we could've sneeked the three. " Proud to be a Diamond, P&B.

So, Dundee go through the month of August unbeaten and win all of their cup matches easily, but it is apparent that we need to strengthen key areas if we are to win the league. Too many points have been lost due to only performing for only patches of games and having a very unbalanced squad. The honeymoon is over, but all is far from lost. Roll on September!

August:
1st- Dundee 5-0 Stranraer, League Cup 1st Round, 2,345
Higgins, Harkins, Cameron, McMenamin, Griffiths

Bullock, Paton (Casement 49), Malone, McHale, Benedictus, Lauchlan, Hart, Cameron (Kerr 68), Higgins, McMenamin (Griffiths 55), Harkins.
Subs Not Used: Forsyth, Geddes.

8th- Dundee 1-0 Morton, League, 5,449 (league position- joint 2nd)
Higgins

Bullock, Paton, Malone, McHale, MacKenzie, Lauchlan, Hart, Cameron (Kerr 75), McMenamin (Griffiths 68), Higgins, Harkins (Forsyth 87). Subs Not Used: A Trialist (D Soutar), Casement.

15th- Raith Rovers 2-2 Dundee, league 4,744 (league position- 1st)
Harkins, McMenamin

Bullock, Paton, Malone, McHale (Forsyth 84), MacKenzie, Lauchlan, Hart (Kerr 62), Cameron, McMenamin, Higgins (Griffiths 67), Harkins. Subs Not Used: Cowan, A Trialist (D Soutar).

18th- Cowdenbeath 0-3 Dundee, 457, Alba Challenge Cup 2nd Round,
Harkins, Griffiths, Antoine-Curier

Bullock, Cowan, Benedictus, Lauchlan, Forsyth, Casement, McHale (Harkins 66), Cameron, Kerr, Antoine-Curier, Griffiths (McMenamin 70). Subs Not Used: Geddes, Rennie, Timmons.

22nd- Dundee 2-2 Inverness Caledonian Thistle, 5,507, league (league position- 2nd)
Harkins (2)

Bullock, Paton, Malone, McHale, MacKenzie, Lauchlan, Hart (Cameron 78), Kerr, McMenamin, Higgins (Griffiths 67), Harkins.

Subs Not Used: A Trialist (D Soutar), Casement, Antoine-Curier.

25th- Forfar 2-4 Dundee, League Cup 2nd Round, 1,929
Griffiths, Antoine-Curier (2), Tod (O.G.)

Bullock, Casement (Kerr 80), Malone, Paton, Lauchlan, Benedictus, Cameron, Forsyth, Harkins, Antoine-Curier, Griffiths.

Subs Not Used: Geddes, MacKenzie, Higgins, McMenamin.

29th- Airdrie United 1-1 Dundee, 1,516, league (league position- 4th)
McMenamin

Bullock, Paton, Malone, Benedictus, Lauchlan, McHale, Cameron (Hart 68), Kerr, Harkins, McMenamin, Griffiths (Higgins 76) .

Subs Not Used: MacKenzie, Forsyth, Geddes.

August Goal Count:
(L-League; LC-League Cup; LCC-League Challenge Cup)

Harkins 5 (3-L; 1-LC; 1-LCC)
McMenamin 3 (2-L; 1-LC)
Courier 3 (2-LC; 1-LCC)
Griffiths 3 (2-LC; 1-LCC)
Higgins 2 (1 L; 1 LC)
Cameron 1 (1-LC)

Our Boys - 1877-1893

2009-08-27T17:15:00.024+01:00

The early history of football in Dundee is a rich tapestry of football clubs crossing paths and merging; of disputes and offshoots and musical chairs with regards to ground habitation; and the history of Our Boys is no different. Formed in 1877, Our Boys are among the earliest known sides from the city, indeed, only St Clement's, formed in 1876, are known to be older.
While the game of football had been around a while, mainly played between universities and private schools, the association game was relatively new. The first "official" international was played between Scotland an England in 1872 and the first Scottish Cup took place in 1873-4. Now, Our Boys were by no means big players in the early development of the Scottish game- that honour belongs to the likes of Queens Park, Renton, Vale of Leven, Third Lanark, St Bernards et al- but they would, of course, later merge with East End to form Dundee FC.
Our Boys started out life in a rather fetching red/black ensemble, pictured, complete with jockey-style caps. The club played at West Craigie Park, which was located where Baxter Park Terrace and Park Avenue are situated now which was a matter of yards from where they are said to have been formed- Morgan Street.

Scottish Cup Baptism
In those days, income was generated by playing friendlies and participating in the local tournaments and Scottish Cup. Our Boys' Scottish Cup introduction wasn't a happy one as they went down 8-0 in Glasgow to South Western on 29th Sep 1877. South Western would, in turn, only get edged out at the quarter final stage by Third Lanark- so no great shame for the cup debutants. Our Boys' first cup game was imortalised by the national media simply as:

"Played at Govan, and resulted in a win for the South-Western by eight goals to nothing"

The next few years of the Scottish Cup would also see 1st round exits. While the defeat to South Western was no great disaster, the same cannot be said of the 3-0 defeat to Arbroath in the 1878-79 Scottish Cup- it was Arbroath's first ever game. Arbroath would again be Our Boys' conquerors the follwing season, winning 5-1 this time. Perthshire outfit, Rob Roy completed a quartet of 1st round scalps in 1880, winning 2-1 in Perthshire.
Our Boys were to find a little more success in the cup in 1881-82, getting the better of Arbroath 2-1 in the 1st round at West Craigie in what was the first Scottish Cup game at home for the club. In the second round Our Boys would triumph in an 8 goal thriller, winning 5-3 at home to Dundee Harp. Goals were not hard to come by during this run and an emphatic 4-1 away win against Strathmore set up a 4th round meeting away to Kilmarnock. This is where the run would end, however, as Our Boys went down 9-2.
Another reasonably successful cup run was to be had in 1882-83 when Our Boys defeated Dundee Hibernian 2-1 in the 1st round and Balgay 5-3 in the 2nd round before being slain 6-4 by Vale of Teith in Doune. It should be noted, that the 1st round opponents were not the Dundee Hibernian.
Our Boys' appalling form away from Dundee was evident in 1883-84. The first few rounds were not a problem, given the regionalised format of the early rounds of the cup. Our Boys beat Dundee side West End 3-2, before dispatching Strathmore of Arbroath 2-0 and Strathmore of Dundee 5-1 in a replay- the first game ended 2-2. However, the aforementioned dreadful form outside of the city came back to haunt them as they subsequently lost 11-0 to Pollokshields in Glasgow- this would prove to be their heaviest defeat.

Forfarshire Cup
Season 1883-84 saw the formation of the Forfarshire FA. This, of course, meant the start of the Forfarshire Cup- a tournament taken very seriously in the early years. It provided local sides with an alternative to the Scottish Cup- which was very much dominated by the Glasgow, Dumbarton, Edinburgh and Paisley heavyweights. The inaugral winners were Arbroath followed by an impressive 3 in-a-row from Dundee Harp- whose run of trophy wins co-incided with their impressive 35(and counting)-0 mauling of Aberdeen Rovers in the Scottish Cup. This period also saw Our Boys change colours to the familiar Dark Blue that we all know and love today.
Season 1884-85 saw Our Boys face familiar foes in the Scottish Cup in the form of Strathmore (Arbroath) (4-1); West End (8-1); Strathmore (Dundee) (5-1) before drawing 2-2 with Lanarkshire side West Benhar. Needless to say, Our Boys lost the replay heavily- 8-3 in fact.

Local Hostilities
By the mid 1880s Our Boys were making some real progress and attracting a lot of public interest within the city and there were keen rivalries forming with local sides, not least East End. Indeed, East End were one of the few city sides able to keep up with Our Boys given the heavy defeats inflicted by Our Boys on the city sides in the Scottish Cup. Despite this, the Forfarshire Cup still eluded them; whether this was a bone of contention within the club is not certain but what is certain is the fractuous relations between club officials and players alike. This eventually boiled over after a 3-1 Forfarshire Cup 2nd round defeat to Dundee Harp when a number of club members left the club and formed Wanderers. Perhaps worthy of an article in their own right, Wanderers achieved not insignificant success. Wanderers would initially play at Morgan Park where they would record their record crowd of 6,500 against Queen of the South Wanderers in the Scottish Cup 4th round. Earlier that same tournament Wanderers battered poor Aberdeen Rovers 10-0 in what was to be their record win. That Scottish Cup run eventually ended at the quarter final stage where Dumbarton giants Renton beat them 5-1. Wanderers won the Dundee Charity Cup twice in 1887 and 1888. A move to Clepington Park (now Tannadice) followed in 1891 as well as a name change to Johnstone Wanderers and soon after in 1894 a merger with Strathmore happened. The new club flirted with the name Dundonians but Dundee FC objected to the name and the new club settled for Dundee Wanderers. Dundee Wanderers themselves won the Forfarshire Cup 3 times (1898, 1902, 1904); the Northern League once (1900); the Dundee Charity Cup once (1896) and the Dewar Shield once (1904). Dundee Wanderers would also play one season of league football in 1894-95 in the old Division 2. All this because some players took the huff!

Back to Our Boys and the 1885-6 Scottish Cup campaign was poor by Our Boys' rising standards. A 1st round victory over Coupar Angus (8-2) -away from home no less- was followed up by a 4-1 reverse to Dundee Harp. Even worse was to come in 1886-87 when Forfar (formed only a year earlier) won 5-2 at West Craigie in the 1st round. It was to prove to be the first of only three Scottish Cup defeats at home for Our Boys.

Quarter Finalists
The 1887-88 season saw somewhat of a breakthrough for Our Boys when they reached the quarter final of the Scottish Cup. This was the same tournament in which Wanderers managed the same feat. The two Dundee sides were joined by another local rival- Arbroath. Unfortunately, they would avoid each other in the quarter final draw and with such names as Queens Park, Renton, Abercorn and eventual runners up Cambuslang (who beat Abercorn 10-1 in the semi-final replay) also in the draw, that was as far as the local interest went. The press noted:

"The following clubs will now have to contest the semi-final of the Scottish Cup- Renton, Queens Park, Cambuslang and Abercorn. With four excellent teams it would really be difficult to pass an opinion as to who will be the ultimate winners. The Cambuslang, as has been demonstrated by their recent performances, are at present in their very best form, and, if they could only keep it up-and there is no reason why they should not-they will prove a hard nut to crack"

Our Boys' run to this stage was courtesy of a 9-4 win at Aberdeen (one of the clubs who merged to form the present Aberdeen); a 5-3 win over Montrose; a 5-0 win in Perth against Fair City Athletic; a 4th round bye; a 4-2 victory over Albion Rovers before losing 6-0 away to Cambuslang. Our Boys, perhaps full of enthusiasm, started pressing immediately but a Cambuslang counter attack resulted in an early goal for the home team. Our Boys trailed 2-0 at half time, with Cambuslang added a further 4 after the break. Around 1,000 spectators turned out to see the game- Our Boys lined up: Goal- Douglas; Backs- Leighton and Adams; Half-backs- Gillin, Butters and Findlay; Forwards- Tosh, Chalmers, Craig, Hull and Robertson.

"...while Our Boys (Dundee) succumbed to Paisley Abercorn by the large majority of eleven goals to one..."
Another heavy defeat came in the 4th round of the cup in 1888-89, again away from home to Abercorn. This was not before home wins v bitter rivals East End (5-4), Lochee (4-2) and Harp (2-1). 1889-90 would see East End exact revenge (3-2) in a 3rd round Scottish Cup game at West Craigie. Prior to this high scoring victories over Strathmore (6-3) and Dundee Harp (6-5) set up the third round tie between the old foes.

Local Success - Forfarshire Cup at last!
By the 1890s it was apparent Our Boys were a progressive club with ambitions. The club translated this into local success in the form of the Forfarshire Cup in 1889-90 and 1890-91, the Dundee Charity Cup in 1890-91 and a decent run in the Scottish Cup. A 7-2 win at Forfar, a 2nd round bye and a 4-0 victory over East End set up a 4th round tie versus Celtic at West Craigie. Our Boys would lose 3-1 in what were dreadful rainy conditions, however, a record attendance of 6,000 would turn out to watch two excellent defensive displays. Our Boys would take the lead but Celtic would equalise and then go on to score two futher goals to go into the interval 3-1 up. Obviously no further scoring took place. Our Boys lined up: Gold; Shepherd and Brown; Craig, Robertson and Findleton (Captain); Coupar and Chalmers; Buttar; Grewar (goal scorer) and Malloch.
1891-92 saw further success in the form of the Northern League, shared with East End. The Scottish Cup brought no joy as a 1st round defeat (2-0) to a local rival was to be the last Scottish Cup game Our Boys would play.
Scottish clubs often lost players to wealthier English clubs and Our Boys were no different. In 1892 James Coupar and Fred Erentz left to join Newton Heath (later Manchester United). Erentz in particular was a hit down south playing 280 games for the Manchester side.

Birth of Dundee FC
The events at the end of season 1892-93 were significant, to put it mildly, for Our Boys. They did the unthinkable and merged with East End! This is especially incredible considering the scenes at an Our Boys-East End derby at West Craigie which ended 4-4. The game descended into chaos and blows were exchange between fans and officials- this was as late as Jan 1893. It was to be the end of a rich history of a top Dundee senior side, however, it was to be the dawn of something far greater and despite disappointment at not being given Carolina Port (Strathmore were given that honour); it was, in my mind, fitting that Dundee FC spent their first year at West Craigie- a doth of the cap to the provenance created by Our Boys.

Acknowledgements
As ever, Norrie Price's "Up Wi' The Bonnets" provided the background to the article and formed the foundations of the whole piece.
The newspaper quotes are all found in the excellent London Hearts website
Scottish Cup matches were found at RSSSF and Dundee's Footballing Victorians
Club and tournament information was found at the Historical Archive run by Brian McColl
Football strip illustrations copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.
Oh, and I used Wiki also...

Limited Internet Access

2009-08-26T21:53:00.003+01:00

Posts will be sparse over the next week or so due to problems with my laptop and time constraints. I will still be posting tidbits so keep checking back!

We've Met Before - Forfar Athletic

2009-08-26T21:05:00.011+01:00

Local rivals they may be, but there isn't exactly a rich history of matches between Forfar and Dundee. The first meetings were back in the old Division 2 in 1938-39. Despite being one of the worst ever finishing league positions in Dundee's history (a lowly 26th place overall) Dundee managed an impressive 10-2 win at Dens, but went down 2-1 in Forfar. Forfar were not present in Division 2 during Dundee's 1946-47 title winning year so the next meeting was in the Scottish Cup of 1963-64. 16,000 turned out to see yet another comfortable Dundee victory- this time 6-1 as the Dark Blues marched to a Hampden final.
Almost 30 years would pass before the next competitive fixtures, this time in 1990-91 and 1991-92 in the Scottish First Division. It would prove to be fruitful for the Dees with the following results recorded over the two seasons- 1-0, 4-1, 1-1 (90-91) & 3-1, 3-0, 4-0, 4-2 (91-92). Another 4-0 victory followed in the 2004-05 League Cup at Dens, with Steve Lovell netting a hat-trick.

That gives Dundee a healthy record of 10 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat when including last night's victory.

Although I concentrate on the major competitions for these features, these clubs have obviously met on Forfarshire Cup duties numerous times, and indeed, in a few finals. These finals are listed below:

1922-23 Dundee 2-0 Forfar
1930-31 Forfar 2-1 Dundee
1945-46 Dundee 6-1 Forfar
1959-60 Dundee 3-2 Forfar
1978-79 Forfar 3-1 Dundee
1983-84 Forfar 3-2 Dundee

We've Met Before - Inverness Caledonian Thistle

2009-08-21T18:51:00.001+01:00

It's not a fixture steeped in history, but that's not surprising given that ICT only entered the SFL in the 1994-95 season. There were two vacancies for SFL spots that year and both Caledonian FC and Inverness Thistle decided to apply. The SFL intimated that both applications may be unsuccessful individually but that a single, joint application may be more desirable. Against a backdrop of much controversy, the clubs agreed, and Caledonian Thistle FC was born. Soon after, it was decided to put "Inverness" at the front of the team's name.

It wasn't to be long before the sides met- the 1994-95 League Cup 1st round to be exact. Dundee ran out 3-0 winners at Dens in front of 3,112. Dundee would themselves go out in the next round to Celtic, also at Dens.
The next game was also a cup game- this time the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden in front of 14,429. It wasn't the most assured performance by Dundee but a sklaffed shot by Giorgi Nemsadze ensured progress to the final and avoided a Pittodrie replay.
2004-5 saw the first and, until this season, only league meetings between the pair. It was pretty straight forward in terms of victories favouring the home team. ICT won the initial game 2-1 at home; lost the next one 3-1 at Dens and then won the next one 3-2 at home. The fourth and final league game at Dens was going Dundee's way up until the 88th minute when substitute Liam Fox equalised for ICT, putting a serious dent in Dundee's survival hopes in the process.
The fixture may not be old, but whenever these two have met, there has been plenty at stake; with Dundee and ICT strong contenders for the First Division crown this season, that doesn't look like changing anytime soon...

Dundee wins: 3
Draws: 1
ICT wins: 2

Dundee v Celtic, League Cup Quarter Final Replay, 20th nov 1972

2009-08-20T17:46:00.010+01:00

Back in the late 60's through to the early 80's, Dundee and Celtic enjoyed a series of cup clashes, usually in the later stages of the competitions. I say "enjoyed" but it can be said that Celtic enjoyed these clashes a lot more than Dundee, unfortunately. It really didn't help that Celtic were managed by Jock Stein for most of this period, however.
The 1972-73 season saw these two meet on no less than 7 occasions- twice in the league, twice in the Scottish Cup and three times in the League Cup. Celtic edged Dundee in this mini rivalry by 3 wins to 2 with one draw. This season would see Dundee play 16 cup ties (20 if you include the Texaco and Forfarshire Cups) such was our success in the knock out tournaments. Although, it should be mentioned that Dundee managed a respectable 5th place finish in the league that year also. It's clear, to me anyway, that the Dundee side of that era deserved more than just a solitary League Cup win.
The game featured is the quarter final replay played at Hampden on 20th November 1972 in front of 36,483. Celtic won the game 4-1 with Jocky Scott netting Dundee's goal. An emphatic victory that contradicts the closeness of the 1st and 2nd leg matches of the quarter final: 1st leg- Dundee 1-0 Celtic (22,000); 2nd leg- Celtic 3-2 Dundee (After 90 mins and ET- 39,000). Unfortunately an away goals rule system didn't operate...

The Programme:
"Here Is Real Value for Money"- the title of the first feature exclaims.
"Value for money will be given tonight when Dundee, one of the most sophisticated and skilful sides in British football, meet the team that is something else in the Scottish game, Celtic"

The article goes on to quote Jock Stein's assessment of the last league encounter between the two sides:

"When your team plays as well as we played you can have little complaint. We played really well and lost a terrific game of football" [Dundee won 2-0]

The article ends up by highlighting just how difficult it will be for Dundee as Celtic have players such as Dalgleish, Hay, Macari, Johnstone et al to call upon, and, they rarely lose replays.

The Teams who are Chasing a Semi-Final Place Against Aberdeen
The middle page spread indicates the likely line ups:
Dundee's was predicted to be- Thomson Allan, Bobby Wilson, Doug Houston, Bobby Robinson, George Stewart, Bobby Ford, Jimmy Wilson, John Duncan, Gordon Wallace, Jocky Scott, Ian Scott. Sub: John Gray.
That was almost spot on apart from Alec Pringle playing in place of Bobby Ford.
A Close Look at the Players Who Make Scoring a Business
The respective marksmen of the two teams are given pen pics and we learn that John Duncan has already scored 11 in the League Cup competition alone (he would eventually net 40 goals that season). Jocky's pen pic reads:

"JOCKY SCOTT- Inside-left. 5ft, 9ins. 11st. 4lbs. Snapped up by Dundee eight years ago when Chelsea, unwisely, decided he didn't have what it takes. Though a moody type of player, there is none better when he is in the mood. Scored a spectacular "saver" against Celtic to force this replay."

League Cup Statistics and Scorers to Date
The inside back page charts the respective teams' progress in the competition. Both teams were free scoring up until this point- Dundee scoring 26 and Celtic 28. Dundee crushed East Stirling 8-2 in the sectional opener with Duncan netting 5. Dundee also turned around a 3-0 1st leg deficit against Dumbarton in the first knock-out round, winning the Dens 2nd leg 4-0.

The last page of the programme includes the obligatory piece of propaganda re the success of the tournament - nearly every programme of this era includes this article- but re-written in a different way. That said, the League Cup used to attract some staggering crowds. Click the image below to enlarge. look out for the patronising "little fellows" comments and the typo that suggests there will be an estimated 905,000 attending the 72-3 League Cup Final.

Dundee and the Challenge Cup

2009-08-14T20:03:00.015+01:00

The Scottish League Challenge Cup; it means only one thing to Dundee fans- another season of First Division football. For many fans of various clubs it's a diddy cup, distracting from the serious business of mounting a serious title challenge. That is, until their team reaches the final, or even the semi-final. It's also been given a somewhat elevated status by Dundee fans this season and another excuse to see our team of "galacticos" in action. Every game is an event now. Such is the confidence in our team that a lot of Dees would like to see us win the trophy as part of a potential double with the First Division title. It's evidence of the renewed interest and enthusiasm amongst the Dark Blue fans.

It all started in 1990-91 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Scottish Football League and it was known as the B & Q Centenary Cup. Dundee's games that year drew healthy crowds, the first game excepted. Tricky away wins at Kille and Raith as well as an 8 goal thriller at Alloa set up a final with Ayr United at Fir Park in front of 11,506. Billy Dodds's hat-trick secured the trophy for Dundee.

1990-1991
2nd Round- Alloa 3-5 Dundee, 915
Quarter Final- Raith Rovers 0-1 Dundee (aet), 4,061
Semi-final- Kilmarnock 0-2 Dundee, 7,933
Final- Ayr 2-3 Dundee (aet), Fir Park, 11,506

The 1991-92 season introduced the tournament, now just called the B & Q Cup, to Dens for the first time and it was to be a short lived affair with Ayr exacting revenge for the previous season's final defeat.

1991-92
1st Round- Dundee 0-2 Ayr, 2,058

There was a two year break from the competition while Dundee competed in the Premier Division but the 1994-95 competition saw a return to the final; the scoreline mirroring the score in 90-91 with Dundee losing to Challenge Cup specialists- Airdrieonians.

1994-95
1st Round- Dundee 5-0 Arbroath, 2,205
2nd Round- Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1-1 Dundee (after 90mins & et) 4-3 pens, 2,000
Quarter Final- Dundee 2-1 Morton, 2,199
Semi-final- Dunfermline 1-2 Dundee, 7,154
Final- Airdrie 3-2 Dundee (aet) McDiarmid Park, 8,844

Lack of sponsors meant another name change in 95-96. Dundee would make their 3rd quarter final in 4 attempts in the League Challenge Cup. By the time the Stenhousemuir game came around it was apparent that we had a chance to go far in the League Cup and less importance was placed on the lower league tournament.

1995-96
1st round- East Fife 2-4 Dundee, 1,157
2nd round- Dundee 3-0 Cowdenbeath, 1,101
Quarter Final- Dundee 1-3 Stenhousemuir, 1,112

Another quarter final followed in 96-97 but a heavy defeat by St. Johnstone put paid to that run. Dundee did manage to avenge their defeat in the previous season's tournament by Stenny however.

1996-97
1st round- Dundee 3-1 Stenhousemuir, 1,304
2nd round- Airdrie 0-2 Dundee, 1,313
Quarter Final- Dundee 1-5 St. Johnstone, 2,346

1997-98 was a good season by virtue of us being promoted. Airdrie, however, dispatched us in the 1st round of the League Challenge Cup thanks to a 88th minute goal.

1997-98
1st round- Airdrie 1-0 Dundee, 799

After a gap of 7 seasons playing in the SPL, Dundee returned in 2005-06, and another quarter final appearance ensued.

2005-06
1st round- Dundee 2-0 East Stirlingshire, 2,554
2nd round- Dundee 1-1 Airdrie United (after 90 mins and et) Dees win on pens, 1,857
Quarter Final- Hamilton 2-0 Dundee, 609

06-7 saw Dundee dispatched by a decent Forfar performance coupled with a completely awful Dundee performance. Thankfully, it wasn't a long journey home that night.

2006-07
1st round- Forfar 2-1 Dundee, 840

Again, Dundee fell at the first hurdle in 07-8, this time Ross County were our conquerors.

2007-08
1st round- Dundee 1-2 Ross County, 1,471

For the third consecutive season, Dundee suffered a first round exit at the hands of Alloa, our first and until tomorrow, last opponents in the competition.

2008-09
1st round- Alloa 2-1 Dundee, 793

So, to the Cowdenbeath game; hopefully it will be a good trip for the Dark Blue faithful, and for once, I'd really like to see us do well in this cup. 'Mon the Dees!

Dundee v Raith Rovers, 3rd January 1998

2009-08-13T22:53:00.005+01:00

This colourful number is the match programme from the Dundee v Raith league game at Dens on the 3rd January 1998. The game was played out in front of 5,304 and ended 1-1. It was to be one of 3 draws the two sides would play out that season. Raith would take the lead immediately before half time and Anderson would equalise for the Dark Blues immediately after half time. The next meeting between the two would be the famous league clincher at Stark's Park.

Cover
To the programme and the cover seems to represent the present and celebrate the past history of the club with the artwork depicting the old and new styles of player and football attire.

Cowboy Talk
John McCormack says in his manager comments that:

"In terms of attractive football, we couldn't have wished for better first foots than Raith Rovers. It is top of the table clashes such as these in which everyone wants to be involved." Cowboy continues; "Somewhat like ourselves, Raith have struggled a bit at home but enjoyed good results away from home which will act as a warning to us."

Boardroom Perspective [by Guiseppe Gabiraldi on behalf of the board]
This article pulls no punches re the league set up of the time:

"Like the majority of teams and fans in Scotland, and I include in this a fair proportion of Premier Clubs, well in my opinion, we are not in favour of closed leagues."

The rationale behind that statement was that there are many well run non-league sides being denied access to the league and that bottom league clubs "without genuine ambition" are just happy to "tread water".

The proposal to set up a top league with teams from the larger population centres tends to come from "...people who seem to believe the mantle of structural change lies solely with them." The article goes on to say these clubs are run by "...fully paid up capitalists and here they are acting like the best or worst of the old Soviet Bloc Command economists. Who as history now tells us, failed miserably when they tried to plan their marketplace and dictate consumer behaviour."

The programme is extremely heavy on adverts and includes the usual player profiles (with some very youthful looking "well kent" faces including Lee Mair, Lee Wilkie, Jamie Langfield et al), current season's results, the Dens Park Bard & "Our Man in Aberdeen" feature by Kenny Ross.

And Finally
The "Dens Park Talk" section notes:

"Congratulations to 17 year old Steven Milne who made his first team debut at Paisley last week. The striker, who has been farmed out local junior outfir [sic] Downfield this season , becomes another find from a very successful youth policy in recent seasons including Ian Anderson, Jerry O'Driscoll, Neil McCann, Craig Tully, Gavin Rae, and John Elliott."

FC Barcelona v Manchester United, 1994-5, Champions League

2009-08-13T17:17:00.008+01:00

Manchester United fans cover your eyes; this game was not a happy event for those of a red persuasion. Alex Ferguson would refer to this game as a watershed in his Manchester United team's European education. In fairness, Sir Eck was hampered by the 3 foreigner rule but opted to drop Schmeichel - I can still remember his face as he looked on helplessly as his team got hammered. It doesn't seem that long ago to me, but the group stages were filled with league champions only and Utd and Barca were joined by IFK Gothenburg and Galatasaray. After a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, Utd travelled to Barcelona to play in front of a 120,000 capacity crowd.
Stoichkov and Romario would score in the first half and then Stoichkov and Ferrer would score in the second to complete the 4-0 scoreline. Despite the impressive display, Barca would go out meekly to PSG in the quarter finals. Manchester United failed to qualify from the group stage.
So to the "programme"; in reality it's an A5 paper leaflet, 4 pages in length. However, the Spanish are not big on their football programmes.
The first page simply shows the current standings (click to enlarge) and that night's games. The middle page spread gives a lowdown on Manchester United, their manager, key players, squad and tactics. Looking at this page it just emphasises what Alex Ferguson has done for United- he has pretty much doubled their trophy tally in his 25 years at the club. It's clear that Barca Expected Man U to start with Schmeichel, Bruce, Parker, Pallister, Irwin, Kanchelskis, Ince, Keane, Butt, Scholes, Hughes.
The last page gives the remaining fixtures, and no, I've no idea what the section entitled "La Borsa" is all about; answers on a postcard please...

We've Met Before - Morton FC

2009-08-09T22:26:00.006+01:00

As you'd expect, teams as old as Morton and Dundee with a lot of top flight pedigree, will have crossed each other's path a fair few times. The Dundee-Morton fixture can be traced all the way back to the 1895-96 Scottish Cup when the two met for the first time. The venue was Cappielow and 3,000 fans congregated to witness Morton go into the break 2-1 ahead only to lose 3-2 by the time the final whistle blew.

Early, Hectic Encounters
The first league meeting between the two was a 5-1 hammering for Dundee at Cappielow in 1900-01. Dundee would (almost) return the favour in the Dens return, winning 5-2. The early league meetings would produce some high scoring matches between what would end up being regarded as some of the finest teams the respective clubs would ever produce. Dundee, as we all know, would win the Scottish Cup in 1909-10 and finish runners up in the league three times between 1903 and 1909. Morton would finish 3rd, 2nd and 3rd in seasons 1915-16, 1916-17 and 1918-19 respectively as well as win the Scottish Cup in 1921-22.
The goals inevitably flowed and no more so than in 1904-05 when Morton's 5-1 thrashing of Dundee was countered by a 6-1 demolition job at Dens to compliment the 6-0 win in the previous season's corresponding fixture. In 1908-09, Morton, who would finish 17th, would do untold damage to Dundee's title chances by taking 3 points out of 4 from Dundee, including a 2-1 win at Dens that allowed Celtic to overtake Dundee to finish champions by a single point.
Over the next few years Morton would have the better of Dundee, but Dundee would recover and, ironically, would post some decent results during Morton's glory years.

Cup Meetings
In seasons 1929-30 & 1931-32 Dundee would post a couple of Scottish Cup victories over Morton. In January 1930 at Dens, 15,000 fans would turn out to see the Dees score a goal in each half to beat Morton 2-0. The Dees would eventually reach the quarter finals where Hearts would break Dundee, erm, hearts by winning the replay at Tynecastle. Dundee would actually play all ties at Dens before the Edinburgh replay date, beating Morton, St. Johnstone and Airdrie along the way. The Hearts game at Dens (2-2) would attract 31,000.
In 31-32, another 1st round meeting between the pair, again at Dens, would attract 9,200 and 3 second half goals allowed Dundee to ease to a 4-1 victory. This cup competition would prove short lived however, as Dundee would go down 1-0 away to Dunfermline in the next round.

Few and Far Between
By the late forties onwards, the Dundee-Morton spectacle was a declining fixture of the Scottish game; the goals would still flow nevertheless. Heavy victories and numerous 5 goal thrillers would ensue. The 1972-73 season is a prime example- Dundee won 6-0 at Dens but lost 5-2 at Cappielow.

Premier Division Era
The first lower league encounters would take place in 1976-77 and 1977-78, and Dundee would win 3 and draw 3 of the 6 matches. In seasons 1981-82 and 1982-83 the two teams would meet a total of 12 times- 8 times in the league and 4 times in the League Cup. Home advantage was key, with only two of the ties going in the favour of the away team- Morton's 2-1 victory at Dens in 81-2 and Dundee's 2-1 league win at Cappielow in 82-3 being the exceptions to the rule. The League Cup games would be a disappointment for Dundee as they would fail to qualify from the sectional group on both occasions. That said, there was a little cheer when Dundee notched an impressive 5-2 win in Greenock in the League Cup on the way to a quarter final defeat by Rangers at Ibrox in 1986-87. The most impressive scoreline was yet to come, however, when Dundee won 7-1 in Greenock in 1987-88. There have been a few Dark Blue 6-0 victories, but neither side has managed to knock 7 in this fixture other than this one time.

Dawn of the SPL
One game that sticks out for me in recent times is the Scottish Cup replay in 1996-97 at Dens. The first game ended in a 2-2 draw at Cappielow with Dundee twice coming from behind thanks to Lee Power and Iain Anderson. The game itself was a dire battle of attrition and did nothing to raise the spirits, or importantly, the temperatures of the 4,346 who attended the game in freezing cold conditions. Until that is, when Dundee were awarded a penalty in or around the 80th minute. Sadly, we missed; but even worse- Morton were awarded a penalty of their own in the 90th minute. Cue mass exodus from the home fans, only for them to all come rushing back when the Morton player also missed from the spot. Game on again! However, Morton finally put the game to bed in the 106th minute and another cup run was over. Morton would repeat the feat in 1998-99 by winning 2-1 at Cappielow, Eddie Annand's goal wasn't enough. That brings us to our most recent encounters- Dundee would win all 5 of them in 2007-8, including a 2-0 League Cup win at Dens (Zemlik & Swankie). The 2008-09 season would be less successful, but Dundee, thanks also to Saturday's 1-0 win, still remain unbeaten at Dens to Morton, since 97-98. Long may it continue!

The Record:
Dundee Wins: League- 62; Cup- 3; League Cup- 2
Draws: League- 37; Cup- 1; League Cup- 1
Morton Wins: League- 45; Cup- 2; League Cup- 3

They Wore the Dark Blue for Club and Country - Alexander Keillor

2009-08-07T21:02:00.009+01:00

As touched upon in the previous "They Wore" article, Alexander Keillor made his Scotland debut as a Dundee player (he played for the national team with Montrose in 1891 and 1892) with two of his Dundee team mates on 31st March 1894.
Alexander Lowson Keillor was born in Dundee in 1869 but was raised in Montrose. He joined his home town team in 1884 and stayed with them until his move into professionalism, and to Dundee FC in 1893.
Keillor made 139 league appearances and 20 Scottish Cup appearances for the Dark Blues between 1893 and 1902. During that time he would be capped 4 times. His first international as a Dundee player was against Ireland in a 2-1 win. The media of the time noted his enthusiasm at the start of the second half:

"Stanfield started for Ireland but Keillor intervened and pressure was for some time kept up in the Irish territory"

Keillor's next international was a 2-2 draw with Wales in 1895, again Barrett was in goal and this time another Dundee player, William Sawers, joined them in the line up. Keillor's next international in 1896 was his first international played at home and, indeed, held at a ground all too familiar to him- Carolina Port. It would also be played in front of the largest crowd he would experience in an international match- 11,700. Proof, if needed, of the enthusiasm for the game that the Dundee public displayed in the early days of association football. The Dundee public were not to be disappointed, as Scotland would run out 4-0 winners, with Keillor scoring one of the goals. If this wasn't enough, they would be treated to another one of their club side's players being capped that day- William Thompson. It seems Dundee hit the ground running in their early years and adapted pretty quickly to professional football. Indeed, very few clubs has seen a player capped in their first season of existence; Celtic are one of them, but not many others can lay claim to that fame. Certainly, Queens Park may be excused, having been formed in 1867- 5 years before Scotland played their first international. However, I digress.
Keillor's last game for Scotland came in March 1897; three months before Queen Victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee. It was played against, who else, Wales. The game ended in a 2-2 draw and there would be no goal for him this time. At the age of only 27 it seems a shame that he wasn't given the chance by the Scotland selectors again.
Once he left Dundee in 1902, he returned to Montrose FC and retired in 1906. Keillor died in 1960, just two years short of seeing his former team lift the league championship.

Keillor's international matches:
Wales 3-4 Scotland, 21st March 1891, The Racecourse Ground 4,000 (while with Montrose)
Ireland 2-3 Scotland, 19th March 1892, Solitude Ground 10,500, (while with Montrose)
Ireland 1-2 Scotland, 31st March 1894, Solitude Ground 6,000
Wales 2-2 Scotland, 23rd March 1895, The Racecourse Ground, 4,000
Scotland 4-0 Wales, 21st March 1896, Carolina Port, 11,700
Wales 2-2 Scotland, 20th March 1897, The Racecourse Ground, 7,000

Dundee v Airdrie, 26th April 1958

2009-08-03T18:25:00.006+01:00

The 1957-58 season wasn't a happy one for Dundee, considering some of the players at our disposal. Failure to qualify from the group stages of the league cup was compounded by a third round Scottish Cup exit to Aberdeen at Dens as well as a lower-than-mid-table finish. Crowds for the league games were understandably low- only 5,000 would turn out to watch Celtic at Dens for example; which was a pity as Dundee won 5-3. The average attendance was still 10,900, however. The cup games drew the largest crowds with 28,000 turning out for the Aberdeen cup defeat. There were some heavy defeats- 0-5 & 0-6(Hearts), 1-5 (Third Lanark), 0-4 (QOTS) and 1-7 (Airdrie). The scant consolation, if indeed it was one, was the 1-0 victory at Tannadice in front of 7,500 in the Forfarshire Cup.
The programme itself is a basic edition with an un-named author giving an update on the Dens news in an article that threads its way through all 8 pages of the programme.

"Airdrie, fighting for their First Division existence, are our visitors at Dens to-day.....With so much at stake for our visitors we can be certain that to-day's game will be played in a tense atmosphere. Our recent results, particularly away from home, [1-1 at Hibs, 2-0 at Falkirk and 7-2 at Queens Park] have instilled confidence...Airdrie, in our opinion, are a better team than their present position suggests. Like ourselves, they have often been credited with playing attractive football, but have failed to get the goals which bring success."

Well, Airdrie managed to score 3 to Dundee's 1 in this particular game in front of 6,500, and ultimately escaped relegation that season. The author goes on to mention the reserves and the impending trip up north to play Fraserburgh on Friday evening and then to Buckie the next day. It turns out both games are Dewar Shield finals. The Dewar Shield, Norrie Price's "They Wore the Dark Blue" reliably informs, is for the winners of the Forfarshire, Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and Stirlingshire Cup winners. Dundee would win both ties- the Fraserburgh game was the previous season's final held over.

Curiously, British Rail advertise a train service to St. Andrews, costing 3s 11d. Ponsford's of 169 Overgate and 31/33 Ann Street advertised "Radiograms, £47 5s,for £37 10s cash. No Deposit Terms, 38 weeks at 25s"

Finally, spectators are told to eat at "the team's favourite restaurant" after the game- DM Browns in High Street. Given the result, and general lacklustre season, I'm not sure many fans would have been in the mood...

We've Met Before- Stranraer FC

2009-08-02T23:15:00.005+01:00

Fully 35 years had passed after Dundee's formation before these two sides first met. However, that's not surprising, as despite being formed back in 1870, Stranraer were not admitted to the Scottish League until 1949 and haven't played in the top flight. In the early days, Dundee would only meet Stranraer in competition due to chance cup encounters.
The first game was back in January 1928 in the 1st round of the Scottish Cup at Stair Park. Dundee won the game 4-2 and were rewarded with a 2nd round draw against Dundee United. It would be 40 years before the sides met again. This time it would be the quarter final of the League Cup, and in those days it was a two legged affair. The first leg at Stair Park attracted over 4,000, which is a respectable figure given Stranraer's record crowd of 6,500. Dundee would win the tie 4-0 and the Dens return 6-0 to set up a second consecutive League Cup semi-final.
Dundee would only need to wait 5 years before crossing swords with the The Clayholers again. Dundee would run up an emphatic 9-2 scoreline at Stair Park in the last 16 of the 72-73 Scottish Cup, one of the infamous tournaments that resulted in a semi-final defeat by Celtic. Another League Cup visit to Stair Park was drawn in 85-6, but this time Dundee were given a tougher time of it and edged it 3-2.
The 1994-95 campaign would see the first league meetings between the two. Dundee won all the 4 league meetings that term but the last meeting, was the famous 5-0 victory at Stair Park. Needing to win by 7 goals to be sure of a play-off place, the late KO meant the players knew what was required to grab that second spot. A late flurry ensued but to no avail. Another season in the 1st beckoned, although the blow was cushioned by the return of the derbies via Utd's relegation.
The next encounter was equally famous, for all the wrong reasons. To date, it is Stranraer's only win versus Dundee, and the 3-1 reverse in the 05-6 League Cup was to be the death knell for Jim Duffy's second term as manager. We would also meet on league duty, drawing 3 times and winning once, at Dens. We also met in the Scottish Cup that season, winning 2-0 at Dens.
That brings us to the 1st round of the League Cup played yesterday with Higgins, Harkins, Cameron, McMenamin and Griffiths all finding the net in a 5-0 win.
To date the record stands at:

Dundee wins: 12, Stranraer wins: 1, draws: 3.

Sectarianism at Dens?

2009-07-28T17:30:00.011+01:00

What's that? I hear you cry. The "S word" in a Scottish football context means the Old Firm to your average Dundee fan. The very idea that Dundee fans can be tarred with the same brush is met with bemusement and even hurt from the blue half of the city. Even Dundee United fans express mild amusement at any assertion that their bitter footballing rivals are sectarian.
There's no smoke without fire, right? In the dim and distant past Dundee executed a protestant only policy to surely merit such a reputation? Well no. The club has been open to all and heavily supported in catholic areas of the city. Dundee were set up, much like other clubs, to keep (in this case) protestants from mixing with catholics and others? Again, no. The club was created through the merger of East End and Our Boys in 1893 for the sole purpose of league membership. The fans. The fans are to blame, singing of bygone religious wars and glorifying in barbaric acts of terrorism. No. No Dundee song is sectarian. So these accusers are out to cause malice? Well, there's the rub.
In the age of the internet, there is now an outlet for fans of many teams, separated by great distances and who do not normally come in contact that often to express their views and read the views of others. This is also a time where the Scottish Government has sectarianism high on the agenda. Significantly though, the Government seeks to tackle sectarianism in football by focusing, in part, on the minutiae of behaviours and words expressed in songs sung by fans and discussing at great length what is to be deemed sectarian and what is not.
So when a Dundee fan refers to "the Derry", he is simply referring to the South Enclosure - the cowshed at Dens in much need of flattening. When he refers to himself as a "Derry Boy" he is using a popular adjective used in the local parlance to describe his footballing loyalty. Simple? Well not quite. In some parts of Scotland, it is baffling to some why a football fan with no sectarian agenda would wish to use such terms.
This is best highlighted in the famous thread on the Pie and Bovril website. Believe it or not, this is the second such thread to appear on that site. The first thread was locked by the moderators where it then sank to the bottom of the list of threads and was subsequently purged when the site underwent a major face lift. It seems that, when you sift through the usual trolls and wind up merchants, that there are genuine concerns by fans of other clubs as to why the fans hang on to this Derry word. I used to be of the opinion that, as I'm not a bigot and the club I follow is not sectarian, then there shouldn't be a problem with the D-word. Upon many heated debates on the aforementioned site, I've come to the conclusion that perhaps the issue does need to be discussed and the wisdom of continuing to use the D-word challenged.
The reason for this, before I'm lynched, is that the continued use of the word exposes the fans and the club to people with obvious agendas and ill intentions. If you look at the thread on P & B, you can see the usual suspects labeling Dundee fans as bigots, usually met with unhelpful rebuttals such as "sectarianism is the West Coast's problem!" The overly critical and judgemental overtones of the accusers only serves to form a siege mentality amongst the Dundee fans, who will invariably start using the Derry word more proudly and loudly, safe in the knowledge that they are not using the word to promote their ideals, but in effect, to get it up right up 'em. The P & B thread has the opposite effect from it's supposed aims.
Which brings me to the point of this post. While I wholeheartedly welcome intelligent query regarding the use of the Derry word, I reject the intentions of the author of an article in the 6th edition of the 12th Man.
I feel the article falls into the trap highlighted above- there are too many preconceived assumptions made and very little intelligent query. There is an over eagerness to prove the existence of sectarianism at Dens and very little actual thought on why the Derry word is still used. However, this isn't surprising, given the author. It doesn't take a huge leap of the imagination to work out that the author is the poster known as Hebridean on P & B. Given that the article is practically a word for word copy of his blogsite it really offers nothing new, other than the opportunity for "Hebs" to promote his egotistical musings to a wider audience. Hebs has constantly been challenged to report the club and fans to UEFA, the SFL, the SFA, in fact anyone with any real power to do something about Dundee's "rampant sectarianism". He, conveniently, skirts the issue of actually doing so, however. Whether it is relevant that his avatar on P & B is of Bonnie Prince Charlie is debatable; as is the interesting personal mail I received from a fellow Clyde fan of his that stated he is regularly warned by moderators on a well known Clyde FC internet forum for his constant posting of religious viewpoints. The latter was partly confirmed by Hebs himself but played down. [see comments]
The article actually starts out as a promising attempt to question the origins of the word Derry in relation to Dundee FC. Hebs' research, much like the Daily Record - all internet based; points to a fleeting, unsavoury period in the 70's when Dundee fans latched on to the union flag. Hebs rejects the other possible reasons for the reference to the South Enclosure as the Derry:

"The number of excuses, and I’ve not listed them all, do no favours for the possibility of there being a non-sectarian explanation, and their pitiful naivete deals it the hammer blow."

I'd counter that by saying the reasons for the pitiful naivete is more to do with just that- naivete to the probable sectarian overtones once prevalent amongst some of the support. It's frustrating that Hebs doesn't explore why there are so many explanations to the origins of the word Derry. It's also frustrating that we are not given a time period the unofficial renaming of the South Enclosure took place. Could it be that the name "Dens Road End" was just too delicious for those pseudo bigots of the 70's not to exploit? No seriously, I'd like to know. Okay, it's unlikely, but would it harm the author to investigate farther?
The author, quite rightly, points out that the argument that sectarianism doesn't exist in Dundee is invalid. I feel that the refusal to separate sectarianism within the city and within individuals from sectarianism as displayed in the club you chose to support is another failure of the author.

"It may be retreating into the mists of time, but it’s not rocket science to work out why the
Brigton Derry Boys, Gorgie Derry Boys and Dundee Derry Boys have Celtic, Hibernian and the one-time Dundee Hibernian as their respective arch rivals is it?"

Is it? As he is keen to stress on P & B, Dundee United has done a lot to get away from any possible connotations the reasons for their formation may create. Dundee Hibernian has never, at any point, been an "arch rival" of Dundee. The two clubs have never met in a competitive fixture and at the time of the "Wee Hibs'" run (1909-1923) there were many Dundee teams on the go. Indeed, one of the reasons for Dundee Hibs' demise was the inability to attract the Irish immigrant fans it sought. It is no coincidence that at this time, Dundee FC drew a large proportion of its fans from Lochee- at the time a largely Irish community now part of the city. It seems the author has got his time lines all wrong. Unlike Rangers and maybe Hearts, there was no reactionary stance taken by Dundee due to the formation of Dundee Hibs.
Given what we know about the author's reluctance to report Dundee to the proper authorities it seems bizarre that he'd make this statement:

"Rangers and Celtic have had to be dragged for much of the way by legislation and the threat of sanctions. Dundee, sadly, may need the same “incentive”."

At this point in the article the author becomes contrary and states that he believes there to be "predominantly" no sectarian intentions by the continued use of the word Derry (although the cynic in me thinks that may be a form of legal protection). This revelation seems strange after the assertion there may need to be some sort of authoritative intervention to stop the sectarian sentiment spewed forth by the Dens collective. The accusation that Dundee FC has done little to combat the problem seems odd. The official name of "the Derry" is the South Enclosure and as mentioned, not one Dundee song is sectarian. It begs the question of what the author expects the club to do.

"a club statement accepting its origins and dissuading the support from its continuance."

What was the origin again Hebs? Ah yes, that was never determined. The belief the board of Dundee FC is more enlightened than the lifelong fans who support the club and the assumption that the club is holding on to dark secrets like some secret society conspiring to conceal the ultimate truth is just laughable. The latter part of the author's recommendation holds some water though- should the club distance itself or put pressure on fans to drop the D-word?
It's the startling inconsistencies within the article that frustrates. Here was a great opportunity to graduate from the childish school of thoughts on display in the P & B thread, and have a meaningful discussion on the subject- but that was wasted and instead we just have more of the same. Post no. 5 of the P & B thread is as far as you need to read in that case. Like the P & B thread, the article will achieve the exact opposite of its supposed aims given the poorly researched and condescending voice it adopts. Would the 12th Man have allowed such an article on Celtic or Rangers? It brings to mind a quote from a moderator on P & B:

"All this comes down to is a few smug, self centred individuals thinking they can change the world by, er, taking something on that no-one else gives a fish's tit about.

If these people set about eradicating sectarianism from the areas where there ARE problems, then I'd have much more respect for their actions.

As it is, it's a campaign built on cowardice"

Dundee Through the Years - Season 1893-94

2009-07-26T15:56:00.013+01:00

A new feature, nicked once again from the excellent Dundee programmes of the late 80s. Season 1893-94 was obviously the first for Dundee FC, after the merger between Dundee Our Boys and Dundee East End allowed the newly formed club entry to the Scottish League. The Scottish League was inaugurated in season 1890-91 with Rangers, Celtic, Dumbarton, Hearts and St. Mirren being the founding members still active today. Clyde FC would join in 1891-92, making Dundee the 7th oldest league club in Scotland jointly with Hibernian, Motherwell, Morton and Partick Thistle, who all started life in Division Two which was itself inaugurated in 1893-94.

Dundee were allowed entry to the top league ahead of Hibs et al largely thanks to geography as all the other league clubs were all located in the power bases of Glasgow, Dumbarton, Paisley & surrounding area and Edinburgh. This accident of geography would also work in our favour when the dreaded "re-election" time came at the season end each year.

This season's home games would be played out at West Craigie Park, a former home of Dundee Our Boys, as Dundee were not given the excellent Carolina Port to play at as hoped. Dundee still managed to average 4,300 at the ground for our first season. The first game was a 3-3 draw in Dundee versus Rangers. It never got any easier as the second game was against Celtic in Glasgow, with the current league champions running out 4-1 winners. Dundee would eventually finish 8th in the league, winning 6 and drawing 3 of their 18 games. It was certainly a respectable finish for a brand new club against Scotland's elite. The Scottish Cup would bring no joy as Dundee would fall at the first hurdle losing 4-2 to Strathmore. Dundee did find success in winning the Forfarshire Cup final, in front of 10,000. Jimmy Dundas would end up as top scorer with 12 goals but it would be three others who would receive the international recognition- Francis Barrett, William Longair and Alexander Keiller. All in all, it can be considered a decent first season for the Dees.

Dundee V Aberdeen, 13th August 1988

2009-07-24T18:09:00.006+01:00

Dundee face Aberdeen tomorrow in a friendly match; it will be the first home game the fans have had the chance to cast a critical eye over the new arrivals at Dens. With that in mind, I've decided to feature the programme from the 1988-89 season's opener against, wait for it, Aberdeen. Topical or what?

A healthy 12,222 turned out to see Gordon Chisolm score in a 1-1 draw. It was the first competitive match for new manager Dave Smith.

"Angus Cook and his belief and desire to see Dundee transformed into a top of the table club was the clinching factor"

"Success with Dundee" continues Smith "will require three things! Hard work...patience and charity from the fans...a belief we CAN succeed!" Stirring stuff.

He signs off by saying "Let's give Aberdeen a real Dundee welcome!"

Aberdeen had just replaced Jim Leighton with £300,000 Theo Snelders, a player originally earmarked by Manchester United, but eventually recommended to Aberdeen by Alex Ferguson. Alex Smith, we are told, was sacked less than a year after winning the Scottish Cup with St. Mirren but "a man of Alex's ability was not going to be out of the game long" and so he finds himself as co-manager along side Jocky Scott.

We are given season ticket prices over the page- a centre stand ticket- £100- a saving of £32 on pay at the gate. Family tickets- 1 parent and 1 child £95, 2 parents and 1 child £155, 1 parent and 2 children £130, 1 parent and 3 children £165. On the same page the match day programme price has risen to 70p due to the "increasing costs and greater use of colour".

Farther into the programme we are given a few action shots of our 2-0 victory over Newcastle in the Dunclare Dispensers trophy. The quiz once again asks a question about Gordon Strachan- this time which French club was after his signature the previous week? A certain David Young reports from down south. David reckons Liverpool should retain their league crown but Everton should also do well after pinching Tony Cottee for a new British record transfer fee of almost £2.5 million. David assures us that the hooligan problem down south is blown out of proportion and visiting Nottingham Forest (his local team) is as safe as a visit to "Dens or Tannadice" and an away visit to Chelsea "is no worse than following the Dees to Ibrox or Parkhead". That was before going to visit Wembley for the Auld Enemy match, however. "To be frank it was frightening to be a Scot in London that day. Chelsea and West Ham thugs roamed the tourist areas looking for small groups of Scots and several times we were lucky to avoid being attacked". David signs of by saying "I hope Jocky Scott gets a better welcome from the Dundee public today than is usually given to ex-Dundee players and managers". Not being at the game myself David, I couldn't answer that.

Oh, and it was RC Lens after wee Gordon!

Dundee v Eintracht Frankfurt, April 22nd 1985

2009-07-23T17:43:00.009+01:00

It seems appropriate, after last night's 2-0 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach, to feature the programme from the friendly game versus Eintracht Frankfurt. The game was played in front of 4,000 at Dens in 1985 and finished 1-1.

Archie Knox states in his pre-game analysis that "Everyone connected with the club knows that we are desperate to be involved in European competition and Eintracht will give us a taste of what to expect". Indeed, Eintracht were no strangers to European competition having won the UEFA Cup 5 years previously and, of course, were involved in the legendary European Cup final of 1960, losing 7-3 to Real Madrid at Hampden. Incidentally, on the same page there is an appeal for volunteers to "help with ground improvements during the summer".

The next page shows the results so far that season, and it's probably best to skim over the derby results, except for one; a 4-3 win at Tannadice. It's also interesting to note that the league games versus the Old Firm didn't automatically attract bigger crowds when played in Glasgow as opposed to when played in Dundee. Farther into the programme there is the obligatory quiz which is very much German themed. Question 19 asks which German club does Mark McGhee play for and question 20 asks which former Dundee player was subject to an on-off transfer to a German team? Respectively, the answers are SV Hamburg and Gordon Strachan. Anyone who remembers which German club wanted the wee ginger one, leave the details in the comments!

The Dens Park bard, it seems, was not just on call for competitive games but for friendlies too:

"The greatest game I can recall
Was Cologne's visit here
A night of great excitment-
Dundee's joy and Cologne's fear

Cologne were firmest favourites
To win the Europe Cup,
But Dundee beat them eight to one
And messed their chances up"

The opposite page relives the dramatic European Cup final, played in front of 127,000, in 1960. "And many critics had nothing but sympathy for the Germans who would have surely been good enough on another day to win the cup against less exceptional opponents."

The last pages advertise player sponsorship prices- boots: £45; socks: £15; jersey: £30; shorts: £15; training kit: £45: total- £150. There is also a full page advert for the Dundee FC shop in the Keiller Centre which, shock horror, sold Dundee United leg warmers!

Dundee have played a few German sides in friendlies, mostly in the 80's it seems, but very few of note. We did play Borussia Dortmund in 1984, drawing 1-1. Also that year, we drew 0-0 with Bayer Leverkusen. Those matches took place during our unbeaten tour of West Germany and Switzerland. The following year we undertook another tour, once again meeting up with Eintracht, this time losing 2-0.

I'll leave you with a reminder of that 1960 European Cup final, which Madrid fluked. It's worth noting, that while Frankfurt were well beaten 7-3, they eviscerated a decent Rangers side 12-4 on aggregate in the semi-final; 6-1 in Germany and 6-3 at Ibrox.

Derby Hattrick Heroes

2009-07-21T23:16:00.005+01:00

Once in a generation, we are fortunate enough as Dundee fans to witness that elusive achievement that catapults a player almost to legend status and ensures his name will forever echo through the ages...

...well not quite, but it is nice to see a Dundee player stick 3 past the enemy. It doesn't often happen, so if you've witnessed the feat then consider yourself lucky. If you've witnessed it twice, then consider yourself blessed, if you've witnessed more, then chances are you're an auld fogie.

Andy Campbell was the first Dundee player, indeed, the first player to score a hattrick in the derby. Back in 1926-7, Campbell, already a prolific scorer, notched 4 goals in a 5-0 league victory over the relatively newly renamed Dundee United. Twenty thousand turned out at Dens to witness the one man show. It can be assumed that considerably less turned out to see another Dundee player score 4 goals against United in the Forfarshire Cup that same season. A player by the name of Ramage (thanks Norrie and "They Wore the Dark Blue" for that info) repeated Campbell's feat in a 7-2 win for the Dees.

It was to be 30 years before another Dundee player would score a derby hattrick in a major competition. Jimmy Chalmers, watched by a certain Johnny Scobie and 20,000 others, ran United ragged in a 7-3 win in the League Cup quarter final. United, it seems, don't always win the big derbies. We had the luxury of allowing them a 2-1 second leg win.

As featured recently, Keith Wright became the next player on that very short list of players in the 4-3 game in 1989. It was the first Dark Blue derby hattrick in 33 years and first league derby hattrick in 63 years.

Then of course we have Juan, two, three. A mere 11 years later Juan Sara, a player that splits opinion amongst the Dundee support like no other, would become our first overseas player to join the list. Only 9,838 would turn out for this one, and Sara left it late, scoring his last two goals in the last ten minutes. I'll leave you with a short, but sweet, reminder of the last player to enjoy a threesome.

They Wore the Dark Blue for Club and Country - Francis Barrett

2009-07-20T22:07:00.012+01:00

Yes, I've "borrowed" yet another feature from the programmes of the 80's-90's, and I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning- 31st March 1894 to be precise. That's when Dundee FC, not even a year old, supplied their first player- Francis Barrett- to the national team. He wasn't to be the city's first internationalist, however, that honour belongs to Dundee Strathmore's William Alexander Dickson who scored 4 goals against Ireland in a 10-2 win in 1888; worthy of an article in his own right.

Francis Barrett, a goalkeeper, was born in Dundee in 1872. He started his career at Dundee Harp before joining Dundee during the 1893-94 season. Barrett won his two caps while at the Dark Blues with his first coming in 1894 against Ireland in the British International Championship in Belfast. He was to be joined by two of his Dundee team mates, William Longair and Alexander Keillor, in the line up for that game.

The game itself was played in front of 6,000 fans at the Solitude in Belfast and Barrett would concede a second half goal, but Scotland would win the game 2-1 thanks to 2 first half goals. He would be dropped for the England game in April of that year but nevertheless, he played his part in Scotland's victorious Home International campaign that season.

His second cap was against Wales in 1895 at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham in front of 4,000. Again he was joined by two Dundee team mates in the game, this time it was Alexander Keillor and William Sawyers. In this game the Scots recovered from a 2-1 deficit at half time to draw the game 2-2. Once again he'd play only the one game in the competition as Scotland only manage to finish joint second.

Barrett's solid performances for Dundee would earn him a move to Newton Heath in 1896, now called Manchester United, of course. Barrett played for New Brighton Tower, Arbroath, Manchester City before ending his playing days with Aberdeen, joining them upon their formation in 1903.

Barrett, it is said, died in 1907 aged just 35.

Barrett's Internationals:
Ireland 1-2 Scotland, 6,000, Belfast 31 March 1894
Wales 2-2 Scotland, 4,000, Wrexham 23 March 1895

Player Spotlight - Alan Campbell

2009-07-19T23:08:00.005+01:00

I've decided to borrow a feature from the Dundee programmes of the late 80's - early 90's and the first player to be put under the spotlight is Alan Campbell. Not a completely random choice, as Alan Campbell was the player featured in the Dundee v United programme reviewed in my last entry.

"In Alan Campbell, Dundee have recruited a man with vast knowledge of European football, but as he readily admits his knowledge of the Scottish game is scratchy.
`My first impressions are that it is incredibly fast. Considerably faster than I have been used to and the standard is high' said Alan."

Alan started off at St. Joseph's Boys before moving to Shamrock Rovers. At Shamrock he became Ireland's top scorer twice and played in the UEFA Cup. He would've played in the European Cup also, but had left to go to Racing Santander in the Spanish top flight. He would spend two years there, becoming the club's top scorer for one of those seasons. Campbell would pick up 3 caps for Ireland while in Spain. Santander would get relegated the year he moved to newly promoted Logrones. He would decide to leave Logrones due to the three foreigner rule meaning he would have to sit out a number of games - something he didn't fancy. Campbell would refuse a move to Celtic to go to Belgium and once again he would become his club's top scorer.

It was at that point he moved to Dundee:

".....`I am now looking forward to knocking in the goals for Dundee' said Alan, and he continued, `I hope to catch the eye of Jack Charlton, because having experienced involvement at that level, you get a taste for it and I'd love to return to that stage and in football you never know what lies around the corner.'"

Alan would play 15 times for Dundee scoring twice. He would later move to Forfar. Gordon Wallace heard about Alan while in Ireland for a Dundee United v Bohemians UEFA Cup tie and it's obvious that with Campbell's proven goalscoring abilities and pedigree, Dundee never saw the best of him.

Dundee v Dundee United, 19th August 1989

2009-07-17T18:41:00.013+01:00

"There's nothing I like better than putting one past the boys from down the road" - Keith Wright

Here we have a match programme from a classic derby game that was played at Dens in front of 13,616. This was the first home league game of the 1989-90 campaign and it didn't start off well for the Dees, going down 2-0 within the first 24 minutes. However, Keith Wright had other ideas and scored a brace to level the scores by half time.
After the break United went 3-2 up only for super Keith to immediately grab an equaliser. There was only going to be one winner from that point and Joe McBride scored the winner 17 minutes from time. Yours truly was sent hurtling down the Provie in the celebrations (I was only a lightweight 9 year old lad at the time!). A truly great introduction to the Dundee Derby!

So, to the programme itself and Angus Cook's "Chairman's Message & Comments" is about how both Dundee teams have strengthened during the summer and the fact that the game will mark the 90th anniversary of the opening of the ground. Gordon Wallace tells us that it is important to get off to a good start in the league, especially after losing the opening league game 1-2 at East End Park. Action pictures provided below!

Farther into the programme there is a "News+Views" article which is a collection of short news snippets; one of which expands upon Dens' 90th birthday in explaining that in the first game- a 2-2 draw with St. Bernard - a player by the name of Fred McDiarmid scored the first goal at the new ground; "...which seems appropriate on a day when St. Johnstone are opening their own ground- McDiarmid Park!"

There's also a 14 year old Manchester United fan from Eccles appealing for pen pals who support his favourite Scottish team- Dundee FC.

In "Billy Kirkwood Reporting" we learn that Graham Harvey scored 4 goals in a 5-0 win over Dunfermline in the Premier Reserve League. Unfortunately, that sort of scoreline wouldn't be transposed to the first team that season.

In an excellent ongoing feature "They Wore the Dark Blue For Club and Country" we read about Robert Connor being the last Dundee player to be capped in a Mexico '86 warm up game against Holland. Bought in 1984 by Archie Knox, Alex Ferguson paid £350,000 to take him to Pittodrie where he won 2 further caps.
The other player to be featured is the mercucial Charlie Cooke. A then record fee between two Scottish clubs of £44,000 saw Cooke move from Aberdeen to Dundee. He appeared for Scotland v Wales at Hampden in a 4-1 win and also a 3-0 reverse in Naples against Italy to seal our fate in the qualifiers for the '66 World Cup. He moved to Chelsea in a £72,500 deal. The Dark Blues made £28,500 in less than two years on the original "CC" but still saw fit to sell off our championship winning side bit by bit...

I'll leave you, for now, with the mandatory squad photo for the 89-90 campaign. Click to enlarge.

Dundee v Celtic, League Cup Final, 1967

2009-07-15T14:24:00.005+01:00

It seems natural to follow the semi-final of the League Cup with the final programme. As you can probably see, Celtic won the game 5-3 in what was, at that point, the joint highest scoring final, along with Celtic's 7-1 thrashing of Rangers 10 years earlier. There were 66,660 at the game to witness the goal feast.

As we read the first few pages, we can see the format is the same as the Saints semi-final programme with pen pics and then the probable line ups. Again it seems 2-3-5 is all the rage! Although, Dundee would actually use a 4-2-4. There's no mention of Jocky this time in the potential line ups.

Towards the end of the programme there is an article headed: "Vital Matches Loom Ahead".

"Celtic and Dundee have vital commitments outwith the domestic scene facing them...Celtic in the glamorous second leg of their World Club Championship with Racing, of the Argentine, in Buenos Aires next Wednesday, and Dundee against Royal F.C. of Liege in their Fairs Cities' Cup tie at Dens Park, also on Wednesday. Dundee are due to play their second leg in Belgium on November 14.
All Scotland will turn eyes with hope towards both finalists convinced they can bring further honour to the game here by once again superimposing their skill on the foreign thrust"

As it turns out, Dundee won their tie 7-2 on aggregate but Celtic were beaten (quite literally) in the second leg of the Worlds Club Cup. They would also lose the replay in Montevideo.

I'll leave you with the account of the 1910 Scottish Cup final between Dundee and Clyde found on the inside back page.

"...Dundee never give up, and they will take you back to their legendary Scottish Cup final with Clyde in 1909-10 for proof of this, if such be needed...
Six minutes to go. Five minutes to go. Clyde leading 2-0. Congratulations all round. Then a roar. What? Dundee had scored-well not exactly; Clyde had scored against themselves. George Robertson, left-half in making a clearance, banged the ball against team-mate Jimmy Blair and it rebounded into the net before George M'Turk could make shape at retrieving the disaster.
For disaster it was. Glimpsing a forlorn chance of saving the tie. Dundee forwards and half-backs staged one heroic attack. George Langlands had the great and glorious honour of registering an equalising goal almost as the final whistle sounded."

The rest, as they say, is history.

Dundee v St. Johnstone 1967 (part 2)

2009-07-14T18:31:00.003+01:00

Staying with the Dundee-Saints semi final, we move on to the final pages from inside the programme which include the photo of Hampden, opposite. The caption below the photo reads:

"Here is the venue both Dundee and St. Johnstone are fighting to reach tonight- the majestic Hampden Park. And we are sure many Dens Park and Muirton supporters watching this evening's semi-final at Tannadice will have kept Saturday, October 28 clear-hoping, of course, that Glasgow and Hampden will see them."

The opposite page is a series of articles headed by the line: "How the Game (Financially) has Changed". The opening paragraph states:

"In these days, when colossal transfer fees are all the go, it is strange to think that there could be a hullabaloo about players being paid a trifling sum for giving good and faithful service to a club"

We learn that in the 1880s, those for and against professionalism were bitter enemies and that players would often find pound notes concealed in their boots as way of payment. We also read of the hardships clubs faced before the League came into existence; weighed down by "impossible financial burdens". We are told that despite the League's assistance in sharing out Pools income, some clubs will still struggle and "it would seem this will always be so".

The back page tells us the story of the League Cup and I will leave you with a rather colourful excerpt regarding that season's semi-finalists:

"Of this season's semi-finalists, Celtic (four times) and Dundee (twice) know the thrill of triumph in the final, but Morton have been twice in the final only to taste the bitters of defeat as their opponents sipped the champagne. St. johnstone, on the other hand, have still to reach the exalted berth, but they have no thought of failure on this occasion."

Dundee v St. Johnstone 1967

2009-07-14T16:31:00.004+01:00

The first feature I've decided to go with is a local affair. On the right is the front cover of the programme from the 1967 League Cup semi-final between Dundee and St. Johnstone held at Tannadice. Dundee won the game 3-1 in front of 18,000. The cover design seems to be the standard design for this stage of that competition at the time.

The first couple of pages give us the mandatory "pen pics" of the players of both sides. One pen pic stands out for Dundee - John Scott (Jocky to you and me). Jocky's profile reads:

"JOHN SCOTT-inside left. 5ft. 8ins., 10st. 8lbs. Was with Chelsea when signed two years ago as an inside right. Never ceases striving to bring a power and penetration to the attack, and is there ready to drop back and lend a hand in defence when needed."

The same double page spread shows us the run of the two teams in getting to the semis (Saints/Dundee scores first)-

Saints:
Sectional ties- Hearts 3-2 (H), 2-1 (A); Falkirk 2-1 (A), 0-0 (H); Stirling Albion 2-1 (H), 0-1 (A)
Quarter final- Queen's Park 3-1 (H), 5-0 (A)

Dundee:
Sectional ties- Hibs 0-0 (H), 4-2 (A), Clyde 1-0 (H), 2-1 (A), Motherwell 2-1 (H), 5-2 (A)
Quarter final- East Fife 1-0 (H), 4-0 (A)

Moving on to the middle page spread and we have the probable line ups with both teams looking to opt for a 2-3-5 formation. We also have the roll of honour in the League Cup to date which shows the winners as:
Rangers: 6 times
Hearts: 4 times
Celtic: 4 times
East Fife: 3 times
Dundee: 2 times
Aberdeen: 1 time
Motherwell: 1 time

Notable mentions to Partick, who reached 3 finals between 1953 and 1958, and Killie, who reached 3 finals between 1952 and 1962, but lost them all.

A final note of interest in the middle pages is that prices for the stand for the final were announced as 25/-, 20/-, 15/- and 10/-. Can an old timer tell me if this was good value or not in the comments?!