DFC PAIR FROM THE PAST - 1913

There's a good chance that you may not have seen these 2 Dee players before. Their pictures don't appear in any of the DFC books I have.
Perhaps it's not too surprising as they only played in a few games during the 1913/14 season which was a rather uneventful year on the pitch, Dundee finishing 7th and no cup runs of note.
So, to give them their 15 minutes of fame...
LEN WALL was a left half / winger. He played a total of 17 games and scored 1 goal.
CLYDE SKENE was a centre forward. He played only 12 games and scored 7 goals, which is pretty good going if you ask me. I've no idea why they both were so short lived.
The images above were recently discovered in a 1913 edition of Peoples Journal.
Big thanks to DG.

IMAGES OF SPORT BOOK - DUNDEE FC

This top notch book sets about covering Dundee FC's history using mainly pictures. It's a real visual treat full of photographs, memorabilia & cartoons, spanning 1893 to 1977.
Here's part of the books description written on the back cover - "This excellent selection of over 200 images brilliantly illustrates the first 84 years of the club's history, and forms a stunning pictorial tribute to the star players and major triumphs of yesteryear. It will delight and interest Dark Blue fans everywhere."
I'll second that, well worth grabbing a copy and still available for around a tenner.

BASTARD REFEREE CHANT - 1970'S

This amusing chant sung at Dens and around the rest of the country, began, like so many others , in the early 70's.
A chorus of the chant would be triggered when events on the pitch weren't going your teams way and the ref was to blame, for example if one of your players was sent off or the opposition was awarded a penalty.
The tune used was "My darling, Clementine", and the wee karaoke below should be enough to get the gist of it.
Photo by the Scotsman.

BEST WISHES - FROM DENS

Yes...no kiddin'...it really is him! The best footballer the UK has ever produced, George Best, wearing a Dundee FC jersey. Alas, Georgie wasn't actually a Dundee player, this appearance at Dens Park in 1981/82 was for a charity match.
So, putting his best foot forward, he bestowed his talent upon the Dundee fans, and to the best of my knowledge played alongside a team that included Radio Tay's best known presenters.
Best not forget the supporters, who, taking advantage of the best of times, wore their Sunday best and did their best to get a memento of George Best, having waited around for the best part of an hour.
Your best bet to get hold of souvenirs from this event now is probably Ebay. I've read that they are some of Ebays bestsellers.
Best of luck!
Photo by David Martin - Fotopress.

CHILLOUT WITH THE DEE

Any creative types who think they can put this DFC graphic to good use (T-Shirt, mousemat or whatever), feel free to grab it. Click on the image to get the better quality large version before saving.

DUNDEE'S TOUR OF AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND - 1972

This programme is dated 17th May 1972. It was 1 of 7 matches Dundee played in on their tour of Australia & New Zealand, spanning the period 13th May to 28th May. The above game, which took place in Adelaide, finished Australia XI 1 v 2 Dundee FC.
The A&NZ tour was a big success for the dark blues, winning all 7 of their games, notching up an amazing 53 goals and conceding only 6. One of their encounters ended up 16-1..!!
The stats do make it look like that the Aussies may have been a bit amateurish, hence the large scorelines, but later 6 of the players who played for Australia in the above match went on to become involved in their National team who qualified for the World Cup in Germany 1974, having finished top of the Asia & Oceania Group.
As regards the Socceroo's fate in 1974, well they lost to both East and West Germany, ( the latter being eventual cup winners ) but they did manage a draw with Chile... which is more than they achieved against us!

THE CHANGING ROOM - 1974

When I lived with my parents as a young lad back in the 60's & 70's, my bedroom had the usual Dundee football fan memorabilia up on the walls, pictures, pennant, that kind of stuff.
Every so often when the time came to decorate the room, all the DFC stuff would have to be taken down to allow the wallpaper to be scraped off. Well sometimes, I used to do wee doodles on the bare plaster knowing that they would be covered up again in a couple of days with fresh wallpaper.
During a recent bout of redecorating at their house, my parents found one of my original doodles dated, December 1974 - and it was the Dundee Team. It seems like I couldn't even go a couple of days without having some kind of reminder of the Dee up on my wall!
For the record the squad listed is 1. ALLAN - 2.WILSON - 3.GEMMELL - 4.FORD. - 5.STEWART - 6.PHILLIP - 7.HOGGAN - 8.ROBINSON - 9.WALLACE - 10.SCOTT - 11.HUTCHINSON - SUBS 12.JOHNSTON - 13.I.SCOTT.
Quite a decent team there that had us playing in the UEFA Cup and reach the Scottish Cup semi in the 1974-75 season. We also finished 6th in the League which ensured that we were in the top 10 at the start of what would be the newly formed SPL the next season.
The 74 team has now been papered over again, out of sight for another while!

A LOOK AT THE OLD SCOREBOARD

Back in the days when Dundee did know how to score, most of the football grounds didn't offer much in the way of scoreboards. Before electronic visual display units were invented, the majority of grounds only had metallic grid frames installed, where letters of the alphabet were used to represent a particular game that then required referring to the match-day programme to discover which letter was who. Even then it was only used for half-time scores. All this had to be done by hand, with a guy slotting in the numbers (scores) alongside the corresponding letters (teams), each digit on a seperate metal panel.
When Dundee played Anderlecht in 1963 over in Belgium, the Heysel Stadium had a huge scoreboard display. This one wasn't for half-time scores, they used it during the game that was being played. Again, theirs still had to be operated manually, but because it was so large, each individual panel was about 4 ft square, and the guy would have to keep removing then replacing a panel every time a goal was scored. I can just imagine the poor bloke cursing Dundee when we met in the European Cup Quarter Final, and banged in 4..!!
The TV cameras caught the busy scoreboard action on the night, as you can see in the photo.

BA' HEIDS!

If there are any present day Dundee FC strikers viewing this, the above round object is called a ball. You are supposed to kick it into the opposition's goal!

URE AND HAMMY FOR SCOTLAND

Here's Ian Ure and Alex Hamilton waiting in an Edinburgh hotel ready to travel with the Scotland team for an international match.
Ian and Hammy played in the same Scotland team together quite a few times in 1962-63. In fact they both featured in Scotland's famous 2-1 victory against England at Wembley in 1963. Also in the team were icons, Dennis Law and Jim Baxter.
The footage below has some moments from that very game. Listen out for the commentator stating that Ian Ure is considered to be the best centre-half in the world!
Incidentally, Scotland played most of this match with 10 men. Captain Eric Caldow broke his leg early in the game, and there were no subs allowed for this back then.
Photo by the Scotsman.

DENS IN THE FUTURE?

This is an artists impression of how the present Stadium was originally supposed to end up like. The Dens Road enclosure was to include a gymnasium plus a few other features, but lack of funds didn't allow for the 3rd and final stage to be built. Maybe one day, although I couldn't help notice there is no television gantry in the design. Tut, tut!

DENS IN THE PAST

A rare and ancient action picture from Dens Park taken in 1903. This was when the Dee played in an all dark blue strip. The North Stand was extended a few years later then eventually replaced with the present Stand in 1921.
The 1902-03 season was a pretty good one for Dundee, finishing in 2nd position in the League, reaching the semi final of the Scottish Cup and winning the Forfarshire Cup and Dewar Shield.
It was a particularly good year for goalie Billy Muir, letting in only 12 all season.
The highest attendance at Dens in 1903 was 24,000 in a Cup game against Hibs.
Thanks to DG.
Photo. Dundee Ref Library.

DUNDEE CAKE

Dens catering by Deelia Smith!

WHEN DUNDEE WON THE TENNENTS SIXES - 1988

This football tournament took place on 24 & 25 January 1988 and was held at the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre in Glasgow.
Here is the lowdown -
Teams taking part : ABERDEEN - CELTIC - DUNDEE - DUNDEE UTD - DUNFERMLINE - FALKIRK - MORTON - HEARTS - HIBS - MOTHERWELL - NOTTINGHAM FOREST - ST MIRREN.
They were split into 4 Groups each with 3 teams, with the winners & runners-up going through to the quarter finals.
Sunday 24th had all the Group section games.
Monday 25th had the quarter finals, semi's and final.
Dundee were in Group 1 with Aberdeen and Morton.
Dundee's results were as follows -
Group stage:
Dundee 9 v 3 Morton
Aberdeen 1 v 2 Dundee
Quarter final:
Dundee 4 v 3 Dundee Utd
Semi final:
Dundee 4 v 1 Aberdeen
Final:
Motherwell 2 v 3 Dundee
Dundee win Tennents Sixes Trophy and are the tournament's top scorers.

DUNDEE'S BRICK AND BUY SALE

Around 4,000 bricks bought by Dundee fans have gone into the construction of the present day Dens Stadium. At the start of the new millennium when Dens Park had to be modernised, a "buy-a-brick" campaign was up and running, mostly as a fund raising exercise, but it also gave the fans a chance to, quite literally, have their name in stone, and become part of the stadium design. Those who sponsored one also received a certificate.
It wasn't only supporters who indulged, many of the players also grabbed the opportunity to be immortalised in mortar, as this photo above shows - Jocky Scott, surrounded by the Dee loyal.

DFC IN THE NEWSPAPERS: #3 - 1973

King Gordon is of course, Gordon Wallace, the scorer of the only goal in the League Cup final against Celtic at Hampden. 16 December 1973 is the date on the Sunday Post and the stories in it give a reminder of the conditions behind the scenes which played a part in the game's early kick-off - i.e. power cuts, weather and strikes.
Sunday's SCOTSPORT, who showed the League Cup final highlights, was broadcast at 2.05pm, in between The Saint and the Galloping Gourmet!
A couple of more pages below.

DFC IN THE NEWSPAPERS: #2 - 1962

DC Thomson went to town on this issue of the Sporting Post dated Saturday 28 April 1962, the day Dundee won the Scottish League. 2 goals by Gilzean and 1 from Penman got us the victory at Muirton against St.Johnstone, and thus Dee history was made.
They no longer publish the Sporting Post but I still remember hanging around our newsagent as a young lad in the 60's & 70's, a couple of hours after the Saturday football had finished, and a queue would be waiting ready to pounce on the bundle of Posts chucked onto the pavement from the passing delivery van.
The wee slide show below gives you a few shots of the inside of this issue.
Music is provided by The Shadows, a track aptly titled "Wonderful Life", which was number 1 in the charts on this day.

DFC IN THE NEWSPAPERS : #1 - 1910

An ultra rare item which is now 99 years old. The Glasgow Herald dated - Thursday 21 April 1910. Price, one penny. This of course is the day after Dundee won the Scottish Cup and so it does contain a review of the match.
It has 16 huge pages - much larger than the Courier. There are no photos at all in the paper, there aren't even any headlines as we know them today, just small boxes with short news articles and adverts. There are news items on Roosevelt, Kitchener, Mark Twain, and closer to home a piece about the plans to build the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. I don't think these would have been discussed much in the Hulltoon pubs that day!
So, getting back to the MAIN story, the Scottish Cup Final 2nd replay at Ibrox which ended Dundee 2 v 1 Clyde. Dee scorers - Bellamy & Hunter.
A segment of the match report reads as follows - "Dundee, who played brilliant football, obtained the leading goal; Hunter, after a short individual run, giving McTurk no chance with a shot from short range."
The cup was presented in the Ibrox Pavilion to ex Bailie Robertson, on DFC's behalf.
Total takings were £793.
To read the above match report in full, or grab a copy for yourself, click onto the image to enlarge it.
The vid below is just a couple of shots of the actual paper. The accompanying music was recorded in 1910 too!

THE EVOLUTION OF FAN

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!

LAST LOOK AT OLD DENS

This is how Dens Park looked in the 1998/99 season. A final glimpse at the old layout before it became the Stadium it is today.
The 98/99 season saw the Dee return to the SPL after winning promotion the previous season, and so we finished the 20th Century in 5th position, which was pretty good going for our return back to top flight futba.
Below is another view of old Dens from the air caught on film.

THE WAY TO GO HOME CHANT - 1970'S

This was another chant that started up in the early '70's. It would be sung when, for example, Dundee were 3-0 up and winning the game very easily. A chorus of "Show them the way to go home..." would ring out to embarrass the opposition. The tune is a really old composition going way back to the 1920's called "Show me the way to go home", and is mostly known as a drinking song.
Below is a wee karaoke to get a bit of practise!

DEE FANS ON THE WAY TO HAMPDEN - 2003

A cheery group of Dundee supporters on their way to the Scottish Cup final in 2003. They stopped off in this social club on the outskirts of Glasgow and arrived just in time to catch a programme showing the history of Dundee FC as you can see by the image of Bob Shankly's 60's team on the TV screen in the background.
Photo by wee GG

BILLY STEEL - THE #10 LEGEND

Billy Steel signed for Dundee in 1950. He scored in his debut game against Aberdeen and from then on the wee wizard achieved legend status for the remaining 130 games he played for the Club. His influence had a powerful impact on the team as he inspired the Dees to lift the Scottish League Cup 2 years on the trot, in 1951 & 1952. His talents were also in demand for the Scottish National team with 13 full caps earned during his 4 years at Dens. His last game for Dundee was in April 1954, and although he departed to live in the USA his legend lives on at Dens Park to this day where they have a Lounge named after him in his honour.
For a more in-depth insight into his life, I recommend a book titled "Billy Steel - Scotland's little maestro" by Bob MacAlindin.
And below is a wee Billy Steel tribute video for your viewing pleasure!.

HAPPY BLUE YEAR!

A Happy New Year to all Blue-nosers everywhere..!!