CHAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!

Here's a couple of great shots of jubilant Dee fans invading the pitch.

The happy occasion took place at East Stirling on 2nd May 1981 when Dundee won promotion back to the SPL with a 1-0 victory.

The dark blues had around 5000 at the game, most of which ended up on the pitch by the look of it!

The invasion was caught on tv too, so here below is the commotion after the final whistle.

Looking forward to a repeat of it this season!!

Big thanks to JG

JIM DUFFY TESTIMONIAL PROGRAMME - 1987

This is the programme for Jim Duffy's Testimonial that took place on 6th December 1987 at Dens.
It was actually supposed to be a game in aid of, what was thought at the time, the end of Jim's playing career after a horrendous knee injury against Rangers in September 87, but as everyone knows, he came bouncing back in 1990!
Charlie Nicholas was in Dundee's team for this game, and in fact scored one of the goals which saw the Dee come out on top over a Premier League Select side. DFC winning 5-3 to be precise.

SPRUCING UP DENS - 1989

A bit of restoration to the main stand, some repairs, a few licks of paint, and a wee bit of ground work, all going towards making sure everything is shipshape for the 1989/90 season to commence.
If you knew any construction workers, joiners, painter & decorators who worked on Dens back then, you may even be lucky enough to spot them on the footage below!

TOMMY GEMMELL - MANAGER - 1977-80

Tommy Gemmell was already a legend by the time he came to Dundee because of his playing days at Celtic and with Scotland, but he also became a bit of an instant hero at Dens when he signed in 1973 and promptly lead the team to League Cup success as captain that year.
When he hung up his boots in 1977, he got the job as Dee boss. His managerial highlight was probably getting Dundee promoted to the SPL in 78/79, but it was swiftly followed by relegation the following season, and so ended his time in charge.
Before he departed, he did manage to squeeze out a famous victory against his former team, Celtic. A 5-1 drubbing at Dens. However, even this amazing scoreline, with just 2 games remaining in the 79/80 season, wasn't enough to keep the Dee in top flight football, and down we went!
Below, are the goals from the game, which took place on 19 April 1980. It is then followed by an interview with big Tam after the match.

JOHN BROWN GOAL - 1986

John Brown expresses his satisfaction after banging in a goal against Aberdeen in the Quarter Final of the Scottish Cup played at Dens on 8th March 1986.
Over 13,000 were there to see the 2-2 draw, with Graham Harvey being the Dees other scorer.

DUNDEE SKWAD - 1980-81

The Dundee team huddled together for a photo opportunity at Dens in the 1980-81 season.
None of them camera shy it seems anyway!
Thanks to GK.

JOCK FERGUSON AKA MAJOR LONGHORN

This candid shot of Jock Ferguson's alter ego, Major Longhorn, was taken in the hi-tech surroundings of the DJ room at Dens in 1979.
He was the DJ for 2 full seasons, but also did the odd stint up to around 1990.
There was a noticeable change in the music blasting out of the tannoy at Dens when the Major took charge, the most obvious one being introducing the sounds of punk & new wave, with bands such as The Clash, The Cure & The Damned, a selection that often lead to complaints for being too loud! There was one occasion when a fan heard The Dead Kennedy's booming from Dens, when he was halfway down the Hilltown!
He would also spin a quirkier set from time to time with the likes of Nellie The Elephant, The Laughing Policeman and Jimmy Shand, an act who always got the crowd in the stand stomping their feet!
We do, however, have the Major to thank for being the chap who revived the Hector Nicol gem from 1962, "The Dundee Song", the scratchy old record played when the team run onto the pitch.
Other Dens duties included reading out the half time scores, and on the occasions when United were losing, he would keep that till last, giving it a big build up!
He also had a go at doing the commentary at Dens when there was an under 16 World Cup tie being played, and was struggling to pronounce impossible Chinese names!!
Other Major output was as contributor to the match day programmes, writing his own columns, accompanied at times with a cartoon or two.
A few years later, Jock helped put together the DFC cd "It's my Dundee", featuring the updated version of "Johnnie Scobie", another tune that still gets belted out at Dens.
Finally, some of you may recall the Dee related tales of Bandy Conacher on the net, well yep, that was also one of Jocks creations.
Anyway, that was just a brief introduction to Jock and the Major, there will be more to follow.
Thanks to Jock.

BILLY WILLIAMSON - 1977/81

A windswept Billy Williamson posing in the DFC braces strip in 1977.
When he first played for Dundee, he was a striker and managed to bag 17 goals in his debut season of 77/78 which is no bad going, but for some reason he was moved to a more midfield position the following years and as a consequence the goals were few and far between.
So, during his 4 years at Dens he notched up a total of 93 full games, with a 24 goal tally.

DUNDEE FC HANDBOOK - 1983

Don't know who decided to do the cover pink but anyway, this handbook was brought out for the 1983/84 season. Not a particularly good year, finishing 8th and just avoiding relegation, although we did manage to reach the Scottish Cup semi's.
Some of the content includes - DFC's history - a word from chairman, Ian Gellatly - photo of new manager, Archie Knox - a few player profiles - quiz - action shots - squad picture - 82/83 results and 83/84 fixture list.

BOBBY GLENNIE Q & A - 1986

This comes from the 1986 Testimonial programme. Bobby answering a few questions and giving a little insight into some of his favourite things.
Click onto the image to read the large version.

BOBBY GLENNIE TESTIMONIAL - 1986

A well deserved testimonial match in '86 for Dee's Mr Dependable, Bobby Glennie.
Man City the opposition for this one... 2-2 the final score, with Glennie banging in a penalty.
His time at Dens was a lengthy one - 1978 to 1989, a stint which saw him play in a total of 376 games, and making it into the top 10 of the clubs longest serving players.

ALLY DONALDSON #3 - THE TESTIMONIAL

The programme for Ally Donaldson's Testimonial match at Dens on 4th May 1980.
The game was against Dundee Utd and finished 4-4.
And so ended Ally's era as a Dee.

IN THE DUNDEE DUGOUT - 1984

Physio - Eric Ferguson, Manager - Archie Knox and assistant - Jocky Scott, passing on instructions to the team from the Dens dugout on 25th Feb 1984 in a game against Rangers.
Not sure whether the fact that they appear to be pointing in 2 different directions had anything to do with us getting beat 3-1..!!

DERRY RUMBA T-SHIRT - BACK

And a view of the back of the t-shirt.

DERRY RUMBA T-SHIRT - FRONT

Here is the Derry Rumba t-shirt as advertised in the previous post. Quite a collectors item now.

DERRY RUMBA MERCHANDISE

This advert appeared in the Apr/May 1989 issue of Derry Rumba fanzine. The design for t-shirts & sweatshirts featured a bomber on the front and fist on the back.
Don't know how Dee fans abroad felt about paying £50 for postage mind you..!!
I think they did miss the opportunity to sell Derry Rumbaba sponge cakes though!!

DENS-SCENE FANZINE - 1989

The very first issue of Dens-Scene fanzine. Based in sunny Stonehaven, this issue hit the scene in Aug/Sept 1989 and contains the usual kind of fanzine material - jokes - arab bashing - past matches - cartoons - quiz - puzzles - a preview of the new season - DFC's new signings - an overview of other fanzines - letters and a few other bits & pieces thrown in. A no bad debut actually.

BILLY DODDS - HPF HALL OF FAME - 1990

Dundee fanzine - "It's Half Past Four..." - had this free poster in issue #4.
This was during the 1989/90 season and Billy Dodds was the star player & top scorer, his talents also helping him have the honour of being the first to be featured in the mags Hall of Fame.
It folded out into an A3 size poster and it was drawn by Stuart Sang.

BERT SLATER AS COACH - 1989/90

Although Bert Slater will always be remembered as Dundee's top goalie in the early 60's, here is a picture of him a couple of decades later when he was Dee coach in 89/90.
A lesser known aspect of Bert is that he once appeared in a TV commercial for Wagon Wheels, the big round chocolate biscuit. The scene kind of resembled Custer's last stand, and Bert was one of the chaps who fell to the ground having been hit by an arrow. It's a wonder he didn't just put a bandage on it and carry on..!!

DFC CUP FINAL CREST - 1980

A nice close up of the badge on the players shirt for Cup Final day in 1980. This being the Scottish League Cup of course, played at Dens on 6th December that year. Not such a good result on the day though. All that fancy sewing and not a stitch to show for it..!!