DEE FANS OFF TO BRUSSELS - 1963

Here's a bus load of Dee supporters on their way to Brussels in 1963 to watch Dundee bang in 4 against Anderlecht! It's not often games like this crop up with us, so dosh well spent I reckon!
Dickson's who ran the football specials were based in Reform Street.

THE BATTLE OF COLOGNE - 1962

Here's a detailed account of the (in)famous "Battle Of Cologne" which took place in September 1962 between FC Cologne and Dundee FC.

Although it's chocolate coloured, once you click onto the images to get the large versions, you can read it clearly enough when you zoom in.

It was quite a nasty match but there are some amusing moments in it too.

The article comes from an early 70's weekly magazine called "Book of Football" which built up into a multi volumed encyclopedia.

DFC GOALS v AC MILAN - 1963

I've put a few items up on the Shrine relating to Dundee's games against AC Milan in the 1963 European Cup semi final, so I won't bother going over the match details again.
Instead I thought it was about time to show the Dees goals.
First is the Cousin goal in the San Siro ; followed by Gilzean's goal at Dens.
Lap it up!!

COUSIN'S GOAL AGAINST ANDERLECHT - 1963

40,000 were at Dens to see this European Cup Quarter Final against Anderlecht.
We won it 2-1, with the above panorama showing the moment the celebrations started after Cousin grabbed a goal late on in the match.
Thanks to GK

COUSIN ON TARGET - SAN SIRO - 1963

This is the magic moment Dundee's Alan Cousin finds the back of the net against AC Milan in the semi final of the European Cup at the San Siro, in front of 78,000.
April 1963.
Thanks to GK

AC MILAN PROGRAMME - 1971

A game I was at, and a belter too!
Although Dundee were 3-0 down from the 1st leg at the San Siro and this return match seemed like mission impossible, it being AC Milan we were playing and the UEFA Cup, made for a great atmosphere at Dens. I was 13 and remember watching their star player,Rivera, the year before on the telly in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. The star of this show though, wasn't from Milan, but was the Dee's Duncan Lambie, who's runs at goal were causing havoc on the night. All that pressure paid off as we won the game 2-0, goals by Wallace & Duncan. Although it wasn't enough to go through on aggregate, it certainly was a victory to remember!
You can watch the goals on this link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg54Yn5utSg

LEEDS PROGRAMME - 1968

After beating Zurich in the Fairs Cup Quarter Finals, Dundee were up against the mighty Leeds United in the semi's. Leeds really were mighty back then with the likes of Bremner, Giles, Lorimer, Charlton etc, the team who eventually went on to win the trophy.
This game at Dens on 1st May 1968 was a 1-1 draw, Bobby Wilson scoring for the Dee.
The away leg at Elland Road ended 1-0 to Leeds, and the programme & ticket can be viewed on the Shrine - just type "Leeds" into the search box.

FC ZURICH PROGRAMME - 1968

This programme was for the Quarter Final of the Fairs Cup. Zurich were no pushovers, having beat Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon to reach this stage. Dundee, however, managed to beat them home and away, with this 1st leg tie at Dens on 27th March 1968 finishing 1-0, a goal by Jim Easton. We also won the 2nd leg in Switzerland by the same margin, with Sammy Wilson getting the winner.

DEE FANS IN HEYSEL STADIUM - 1963

Here's a rare piece of film from March 1963. It's the final whistle against Anderlecht, and Dundee have won the European Cup quarter-final game 4-1 over at Heysel Stadium in Belgium.
A few Dee fans run onto the pitch, go over to keeper Bert Slater and carry him shoulder high along the length of the pitch. A gesture that gets a warm ovation from the crowd!!

COMBAT IN COLOGNE - 1962

The grimace on Ian Ure's face shows that it is as painful to witness the above tackle as it is to be on the end of it!
This shot was taken during the infamous 2nd leg tie of the European Cup in Cologne on the 26th Sept 1962.
The German "tactics" were deliberately dirty as a consequence of what happened in the 1st leg at Dens.
The incident that sparked this nasty retaliation was when the Cologne keeper was accidentally knocked unconscious in a collision with Cousin in the first couple of minutes. Without their goalie, Dundee went on to win 8-1.
Humiliated, Cologne concluded that the collision was no accident and that Dundee's keeper, Bert Slater, would be on the end of the same treatment in Germany. Sure enough, Slater received a serious head wound within half an hour and off he went to be bandaged up. Although the injury was bad enough to consider a trip to hospital, Slater decided to see the game out and rejoined the match. Cologne still banged in 4 goals but it was not enough on aggregate.
German fans invaded the pitch at the end and almost went on to beat up the Dundee team but there were a few hundred Scots on hand from nearby Army barracks to prevent a more serious scene occurring.
Dundee made it home, battered & bruised but not beaten.!

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.

THE DEES IN ALBANIA - 2003

A wee reminder of Dundee's return to the European football scene in almost 30 years.
14th August 2003 was the day that had Dee fans wiping the dust from their passports and preparing for some UEFA Cup action again.
KS Vllaznia, based in Shkoder in Albania was the opposition, and in this 1st leg tie Dundee managed to get the competition off to a great start, winning 2-0. Lovell and Novo popping in the goals.
Below you can watch some footage of the team & fans setting off for the game, followed by clips of the 2 goals from the Loro Borici Stadium. Commentary is in Albanian.

FAIRS CUP TICKET v LEEDS - 1968

A rare wee souvenir from '68, although it be a bit tatty now.
The Fairs Cup was a kind of precursor to the present UEFA Cup, and this Elland Road game was the 2nd leg of the semi-final. The 1st leg at Dens Park ended 1-1. This return match in Leeds was Dundee's very last game of the season, but unfortunately we lost it 1-0. Leeds, whos team consisted of legends like Bremner, Lorimer, Giles & Hunt, went on to lift the trophy.

EUROPEAN CUP RUN 1962/63 - #4 - MILAN

It's now the semi-finals of the European Cup and Dundee's brilliant run is coming to an end. The result in the1st leg played at the San Siro was just too much of a gap for the Dees to recover from, the Italians winning 5-1.
The dark blues weren't finished notching up victories however, as the 2nd leg at Dens on 1st May 1963 was yet another win. DFC 1 v 0 AC Milan.
But the dream was over. The sensational run that stunned everyone, came so close to seeing Dundee be the first British team to lift the European Cup.
Crowd at Dens 38,000. Crowd in Milan 78,000.

EUROPEAN CUP RUN 1962/63 - #3 - ANDERLECHT

We've now reached the Quarter Finals and Dundee just can't seem to stop banging in the goals. The 1st leg against RSC Anderlecht was an away tie and yet again the Dees went goal crazy, winning 4-1.
The next week back at Dens on 13th March 1963, Dundee grabbed another couple of goals with a 2-1 victory on the night.
18 goals in 6 European matches and a semi-final spot the reward.
Crowd at Dens 40,000. Crowd in Brussels 60,000.
Below is some rare footage of the Dees in action in their 4-1 win at the Heysel Stadium.

EUROPEAN CUP RUN 1962/63 - #2 - LISBON

Trailing 1-0 from the 1st leg in Portugal, the return tie at Dens on the 31st October 1962 against Sporting Lisbon turned out to be another match with lots of goals, with Dundee coming out on top, 4-1. A Gilzean hat trick and a goal by Cousin was starting to make Dundee's progress in the European Cup seem easy!
Crowd at Dens 32,000. Crowd in Lisbon 50,000.

EUROPEAN CUP RUN 1962/63 - #1 - COLOGNE

Becoming Scottish League champions in 1962 meant Dundee got to compete in the European Cup ( the Champions League as it is known today, but still the same trophy). It has only happened once in the Dees history and so I am going to put up the full set (4) of souvenir programmes that DC Thomson published to accompany the games at Dens.
Starting the run off with the match against FC Cologne on 5th Sept 1962. A game in which Dundee caught everyone by surprise by bombarding the Germans on the night, winning 8-1. Goals by Gilzean (3), Penman, Wishart, Robertson, Smith & an o.g ensured that even when we got gubbed 4-0 over there, we still came out comfortable winners on aggregate.
Crowd at Dens 25,000. Crowd in Cologne 40,000.

DEES AT THE SAN SIRO #2 - 1971

This was the 2nd time Dundee had played AC Milan at the San Siro, the first encounter being the semi-final of the European Cup back in 1963, in front of 78,000.
Not such a large turn-out for this UEFA Cup tie played on 24th November 1971, and although we lost the game 3-0, we did go on to beat the Italians 2-0 at Dens 2 weeks later.
The above photo shows the moment when captain Gianni Rivera thumps in their first goal. That's big Jim Steele #4, Dave (Biffo) Johnston #3, George Stewart in-between and I think that could be Ian Scott nearest to 1970 World Cup star, Rivera. Furthest away in the distance is Gordon Wallace... he always had his sleeves rolled up!

DEES AT THE SAN SIRO #1 - 1971

The date was 24th November 1971 and it was the 1st leg (round 3) of the UEFA Cup tie against AC Milan at their San Siro Stadium. Although we were beaten here 3-0 on the night, we did win 2-0 in the 2nd leg at Dens a fortnight later, which I remember being at.
The picture above shows Bobby Wilson in the air, with Ian Phillip looking on and that's Jocky Scott in the distance. The photo captures the build up to Milans 1st goal. Prati heading the ball into the path of captain Rivera, in the armband, who then goes on to thump it home.

DFC IN PERUGIA - 15 OCT 2003

5 years ago today, Dundee last stepped out on foreign territory to play in a European match. It was 15th October 2003 when Dundee met Perugia in the 2nd leg of the UEFA Cup in what was to be the teams final Euro flurry. Let's hope it's not too long before we're back doing battle abroad.
Here below is a reminder of the Dee coming out onto the the pitch at Perugia's Renato Curi Stadium. The commentary is in Italian.
Thanks to RMK for the footage.