The Capital Dark Blues Annual Sportsman's Dinner was another superb night and is now firmly marked in my Dundee Social Calendar as a must do event. I was curious on how this years event could compare against last years 40th Anniversary Celebrations of winning the League Championship.
I have to say that the Guest Speakers and Players from the past certainly did themselves proud in making my evening every bit as enjoyable as the previous years event, something which I never thought could have been possible. A big thank you to all who made my evening memorable and I'm sure that goes for all who were fortunate to be present.
The main Speakers for the evening were the respected Football Player of many Scottish Clubs including our own, Alex Totten, plus Motherwell's most known supporter and the Fans fan, Tam Cowan.
The Capital Dark Blues very own
knowledgeable scribe,
Scott Swankie started off the event in good humour with the announcement, that
he hoped this excellent evening would be the start of Dundee's treble winning
season. Cup final appearance, UEFA Cup qualification and the Arabs going
down. This was met with the customary applause from those present, at our
neighbours current plight.
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Scott Swankie & Graeme Cook |
Lee Wilkie, Alex Totten & Tam Cowan |
The many well known Ex-Players who were in attendance were then introduced to all, Stuart Rafferty, Eric Sinclair, Bobby Glennie, Billy Pirie, Keith (The Mongoose) Wright, (where was the Cobra?) and Bobby Cox.
A particularly warm welcome was extended to the Guest of Honour with 445 appearances and has played for the Dark Blues more than anyone else the Legend that is Doug Cowie.
Doug Cowie
It was then time for Scott to hand over to the resident Chaplain
the Rev. John MacGregor, or as the Capital Dark Blues affectionately know him,
"Bible John". The Rev McGregor then said Grace in his normal poetic and
up to date style not missing the opportunity to have a little dig at Mr Cowan's
Football Team Motherwell.
After what was an excellent meal it was back to business with the
MC introducing the first guest speaker Alex Totten, who's career has spanned
over 5 decades as both player and Manager, he's one of Scottish Football's most
respected and well liked figures.
As a player
he's starred for a number of clubs, Liverpool, Dundee, Dunfermline, Falkirk,
Q.O.S., Alloa and East Fife. It was at this point Alex piped in with "that
was the high point".
As a Manager he's been with Alloa, Falkirk (twice),
Dumbarton, St. Johnstone, East Fife, Kilmarnock and Asst. at Rangers. The
assumption's clearly that his most proud moment was the time spent at Dens
between 1964-65.
Alex is currently Director of
Football at Falkirk and all those that were at Dens in the Scottish Cup Quarter
Final replay will all grudgingly agree that Falkirk were excellent. They
will be a worthy addition to the SPL next year, hopefully at the expense of
Dundee United. It was after the cheers died down that Scott handed the
floor over to Alex Totten.
