“ Meh goad this is like comin’ oot a Hampden.” The majority of Dees fans in the 17,000 crowd who had migrated to the Provy Road end for the second half slaughter of Airdrie, all seemed to be surging out of the gate at the same time. We had won 5-1 and, after 14 games of the 61/62 season were sitting 6 points clear of Celtic and Rangers.
It is strange which games and incidents remain firmly etched into the memory after nearly forty years and which other ones are hard to recall. During our championship season, the Scottish league boasted a number of fine sides and my dad’s cousin Bert McCann, played for Motherwell and Scotland, so one of the away games, which we took in that season, was at Fir Park. This was a superb advert for skilful football as both teams played an attacking, passing game, but the Dees had the edge up front and won 4-2.
I wasn’t allowed through to Ibrox for the famous 5-1 victory and it was season 62-63 when I first saw the dreaded old firm. Games against the lesser lights, however, often proved to be hugely entertaining (and nerve-wracking); the 5-4 home win against Raith and the 2-2 draw with bottom club Stirling Albion being cases in point. Dundee, attacking the TC Keay and had gone 2-1 in front of Raith after half time, then the Fifers had surged into a 4-2 lead; before, in the last twenty minutes - goals from Seith, Wishart and the Gay Gordon gave us the points. Against the Albion, they came back from 2 down and I will always remember a little posse of four Stirling fans dancing up and down at the T.C. Keay, waving improbably large granny knitted red and white scarves. How could they do this at Dens? Still, servers them right, they went down with St.Johnstone.
There were some other memorable games that season and there was, of course, the normal Dundee – after the new-year slump. The home-based cynics, the weedgie press etc., were all telling us – Dundee have blown it, you’ll never finish above the Rangers.
Well we did and Gillie’s double on the cuffing of the Black and white upstarts at Tannadice, then the win against St.Mirren at Dens put us back on top and two points clear with a game to go, and if I was to define the moment we actually knew the league was ours, it was Pat Liney’s amazing penalty save against the Buddies – minutes later Andy Penman made it two nil and the hoards ran onto the pitch at full time – it was won.
The celebrations continued and intensified at Muirton, a game we can still watch on the club video and there was the added bonus of Saints and (Sir) Alec Ferguson heading for Division two!
And then there was Europe. Up until our league win, we viewed the European Cup as something which Real Madrid usually won and Rangers got slaughtered – de jevu?
Colonge, Sporting Lisbon and Anderlecht passed in a blur of improbably huge victories and far reaching progress. We were invincible, the new Real Madrid in Dark Blue and did we walk tall ? Well perhaps not enough of us, as three days after the 8-1 demolition of Colonge, we played Aberdeen and I recall leaning against a crash barrier at the corner of the Provy / South Enclosure and wondering where 15,000 people had disappeared to. Gilzean headed in a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw and, that season in particular, he just couldn’t stop scoring!
Then one night sat beside our old wooden radio, my world fell apart: Milan 5 Dundee 1. I was stunned. One of my mates had to be sedated to stop him banging his head off the lino floor!
Various tales of excessive flashbulbs, offside goals and intimidation emerged from the San Siro encounter and on a dusty, windy night we packed into the Provy to snarl at the culprits through a swirl of track dirt. Dundee totally dominated a bad tempered match, with something like 17 indirect free kicks being given to us in and around the box. Gillie scored, then a Penman goal was disallowed, before Gillie finally turned on his tormentors and was sent off. I have had a sour taste in my mouth after many Dundee games – but nothing like this and I believe that this Dundee side was the best Scotland has ever produced and we were cheated out of our birthright.
Dundee fans, however have never subscribed to the I’ve been down so long, it looks like up school of philosophy and Scotland’s two top players at the time - Gillie and Hammy gave me an early lift in a most unlikely setting: the back roads from the Ferry to Douglaswood through Wellbank!
On a grey spring Saturday afternoon, we were on our way to a weekend scout camp at Douglaswood and, Grassic Gibbon style; we were pulling and hauling our worldly possessions on an ancient metal-wheeled handcart. Our only concession to the twentieth century was a brightly coloured sixties tranny, which was, of course tuned to the Scotland – England clash at Hampden. The most frequent name on the commentator’s lips was Hamilton, as – time and time again he broke down English attacks and surged up the flank in attack. Then in the second half came the moment we had all anticipated :Gillie headed the only goal and we were dancing all over the road and almost led the Cart slide into a ditch!
But this international success only hastened the break up of the great Dundee side, with the rock of Dens Park – Ian Ure off to Arsenal, and Gillie following him to North London after our cup final defeat by Rangers; In the cup run we proved that we were still a good side, but no longer a great one.
It took the signing of a wizard to lift our spirits again – the wizard of dribble; Brazilians and Jimmy Johnstone not withstanding, Charlie Cooke is the best dribbler I
have ever seen, the only problem was that he didn’t always do the end product bit. But when he did, it was pure magic. He made his debut against Third Lanark and we won somewhere between 6-0 and 6-2. The Sporting Post Headline ran – Charlie is mi’ darlin’ and, in a season and a half career at Dens, he packed in some incredible moments, dancing past opponents at will and scoring goals from every impossible angle up to and including the corner spot. The service wasn’t always what it might have been though, and Charlie was often guilty of not releasing the ball at the right time (if at all!).
The worst moment for this was at a frost bound, virtually unplayable Tannadump, in the 1966 New Years derby. ‘Cherlie’ had collected the ball facing the wrong way on the left flank and had dribbled back towards and across his own penalty box at the Dens end. After leaving several lesser mortals in his wake, he slipped on the ice in the ‘D’ of the box and United promptly scored to take the game 2-1.
Hopeful signs were in the air though as Cookie began to establish a good understanding with the highly promising Stevie Murray. So, as a reward to us loyal Dees, the board bought Jim Mclean and sold hero Cooke to Chelsea – some dark days loomed ahead!
andy boyack