Search the Community

With blogger Billy Campbell's Ghost posting various articles looking back at Dundee FC from the 70's and 80's, it got me looking out some old pieces I wrote a few years back for the Dundee match day programme. I managed to find this story that I penned about the exact moment that I knew we would overcome any obstacle put in front of us during the 'Deefiant' season. How could a season of administration that saw us stare closure in the face, be handed a 25 point deduction that left us 20 adrift of our nearest rivals and seemingly destined for 3rd tier football for the first time in our 109 years history could turn into one of the most magical experiences of my life? Never in all my time as a Dundee FC fan have I experienced as many emotional states as I have this season. There was the subdued start of a new campaign, the game at Cowdenbeath which left me shocked to my very core then, just when it felt like things couldn’t get worse, our plunge into administration for a second time. This left me fearing that the plug was about to be pulled on the club I love’s life support machine but from that moment of despair my predominant feelings have been a mixture of pride, excitement, determination to keep my club here and most importantly....... BELIEF! I really haven’t seen any other fans rally around their club in which the way we did. Granted we have the ‘Been there and done that’ t-shirt but to me, this time it was different and I actually feared that Dundee FC would become no more. But then we faced Partick at home, just after receiving the shock news of the 25 point penalty, and this is a match that will be forever etched in my mind. Not for the result, not for the goal from Jamie Adams in the dying minutes, and not even for the effort and fight the players showed on the park and would be the defining characteristic of the season. No, the thing that will stay with me forever was the atmosphere that day. Like every other team in any other country, Dundee have their share of boo boys but, for this game, they didn’t turn up. Instead they were replaced with a larger-than-average crowd of people shouting nothing but encouragement and roaring their support. I even managed to persuade a friend of mine, who is an Arab for his sins, to come along and take in the match in which he did with quiet enthusiasm, especially when the winning goal went in. From that day on _______ __________ (name deleted due to a pending superinjunction as the Arab in question seeks to preserve his credibility around Tannadice) has been constantly reminded that he Derry Rhumba’d with such passion that I think he secretly bleeds blue blood! Speaking of that Derry Rhumba, the way the spiritual home of the Dundee support exploded when the winner went in off Jamie’s knee/shin/bum/who cares was nothing short of amazing. I saw people climbing on people who were climbing on people and it’s fair to say a few must’ve suffered injuries to their phones, glasses or person as they were caught in this sea of celebration. In all my years supporting Dundee, I think this was the only time when I have deliberately broken off from the celebrations just so I could stand back and look in awe at the South Enclosure. Hell I even gave my dad a tap on the shoulder so he could share my amazement in the wild scenes all around us. From then on I had faith that we could beat the challenges left for us by the people who had got us in this mess and those who had handed us the football equivalent of capital punishment. I believed we could, and clearly so did the players who took us on a quite incredible journey. Gary Harkins’ free kick and Neil McCann’s winner against Raith. Standing in the rain to see us equal the club’s unbeaten record. Seeing a lifelong Dundee fan make his debut and playing his part as the league leaders were put to the sword. Watching the loony tunes pitch invasion at Falkirk Stadium...this season had more than a touch of the fairytale about it. The team have been an absolute joy to watch and the players deserve to take their place among the greats of Dundee’s history. The run they went on to ensure that we are still here, especially the fact they had seen their mates lose their jobs and have their own futures thrown into doubt, is something that has me bursting with pride. Never before have I seen a bond between players and fans like I have here and I am proud to say that I have been a part of it. I have never been prouder to be a Dark Blue and, for everything we have achieved over the past season I salute Barry Smith, his players, the staff at Dens, and my fellow Dark blues. Now we look to the future and hope that the dark days are behind us. People say you learn from your mistakes and it’s safe to say that we have more than our fair share to learn from but I believe that this time it will be different for Dundee FC. We have a proud tradition to uphold in this city and I now look forward and dream that we can bring the glory days back to Dens Park with honest hard work. And I will always get a shiver down my spine when I remember how it felt to look onto the Derry when the ball hit the net at that Partick game.

With blogger Billy Campbell's Ghost posting various articles looking back at Dundee FC from the 70's and 80's, it got me looking out some old pieces I wrote a few years back for the Dundee match day programme. I managed to find this story that I penned about the exact moment that I knew we would overcome any obstacle put in front of us during the 'Deefiant' season. View full news article

Billy Dodds wants the fans to know the truth, but is willing sell his integrity for another crack at the assistant managers job at Dundee. There seems to be a bit of a rally call from pundits, journalists and ex-players coming out of the woodwork to support Billy Dodds and justify why he should be given the assistant manager job at Dundee. Time and time again we are being told that there are two sides of this story, and we the fans, don't know everything that happened when Dundee went into administration back in 2010. The ex-Dundee and Rangers man has already said he wants to tell his side of the story. He either believes that the Dundee fans are ignorant of all the facts or maybe, as I believe, he is trying to throw the fans the proverbial bone while keeping the dogs at bay before his inevitable return to Dens Park. Billy Dodds stated: “I can look my­self in the mir­ror – I don’t think some of the peo­ple at that club can do the same. There are a lot of peo­ple and a lot of things at that club I’m not happy about. We have come out of it with our in­tegrity in­tact. I can un­der­stand peo­ple be­ing frus­trated and be­ing wound up but they don’t know the truth” In all honesty, I care not one jot what Billy Dodds has to preach. For me, his actions speak louder than words, and his actions at that time were to liquidate the club that I have supported for over 45 years. Dodds and Chisholm knew full well the consequences of their actions, they were told beforehand by Bryan Jackson, a vote against the CVA would mean one thing only for Dundee FC........ The End! Over 81% of Dundee’s creditors voted to accept the Credit Voluntary Arrangement proposed by the clubs administrator Bryan Jackson. Many were local businesses, players and other clubs (Celtic and Hearts) and they voted in favour because they did not want to see Dundee FC out of business. A lot of people who worked their asses off to keep the Dundee Football Club alive. It wasn't called the 'Deefiant Season' because the fans like putting 'Dee' in-font of everything. It was because anyone who had anything to do with the club pulled together and fought every inch of the way to save the club. Billy Dodds along with Gordon Chisholm both had a simple choice at that time, either vote to save the club or to kill it, and they choose the latter. They did this knowing that every single person who they had worked with would have been out of a job, the club liquidated and the fans left without a team to support. Let’s be honest, Chisholm and Dodds (more so) were angry, hurt and spiteful over what had happened, and who wouldn’t have been? They took the Dundee job in good faith, but they weren’t to know that we were a basket case of a club, run by charlatans and driven mainly by egos. If Billy Dodds wanted everyone to know the truth, he should have done it back in 2011. If he really wanted to come out with his integrity intact, he should have voted in favour of the CVA and told the Dundee Fans the truth. The one question I keep asking myself, why would anyone accept a job from an employer who treated them so badly the last time around? If Billy Dodd had any integrity over this matter, he would have simply told Dundee FC “No thank you” when they called regarding the position of the assistant managers job. Instead, all his scruples went out the window, right along with his so called integrity.

GARY IRVINE insists the sight of Neil McCann finding the net after swapping the Sky Sports studios for the dark blue of Dundee when they were plunged into administration remains one of his fondest memories of an eventful six years at Dens Park. View full news article

Neil McCann believes the Dundee support played a massive part in the success of the “Deefiant” season in which he had a small but significant role. View full news article

Was looking for stuff on an external hard drive today and found my pics of my favourite trip to Ross County http://davidyoung.photoshelter.com/gallery/23-04-2011-Ross-County-v-Dundee/G0000wEF70g2f968/ Images by David Young