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Earliest Memories of Going To Dens


Cobra

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That f**cking hill. I used to wonder why I had to climb a monster of a hill from the city centre to see my team.

Climbing up the old Derry steps though was something else. The noise was deafening. 'Do I belong? 'I hope so.'

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Being lifted over the old turnstiles by my late dad then taken to the front of the south enclosure. I seem to remember the dyke had a rounded top and was painted white with a navy stripe every so often. 
When the team ran out behind Bobby Cox the deep roar from men, not boys was deafening. I was in total awe of that team. I would soak up the strip, their boots, the smell of liniment and dreamt of pulling on the beautiful dark blue jersey. These guys were gods to me. I’m imagining those days now with a lump in my throat. My old man’ll be looking down from the high stand and shaking his head and smiling. 

Edited by Dandy McLean
Missed word
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For me, it was going with my dad to the sweetie shop opposite Dens and getting sweets for the game then getting lifted over the turnstile. Seeing the players run out with their crisp kit and the pure white ball was grear. Being a kid at the time, I then spent the rest of the match playing with the grit around the track rather than watching the match! Good times.

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Not at Dens but remember as a 6/7 year old meeting  the Champs at DM Browns tea room at a pre match meal where my dad must have had a flush pay packet that week, I recall going over to Hugh Robertson and saying "your the greatest" before heading back to the cake stand.

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Leaving the house early to walk from Kirkton up to Dens with my father. There was no chance of getting a bus from anywhere but the terminus because they were all full with folk going to the match or 'doon the toon'. I wore my home knitted (by my mother) two coloured scarf which I still wish I had managed to keep and carried a ridiculous wooden rattle thing that made a hell of a racket when spun (ditto wish I had kept it as it was a family heirloom long owned by my grandfather). Father met shady looking character on Cleppie road (bookie's runner to put on 'his line') then down to Dens which you heard long before you saw it. Into the huge (to me at the time) Provie Road end where we stayed or sometimes paid a few coppers to transfer through a dusty old turnstile into the Stand Enclosure. A hot orange from the shop on a cold day but never a pie because "it would spoil my tea" or maybe he couldn't afford them. Then the team appeared to a loud throaty roar and the game seemed to pass very quickly. Always seemed a good atmosphere and you always remember the good results. Watching that team mature into the league winning side was an absolute pleasure even to a young lad. After the game walk home again, still full buses, to get mother's stovies (still better than the wife's).

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Standing outside the Clep bar with my sister whilst my father and his friends scooped and smoked prematch. Walking down the road to Dens and entering the main stand enclosure, no hospitality lounges in those days so you used to walk under the main stand to enter the enclosure , we used to stand on the halfway line under a fire hose reel that was mounted to the front of the Main stand... 

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The 1a from Blackshade to Coldside circle, then walk to the stand enclosure,a hot orange and hug the railings of the player's tunnel Till they came out. Tried to pat their backs as they ran out. Then walk along to where my Dad was standing to watch the game. Loved the tobacco smells back then.

Now sit in Coxy and often look over to where me and Dad stood, especially on his birthday week and anniversary of his death and if there is ever a minutes silence.

Now I often touch his brick in the Coxy to give the team good luck on match days. Shame the four bricks I bought back in the day could not be together on that wall. I asked for this at time of order and was told it was not possible. A club faut pas in my view but hey ho, maybe in new stadium?

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My dad took me and my big brother into the main stand back then (late 70s). 

The smell of pipe smoke, the bright green grass, the beautiful strip and folk going tonto. Loved it.

A lot of my wee pals used to go with their dads to Dens too but by 1980 had crossed the road. It was only the chosen few who stayed loyal.

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28 minutes ago, Wattie Rojas said:

My dad took me and my big brother into the main stand back then (late 70s). 

The smell of pipe smoke, the bright green grass, the beautiful strip and folk going tonto. Loved it.

A lot of my wee pals used to go with their dads to Dens too but by 1980 had crossed the road. It was only the chosen few who stayed loyal.

Lots of folk change their views on all sorts of things as they get older. Political allegiances, butter or marg, sugar in your tea, what you drink at the pub, where you go on holiday, the kinds of films you like, what you watch on tv etc. etc. and I understand all of these and other unstated. What I cant understand is folk who change the football team they support; it's just beyond me! I've supported Dundee for 60+ years since taken to Dens for the first time by my father who followed my grandfather as a Dee. I've never for a moment, even in the hardest times, thought of changing; never once. Not only do I not understand those that do I am afraid I have little or no respect for them either. Those brought up as an Arab with long family connections and I suppose those who simply chose Utd as their team when they were the team winning things I sort of respect through gritted teeth but turncoats NEVER !!!

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18 minutes ago, troodee1893 said:

Lots of folk change their views on all sorts of things as they get older. Political allegiances, butter or marg, sugar in your tea, what you drink at the pub, where you go on holiday, the kinds of films you like, what you watch on tv etc. etc. and I understand all of these and other unstated. What I cant understand is folk who change the football team they support; it's just beyond me! I've supported Dundee for 60+ years since taken to Dens for the first time by my father who followed my grandfather as a Dee. I've never for a moment, even in the hardest times, thought of changing; never once. Not only do I not understand those that do I am afraid I have little or no respect for them either. Those brought up as an Arab with long family connections and I suppose those who simply chose Utd as their team when they were the team winning things I sort of respect through gritted teeth but turncoats NEVER !!!

They are the types who ended up tarred and feathered at the end of the war for consorting with the Nazis. 

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13 minutes ago, troodee1893 said:

Lots of folk change their views on all sorts of things as they get older. Political allegiances, butter or marg, sugar in your tea, what you drink at the pub, where you go on holiday, the kinds of films you like, what you watch on tv etc. etc. and I understand all of these and other unstated. What I cant understand is folk who change the football team they support; it's just beyond me! I've supported Dundee for 60+ years since taken to Dens for the first time by my father who followed my grandfather as a Dee. I've never for a moment, even in the hardest times, thought of changing; never once. Not only do I not understand those that do I am afraid I have little or no respect for them either. Those brought up as an Arab with long family connections and I suppose those who simply chose Utd as their team when they were the team winning things I sort of respect through gritted teeth but turncoats NEVER !!!

Ach, I suppose to some football is less important than to others (us) so for them following the money as it were comes easily. It's not so far removed from the old days when some would go to Dens one week and Tannadice the next. I'll admit  lost interest in the Dees in the late 70s and had my old man not been such a diehard Dee who knows what I'd have done.

For the avoidance of doubt - I very much doubt I'd have moved over to the dark side though!

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