A fan’s guide – the club from early doors to today
It’s now more than 60 years since Dundee FC were at their height, winning the title and reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup. A return to the Premiership as winners of the Championship in 2023 points to a more settled future, an alignment with Burnley announced in January 2024 allowing DFC to refresh their squad.
The arrangement works both ways, of course, young talent from Dens Park (aka Scot Foam Stadium) able to head south and gain valuable experience.
Dundee FC were created from the merger of Our Boys and East End in 1893, in order to gain league status. Moving from the harbourfront ground of Carolina Port to Dens Park near Clepington Park in 1899, Dundee established themselves as a force to reckoned with early on, strong home form helping them achieve runners-up spots in the First Division three times.
In 1910, they lifted their first, and so far only, Scottish Cup. Two late goals against Clyde levelled the score at 2-2 in the final, won on a second replay thanks to another vital strike from John Hunter, a title-winner with Liverpool in 1901.
After another brief flourish in the 1920s, and a city rivalry established with near neighbours Dundee United, the Dark Blues succumbed to a first-ever relegation in 1938 but bounced back right after the war.
Record signing Billy Steel led Dundee to consecutive League Cup wins in the early 1950s but it was the arrival of a young forward, Alan Gilzean, then Bob Shankly, brother of Bill, as manager, that brought Scotland’s top silverware to Dens Park.
Also vital to this one and only championship for the Dees were veteran striker Gordon Smith, signed at 37 after winning the title with Hibs and Hearts, and later Arsenal centre-half Ian Ure. Buoyed by a 5-1 win at champions Rangers, Dundee had romped ahead early in the 1961-62 campaign only to be pegged back and win the league on the last day.
Perhaps even more remarkable was the European Cup run that followed, the 8-1 win over German champions 1.FC Köln, the 4-1 win over a strong Sporting Lisbon and the 4-1 win over Paul van Himst’s Anderlecht in Brussels. Eventual winners Milan then put Dundee to the sword, 5-1 in the San Siro semi-final, Alan Gilzean’s nine campaign goals encouraging Spurs to sign him up.
Shankly went to replace Jock Stein at Hibs and Dundee didn’t finish top four again. In the cup tournaments, a relatively easy passage, including a bye, set up a tight semi-final with Don Revie’s Leeds of the Inter-City Fairs’ Cup, and ex-Celtic’s Tommy Gemmell captained Dundee to a 1-0 win over his old club in the League Cup final of 1973.
The rise of teenage prodigy Gordon Strachan, the midfielder made team captain by Gemmell at the age of 19, pointed to a promising new era at Dens Park, but the club soon needed the funds from his sale to Aberdeen. Dundee’s 6-0 defeat at Queen of the South, Strachan’s last game for the Dark Blues, marked a new low point in DFC’s history. Worse was to follow.
The marquee signings of Argentine World Cup star Claudio Caniggia, the Bonetti brothers, both trophy winners with Juventus, and Georgian internationals Temuri Ketsbaia and Georgi Nemsadze made headlines but the financial toll was punishing. Dundee made the Scottish Cup final in 2003 but it was scant reward for the fortunes lavished on transfers and salaries. A terrible spiral of debt soon ensued.
Selling Dens Park, the Dark Blues struggled on, but by 2005 the game was up. Nemsadze and Paraguayan striker Fabián Caballero were the last foreign stars to leave after the club entered administration.
Pulling Dundee out of the mire were a business trust and the supporters’ society. A second plunge into administration in 2010 and deduction of 25 league points in the second-flight First Division nearly signalled the end of the Dark Blues – but, with communal fan action, heroics on the pitch and the goals of Sean Higgins, Dundee not only lived to fight another day but gained promotion the following season.
Benefitting from the demise of Rangers, DFC joined the elite for the first time in eight years, reviving the derby with Dundee United, but the gap in class was as wide as the wide as the points difference from safety by the end of the season.
The Dark Blues duly bounced straight back, maintaining top-tier status thanks to the one-season stay of prolific striker Kane Hemmings, whose brace at Tannadice almost surpassed James McPeake’s 94th-minute equaliser in the same fixture the previous August. While there was little chance of a European place, these were happy days for Dundee fans.
By 2018-19, the five-season struggle to stay with the elite ended with long runs of defeats, scandals in nightclubs and constant managerial changes. With the drop down to the Championship, Dundee lured back Kane Hemmings but it wasn’t quite enough to reach divisional leaders Dundee United in the pandemic-hit campaign of 2019-20.
By now, James McPake had gained enough coaching experience, including working with another Dundee old boy, Gordon Strachan, at Dundee’s academy, to take over as manager. It proved a smart move, as his side gained promotion to the Premiership via the play-offs, vital goals coming from Jordan McGhee, converted to a box-to-box midfielder by the astute McPake.
His unwise dismissal led to McGhee’s more famous namesake, ex-Aberdeen star Mark, failing to reverse a woeful run of defeats in the Premiership. Dundee again required fresh impetus to make their Championship stay a short one. It came from the English strike partnership of Zach Robinson and Alex Jakubiak, the Dark Blues enjoying a defeat-free ten-game run to lift the divisional trophy in 2023.
Despite this success, Manager of the Year Gary Bowyer was let go following a dispute with technical director Strachan, and Dundee approached their return to the Premiership under Tony Docherty in his first full managerial role.
Safely mid-table in the top flight in 2023-24, Dundee could look back on a decade of relative stability under Texas-based entrepreneur Tim Keyes. Shovelling in substantial sums of money to keep DFC afloat, this former soccer player seems to have the club’s best interests at heart – although the lack of fan representation at board level still grates with many supporters.
On the plus side, the long-running saga of Dens Park, out of Dundee’s hands since 2009, seemed to have taken a step forward when Keyes and his less popular managing director, John Nelms, announced the re-purchase of the stadium in October 2023. Plans now call for its demolition and a move to a new-built out at Campderdown Park, past Dryburgh, north of Dundee.
Ground Guide
The field of dreams – and the story behind it
Home of Dundee FC since 1899, Dens Park was fully renovated exactly a century later. Famously set 300 metres from city rivals Dundee United, Dens Park is a neat, intimate ground of 11,850 capacity bookended by two facing ends of the Bobby Cox Stand for home supporters and Bob Shankly for visiting ones.
The Main Stand is strange in that it curves in from the touchline, a hangover from the pre-1999 days when the whole ground was oval in shape.
The ticket office is behind the main North Stand nearest Tannadice Street while only part of the South Enclosure is currently in use. The adjoining area was the subject of a possible real-estate sale, but now the club has bought back Dens Park, the project to move out to a new-build at Camperdown and sell up here entirely will surely go ahead from 2024 onwards.
Before the wrecking ball swings, Dens Park will be known somewhat unsexily as the Scot Foam Stadium – until late 2025, at least.
getting here
Going to the ground – tips and timings
Dens Park has its own stop on bus line 1 (every 15mins Mon-Fri, every 30mins-1hr Sat-Sun) from central Albert Square (8mins/6 stops). The 23 also runs along Dens Road, but only infrequently Mon-Fri and not at all at weekends.
The walk from Wellgate Shopping Centre in town, up steep Hilltown then veering right up Mains Road to the stadium should take 15-20mins.
The sat nav code for Dens Park is DD3 7JY. The club does not provide parking on match days. Several car parks are found in central Dundee, such as the one on West Bell Street (DD1 1EX, £2.30/2hrs up to 8pm Mon-Fri, £3 all day Sat-Sun, cash/cards accepted). This is close to where bus 1 sets off for Dens Park (see above) or a 15-20min walk to the ground.
There’s also street parking around the Hilltown district close to Dens Park, up to 4hrs/£4.80, free after 6pm.
getting in
Buying tickets – when, where, how and how much
The ticket office (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-1pm, behind the Main (North) Stand opens from 10am to kick-off on match days, including for evening games. For the visits of Celtic, Rangers and, when divisional status aligns, Dundee United, the office usually operates the week before as well.
Online sales are also available. Average gates are around 7,000 for a ground that holds nearly 12,000. For all enquiries, contact 01382 889 966/option 2, email reception@dundeefc.co.uk.
Prices for all games, apart from those involving the Old Firm, are an across-the-board £26, £16 for seniors and students, £4 for under-12s. For Celtic and Rangers, it’s £32, £20 and £6.
what to buy
Shirts, kits, merchandise and gifts
The club shop (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, match-day Sat 10am-kick-off & for 30mins after the game, non-match Sat 10am-1pm) behind the Main North Stand sells DFC retro shirts from the 1960s-1980s, including popular cycling jerseys.
Must-have accessories include Jim Dinnen’s arty coasters of Dundee fans, branded beach towels and coffee mugs featuring the current iteration of the club’s home and away shirts, for which the designers should be congratulated. Each featuring the local motto ‘DEE TILL EH DEH’ sewn into the nape the neck, these are either traditional dark blue with a subtle tartan collar or white with two snazzy stripes of sky blue down the badge side.
Where to Drink
Pre-match beers for fans and casual visitors
Walking distance from Dens Park are dozens of pubs, some neutral, some used by followers of nearby Dundee United but most fly the dark blue of Dundee FC.
Pride of place goes to the High Corner at 53 Kinghorne Road, near the junction with Strathmartine Road, home of several supporters’ clubs down the years and displaying plenty of DFC history. At the same junction, the Bowbridge Bar (2 Main Street) and Halley’s (22 Strathmartine Road) are similarly partisan.
Just over 5min walk away on Alexander Street, the corner Ellenbank Bar at No.128 is popular pre-match and used as a setting-off point for buses to away games.
On the other side of the ground from town, the Clep Bar has been offering pre-match drinks for decades while Whites is a straighter walk to the stadium.
