Hate football? Look away now

While I was in Edinburgh this week I had a drink with Tom Miers, editor of The Free Society.

We met at Deacon Brodies Tavern in the Royal Mile. It's not my favourite pub in the city but I have one happy memory in which Deacon Brodies plays a small part.

(If you have no interest in football, or Scottish football, look away now.)

On May 14, 1983, Dundee United – the club I have supported since I was ten when my family moved to Scotland – won the Scottish League Championship for the first and only time in its history. It will never happen again (well, not in my lifetime) so I am proud to say I was there to see the final dénouement.

As a schoolboy I was a regular at Tannadice, United's home ground. Then I went to university in Aberdeen and by the Eighties I was living in London. Give or take a few cup finals, I watched from afar and spent Saturday afternoons at Stamford Bridge (watching Chelsea) instead.

The 82/83 season was no flash in the pan. United had been getting better and better, year after year. On Wednesday April 6, 1983, however, they lost to rivals Celtic and with six games to go, including another match against Celtic in Glasgow, most people – including United fans – assumed that the title challenge was over for another year.

Mathematically, though, it wasn't. If United won all six games, a tall order, they could still win the league. Over the next few weeks the results went as follows:

St Mirren 1-2 Dundee United
Celtic 2-3 Dundee United
Dundee United 4-0 Kilmarnock
Morton 0-4 Dundee United
Dundee United 4-0 Motherwell

On the eve of the final and deciding game of the season I left my office in St Andrews Hill, close to St Paul's Cathedral and caught a train to Edinburgh where I stayed overnight with a friend, before continuing my journey to Dundee the following morning.

The situation was simple: if United beat our near neighbours and fiercest rivals Dundee we would win the league. If the game was a draw or, worse, United lost, one of two teams - Celtic or Aberdeen - could snatch the title if they won their matches against Rangers and Hibernian respectively.

From the station I walked the mile and a half to the ground, following the same route that I took as a teenager. As in those days, I went to the match alone. None of my friends supported Dundee United. If they didn't support Celtic or Rangers they supported the "bigger" of the two Dundee clubs.

In the early Seventies United seemed to lose as many matches as they won. One year we lost three home games in succession, conceding five goals each time – and I witnessed every single one. On another occasion we were beaten 6-4 by Dundee. That doesn't sound too bad, but it was 6-1 at one stage and the three goals we scored towards the end were no consolation, believe me.

Yet there I was, a decade later, walking from the city centre, past the same old tenements and the spit and sawdust pubs, to the top of Dens Road where the two grounds – Dens Park and Tannadice – stand side by side. And this time we were 90 minutes away from being champions of Scotland and qualifying for the European Cup.

As luck would have it, the venue for the decisive match of the 82/83 season was not Tannadice but Dens Park where I had watched United lose those six goals. There was no question of it being an unlucky ground, though, because United had gone on to win the Scottish League Cup in 1979 and 1980 and each time they won it at Dens Park. (It's a long story. If you've followed me this far, well done. I won't stretch your patience further.)

Anyway, I arrived early which was a good decision because the ground was full long before kick-off and I don't remember it being all-ticket. This was pre-Hillsborough and all-seater stadiums were almost unheard of so I stood shoulder to shoulder with other United fans in a cramped enclosure at one end of the main stand. The atmosphere was incredible.

The teams came out and the match kicked off. I could hardly bear to look. Amazingly, after just eight minutes United were two goals up. Everything was going our way. We even missed a penalty but scored from the rebound. What could possibly go wrong? Then Dundee scored: 2-1.

Half-time arrived. Many of us had small transistor radios in our pockets. Word spread that Celtic were losing 2-0 but Aberdeen (managed by Alex Ferguson) were ahead. United had to win.

That second half was the longest 45 minutes I have ever known. Celtic came back from two goals down to beat Rangers 4-2 while Aberdeen went on to score five against Hibs.

Thankfully United held on to win and at the final whistle fans invaded the pitch to celebrate. Eventually, responding to the thunderous cheers, the players re-emerged for a lap of honour. The manager, Jim McLean, appeared and was hoisted on to the shoulders of his players where he was photographed ... smiling. (McLean managed the club for 22 years. He was a famous curmudgeon who allegedly fined the team after one match because they failed to press home their superiority and "only" won 6-0.)

It must have been an hour before everyone left the ground. I joined supporters walking back to the city centre. Everyone had a pub or a bar to go to but I had to travel back to Edinburgh – specifically, Deacon Brodies – where I had arranged to meet a friend.

I remember walking into the pub wearing my United scarf. One or two strangers came up and offered their congratulations; a barman gave me a pint, "on the house". But no-one else seemed interested. Only 40 miles separated the two cities but that night they could have been on different planets.

I didn't care. Deacon Brodies is the pub where I celebrated Dundee United's first and only Scottish League Championship. Now that's an evening I shall never forget.

PS. Results from the old English First Division that day were:

Aston Villa 2-1 Arsenal
Coventry City 2-4 West Ham United
Everton 1-1 Ipswich Town
Manchester City 0-1 Luton Town
Norwich City 2-1 Brighton and Hove Albion
Notts County 3-2 Manchester United
Southampton 0-1 Birmingham City
Sunderland 1-1 West Bromwich Albion
Swansea City 0-3 Nottingham Forest
Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 Stoke City
Watford 2-1 Liverpool

In 1984 United reached the semi-final of the European Cup where they were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by Roma. Had they beaten Roma they would have played Liverpool in the final.

In 1987 United reached the final of the UEFA Cup, losing to Gothenburg. In the quarter-final they beat Barcelona home and away, winning 3-1 on aggregate.

Happy days.

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[George Speller]

I looked away, but you didn;t tell me when I could look back again . . . .