086 dens park dundee

(GROUND NUMBER 86)

Date of First Visit: 8th AUGUST 1988
DENS PARK, DUNDEE

DUNDEE 2
NEWCASTLE UNITED 0

THE DUNCLAIRE DISPENSERS CHALLENGE TROPHY! (Honest!)

ATTENDANCE 4,820 (1,000 Toon fans)


"IT'S A GIRL!"-----"IT'S A GIRL!"----"IT'S A GIRL!"

Meesel and 'Sensible Tony' went tih 'this one' in mee 'jam jar' and the 'plan' was tih get some digs in Dundee and so that ah could have a 'good gargel' before (and after!) the match before drivin' back the next day.
The drive up tih 'Crocodile Country' (work it oot!) via the Forth and Tay bridges took aboot fower hours and az wih parked up in the centre of Dundee ah noticed that mee trip switch on mee mileometer had clocked up 188 miles. And as the match was bein' played on the 8^th of the 8^th—'88' aa had visions of wih winnin' by 8 goals!

Wih foond some digs straight away, not far from the train station where a'd left mee 'jalopy' (in the car park---NOT! on the platform!) and the manager, who was the forst porson that wi'd spoken tee telt wih that he came from JARROW of aall places!, which tih be honest was a (wee!) bit dissapointin', az wi'd expected tih be greeted by some 'Jock' shootin', "OCH AYE THE NOO JIMMY!", and NOT!, "WHERE ARE YEEZ FROM, LIKE?", which was his actual response tih wor accents!.

(Aaltogether nuw---"MY NAME IZ GEORDIE MACINTYRE!"----"AND THE BAIRNS DON'T EVEN HAVE A FIRE!")
(ER!---mebeez not---crap f***** song!)

Anyway!---wih plonked wor bags doon, had a quick wash 'n' brush up', and heeded for the nearest 'waaterin' hole' come restaurant which was very handily placed just ower the road.
Az well az bein' very thorsty we were 'Hank Marvin' az well, so wih ordered a very nice 'T' bone steak with aall the trimmins tih wash the 'Arthur Scargills' doon! (az yih de!) and aa have ti say that it was the best 'Desperate Dan' a'd ever had and we were very bloated (ti say the least!) as we made for the exit. (very appropriate as 'Desperate Dan' comes from Dundee!)


After a 'toby' aroond the bars in the afternoon wih decided tih heed for the groond which iz in Tannadice Street.
If yih naa anythin' aboot futbaall, yill naa that Dundee United AALSO! play in Tannadice Street, within a hundred yards 'hocklin' distance' infact!
It's a weird situation when yih forst see it for yihsel az yih waalk up the hill towards the groond(s)!, Tannadice Park iz on the reet and Dens Park iz slap bang in front of yih.



"YI CANNIT GET MUCH CLOSER THAN THIS!---LIKE!"

It's hard tih imagine the Toon and
the mackems playin' in the same street!----infact it's the ULTIMATE
'room 101' nightmare senario!-----FULL F***** STOP........!
There was a booza up the hill in between the groonds so that's where wih heeded and bumped intih some aad drinkin' aquaintences from the Toon. ('Nutty Norman', 'Budgie', etc. etc.!)




"THE FOG ON THE TAY IS ON IT'S WAY!"

 Soon it was time tih gan tih the match and az we approached the groond thick fog started rollin' in from the 'Tay'.
Toon manager Willie McFaul had been spendin' heavily in the pre season transfer market and amongst his recruits were Wimbledon hero Dave Beasant who'd saved the forst ever penalty in the 1988 FA Cup against red hot Liverpool tih ultimately help them win the cup and his team mate midfielder Andy Thorn. (These were the final pieces of McFauls 'jigsaw' tih win the League title for the Toon. (so we were telt!---see 'footnote')


'Sensible Tony' had managed tih cadge a couple of complimentary 'bat 'n' wickets' off one of the players and we took up wor positions in the main stand az kick off time approached.
It was a weird 'L' shaped wooden structure which looked like it had been built in the 'dark ages' (ie: pre World War One!) and it sat 'astride' of the half way line.
It was with great antisipation that we kicked off for az far az the Toon were concerned as this (as mentioned!) was supposed to be the 'dawnin' of wor new era' and Dundee were mere 'cannon foder' in this pre season waam up! (Again!---read on!) (OR! perhaps---divvint!)


It did'nt tek lang for wor 'title dreams' tih be shattered when Dundee took the lead afta a dreadful mix up in the Toon's new defence (canny start!) and the thoosand or so 'diehards' in the open away end got that feelin' of 'da va ju' once again!
(In otha words---"WIV SEEN IT AALL BEFORE!")
Surely it could'nt get any worse??---DIVVINT YEE BET!---IT DID!, when 'The Taysiders' got a second az the fog totally enveloped the pitch.
It was at this juncture that ah wished that the 'Tayside Mist' would de wih aall a big favour and get the match abandoned, but az it was anly a friendly the ref decided that the game could continue till the bitter end! (mee 8 goal 'dream' was certainly in tatters!)
By full time yih could hardly see owt anyway, which!---was just az well in the circumstances and things did'nt bode well for the forthcomin' League opener away tih Everton.
O.K.---this was just a daft friendly with nowt tih play for, but sommik in 'mee bones' telt iz that it was NOT! gannih be wor season!


From there wih went from bar tih bar until it was 'chuckin oot time' and then to a night club just up the road from wor digs.
'Sensible Tony', who was canny sorved by nuw said sommik to a fat ugly 'boiler' who was with hor bloke, az we were tryin' tih get in.
It was'nt very complimentary with 'words' bein' exchanged and it then torned oot that shih knew aall the 'Desperate Dan' size booncers on the door az well! (it must have been a rough dive as there were three of them!)
It was time tih make 'A Sharp' exit!, so ah dragged Tony away just before he was aboot to 'smack' a booncer, as aall hell would have been let loose and aa didn't fancy spendin' a neet in eetha the local 'nick', or!--- in the worst case scenario!---'Dundee Royal Infirmary' with a 'broken bugle'! instead of 'Jarrow Boys' digs! (he's NOT! caalled 'Sensible Tony' for nothin'!)
We then 'staggered' back in the thick fog and somehow managed to find wor digs for some much needed kip-----"ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz!!!!"




"THE DUCHESS OF PORK---AND AALL THAT!"


Next day the fog had completelee disappeared and brilliant sunshine greeted us as we we opened the bedroom curtains and afta 'brekkies' we were off on the retorn jorney back to Tyneside.
There was ne bypass for Edinburgh in them days and so we had ne choice but to drive back through the Scottish capital
Az we were drivin' through the 'Leith' part of Edinburgh, listenin' tih the music on Radio Scotland (NOT! Andy Stewert by the way!) the programme waz suddenly interupted by a news-flash from England.
"We interupt this programme to give you some joyous news!", the announcer said in an excited voice!--- "Buckingham Palace are
delighted to report that The Duchess of Pork' haz dropped a sprog!" (or words to that effect!?) "It's a girl and she waz born
yesterday!"


We were stationary at some traffic lights at the time and next to a bus stop full of waitin' passengers, when 'Sensible Tony' who was wearin' just his Newcastle Broon Ale boxer shorts because of the hot weather, opened the car door---jumped oot wavin' his arms aboot and started shoutin' at the top of his voice: "IT'S A GIRL!---IT'S A GIRL!---IT'S A GIRL!", towards the startled passengers who must of thought he'd just escaped from the 'Edinburgh and District Loonatic Asylum'!
The lights then changed to green and aa shouted, "Tony!—get back in the f*****' car!, quick!, the lights have changed!", and he jumped back in!
As aa looked through the rear view mirror aa could see them at the bus stop, aall lookin' in total amazement and bewilderment as we sped off doon the road!------IT WAS CLASSIC MAAN!—CLASSIC! (a moment in time aa'll NEVA EVER forget!)






Footnote: We lost the League opener at Everton by 4-0 and instead of winnin' the League we were relegated at the end of the season! (like aa say "WIV SEEN IT AALL BEFORE!!!")






Geordie Glossary of Terms and Phrases (for the benefit of 'non Geordie' readers) (in the order that they appear)


Meesel=myself
Jam jar=car
Gargle=beer
Yeez=you two
Mebeez=maybe's
Waaterin' hole=pub
Hank Marvin=starving ('Hank' was a Geordie member of 1960's pop group 'The Shadows')
Arthur Scargills=gargles=beers ('Arthur' was the miners leader in the 1970's)
Desperate Dan=scran=food ('Dan' appears in the 'Beano' comic which is printed in Dundee) (or was it the 'Dandy'?)
Toby=wander
Yill=you will
Naa=no
Hocklin' distance=spitting distance
Booza=pub
Telt=told
Bat 'n' wicket=ticket
Wor=our
Tek=take
Sommik=something
Wiv=we have
Mee=my
Broken bugle=broken nose
Brekkies=breakfast
Sprog=baby 

Footnote: Sadly we hear that one of the Toon fans briefly mentioned in the story caalled 'Budgie' , passed away last week!

R.I.P. BUDGIE




©Fink™ (the mad-sad gr☺undh☺pper!)

THE TOON 2 THE FRIAR TUCK MOB OF NOTTINGHAM 0 *** PREMYAA LEEGUE 2022-2023

 Posted 'high noon bells' Sunday 7th August 2022

"WELCOME TO THE PREMYAA!"

Wor forst Premyaa Leegue game of the season torned oot to be a very one sided affair az NUFC attacked The Gallowgate goal in the forst half! It woz relentless az we missed chance after chance durin this half against a p*ss poor Forest side, who have foond oot straight away that The Premyaa Leegue standard iz a lang lang way above The Championship! (The fact that former Toon failure Jack Colback woz in the Forest team, told me that they wornt very good from 'the off'!)

The 2nd half woz the same az we pounded The Leazes goal this time and finally (finally!) we made the breakthrough in the 58th minute when out of the blue, centre back Fabian Schar raced doon the East Stand side of the pitch and hit an unstoppable piledriver past the hapless Forest keeper Dean Henderson!

It woz aall ower bar the shoutin' 20 mins later when Joelinton sent a cross in from The Milburn Stand side of the groond and Callum Wilson woz there to flick the baall into the corner of the net to secure the 3 points!

A great start to the season and in complete contrast to the start of last season when we conceded 4 goals at home to 'The Jellied Eels Mob' of West Ham!----In total we had 23 shots on goal----more than Broken Nose Bruce's side had in hiz final 8 Prem games in charge!

Things are definitely lookin' up!   

PS:When the score woz still 0-0

in the 2nd half their goalie woz time wastin', so Callum Wilson nicked hiz water bottle and emptied the contents onto the grass behind the goal!--Replacin' the empty bottle, where Dean Henderson had left it! "CLASS!"🤣

*Attendance:52,245 (3,209 Friar Tucks!) (Friar Tuck=Robin Hood= Nottingham! (get it?)

FRIAR TUCK!

THE TOON V THE FRIAR TUCK MOB! *** TODAY

 Posted from 'high noon 🔔 bells' onwards, Saturday 6th August 2022

THE MILBURN STAND FROM BARRACK ROAD 

NOTE THE SCALE OF THE STAND COMPARED TO THE DOUBLE DECKER BUS PASSIN' BELOW!

Wor forst game of the new season tex place at '3 bells' this afternooon at SJP when we welcome *The Friar Tuck Mob of Nottingham, who are of course newly promoted after spendin the last 24 years ootside the top flight!

It wont be easy of course, az their players and fans will be 'up for it'!

Not suprizingly they have sold their full allocation of 3,209 away tickets for level 7 of The Leazes End

We arnt sure wot wor team line up iz yet, but yoo can rest assured, az soon az we find oot an hour before kick off, we will post the team news online below!

A full Geordie Times match report will appear here sometime on Sunday----Az per usual --- "Watch this space!"

*Friar Tuck Mob= Robin Hood= Nottingham!---Get it?

TEAM NEWS HERE AT '2:00 BELLS'

*

NUFC MAD-SAD GROUNDHOPPERS NEWS **** "NEW GROONDS!***NEW GROONDS!"

 Posted '1:43pm bells' Wedinzday 3rd July 2022

KEYS PARK, HEDNESFORD 

The Premyaa Leegue 2 fixtures are oot and wor forst away game iz at a new groond next Munday neet!

We travel to Hednesford in the west Midlands where NUFC U21s are playin' West Brom U21s at Keys Park!  This iz home to Hednesford Toon, who play in the Southern Premyaa Leegue

Then later on in the season in mid January we face the lang trek to Totten FC near Sooothampton, where (suprize! suprize!) we take on Sooothampton U21s

Lastly and the very last game of the season we travel to Loughboro University Stadium where we take on Derby Coonty U21s next April!

mackem MYTH!

 Posted '12:43pm 🔔 bells' Tuesday 2nd August 2022

A MAGnificent gesture from Athletic Bilbao--A friendship flag---but the SMBs arnt happy!

The mackems have said that they are not happy with the fact that Toon and Bilbao fans are good friends, az they say a mackem sailor named Arthur Pentland founded Bilbao in 1898 and gave them the red n white stripes of sund'lind! (See tweet from 'Bilbao Black Cats' below)

HOWEVER! This myth iz NOT TRUE as the articles below confirm!

In fact Athletic Bilbao played in the blue and white colours of BLACKBURN ROVERS in their early years and bought SOUTHAMPTON strips to take back to Bilbao when a Bilbao director came to England to buy more ROVERS strips in 1910

 He couldn't get any so on his return to Southampton to catch the ship back to Bilbao, he bought some Southampton strips instead!

FROM THE OFFICIAL SOUTHAMPTON WEBSITE

In other words the red n white strips they wear are those of SOUTHAMPTON FC and NOT safc!

So for the mackems to say that we shouldn't be friends with them because of THEIR 'links' with Bilbao iz a completely ridiculous and a complete myth! ("You can be friends with us, but NOT THEM!")

The safc Bilbao Black Cats have a massive fan base in Bilbao -----TWO MEMBERS!😅

THE VENOMOUS, BITTER AND TWISTED TWEET FROM THEIR 'HUGE' FANBASE IN BILBAO!  

Geordie Times comment: We will NOT let wor special friendship with Athletic Bilbao be broken by a very bitter and delusional fanbase!----And it would be great if NUFC could arrange a pre season friendly with Bilbao on an ANNUAL basis, home and away!

Now that WOULD reeely anger them on wearyside!!!! (Wouldn't it just!)

DOUBLE BUBBLE!

 Posted 'high noon bells' Sunday 31st July 2022

Game ONE Friday neet

THE TOON 1  ATALANTA I'TIES 0

A Chris Wood penalty in the 39th minute settled this game played in front of a bumper 40,000 plus crowd at SJP on Friday neet!

It haz to be said that it wasnt a very good game but the star woz undoubtedly Elliot Anderson who had a great game!

Indeed he woz involved in the forst goal when he got the baall ootside the box and az he weaved into the box he woz brought doon by an Atlanta defender! PENALTY!

Chris Wood took it and send their goalie the wrang way az he placed the baall into the corner of the net at The Leazes End!

It woz a dour game in the 2nd period az we attacked The Gallowgate End and there woz nee more scorin'---1-0 to The Toon!

Attendance: 40,596

Game TWO Saturday afternooon

THE TOON 2  THE BILBAO BASQUES 1

This woz a much more entertainin game and with a new set of players az well!----And a new 2nd strip on show featurin'  dark blue shirts and yellow shorts and socks!

It took just 3 minutes to open the scorin' when Callum Wilson raced into the box and placed an acurate shot into the far corner of the goal at The Leazes End to open the scorin' against Athletic Bilbao!

The 2nd goal for us came 9 minutes after the restart when Saint Max fired home and celebrated with a double summersault in front of The Gallowgate End!

Garcia pulled one back for the visitors in the 65th minute with a heeder that goalie Dubravka shud have got and it woz backs to the waall stuff after this az thet went for the equaliser!

It nearly came a few mins later when they hit the left hand post at The Leazes End, but somehow NUFC managed to hold on to claim wor 2nd victory on home soil in less than 18 hours!---2-1 to The Toon!

Attendance: 46,856

*That meeenz that the 2 games in less than a day attracted a total of  87,452 fans! (Astonishin' for 2 friendlies!)

*FLAG DAYS!

*A VERY RARE SIGHT IN THE BODEGA!

SOMETHING THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN----A BILBAO FAN DRESSED IN RED N WHITE STRIPES IN THE HOME SECTION OF THE LEAZES END!

 

DOUBLE HEEDER TOONEET AND TOMORROW!

 Posted 'high noon 🔔 bells' Friday 29th July 2022

 THE LEAZES END OF SJP         FROM LEAZES PARK

2 friendly games kick off in the space of  less than 20 hours when we take on Atalanta of Italy tooneet at '7:45 bells' and Athletic Bilbao of Spain tomorrow afternoon at '3:00 bells' at SJP

To be honest the games are too close together for us, az the gap between the forst one finishin' and the next one startin iz a mere 17 and a half hours! (Even if they'd had a one day gap -- Friday and Sunday--it would give the fans some breathin' space!)

Anyway!  Match reports on both games will appear here on Sunday and yoo can bet that at least 30 players will get some game time!--A case of "Who the hells just come on--like?"

A VIEW TO DIE FOR!

SJP FROM JUNCTION BAR, HAYMARKET

'3:00PM BELLS' FRIDAY

*

THE PAIN OF THE TRAIN WILL MAKE US 'FINK' AGAIN!"

 Posted '1:09pm 🔔 bells' Thorzday 28th July 2022

"WE'RE GANNIN ON STRIKE FOR A HUGE PAY HIKE!"

The season hazzint even started and aalready we have massive problems with wor forst away game at 'Ne Where Near Brightin' on August 13th, az the train drivers have caalled a strike on that day!  (They would dee, wouldn't they!?)

We booked the trains doon and back on the Saturday when the dates were confirmed, but now we will have to 'fink' of a plan 'B' or 'C' to get there and back!

To hoy another 'spanner in the works', Brightin's groond iz in the middle of nee where (hence wor name for them!) with nee car parkin' anywhere near!---The anly way to get there from Brightin which iz 6 miles away iz by (wait for it!) TRAIN!   They were the conditions set doon by the local cooncil when they build their new groond in Falmer! 

Plan 'B': Drive to Lewes (A 700 miles roond trip from Tyneside!) which iz on the train line a few miles away and book a hotel there----and then (at great expense!) get a taxi to the groond and back!

Plan 'C': Get the train doon on the Friday and stop 2 neets (at great expense!)  and come back on Sunday when the trains are runnin again!

But az Brightin fans rely 100% on the trains to get them to the match and back, we can see the game bein' postponed or moved to the Sunday at the last minute, if the dispute iznt sorted by then!

"WOT A CARRY ON!!!!"

*

BENFICA v THE TOON AT THE REAL STADIUM OF LIGHT **** TOONIGHT!

 Posted just after 'high noon bells' Tuesday 26th July 2022 onwards

THE ONE AND ANLY STADIUM OF LIGHT IN 2013

THE LAST TIME WE WOZ THERE! 

(SEE GEORDIE TIMES MATCH REPORT ON THAT GAME IN THE ARCIVE GROUNDS MATCH REPORTS IN THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN (GROUND 300)

THE STADIO DA LUZ (translated 'The Stadium of Light') holds a very special place in my heart, az this woz mee 300th different groond watchin' 'The Toon', when we played there 9 years ago in The UEFA Cup qwaataa finals. Unfortunately we lost 3-1 and exited the competition!

This woz wor LAST ever competitive away game in Europe in 2013!

Since then we have been fightin relegation battles thanx to wor former owner 'The Fat Controller', but hopefully we will be back in Europe before lang, under wor new ownership!

Unfortunately aa cannit gan this time, due to circumstances beyond my control, but 'fear not' The Geordie Times haz reporters ower in Portugal and hopefully a few action photos of this pre season friendly game, will be forthcomin!

NUFC are playin' for 'The Eusebio Cup' named after their most famous player 'Eusebio', who I saw 'forst hand' in a pre season friendly at SJP in 1971 when we won 1-0, with Tommy Gibb scorin the anly goal of the game in the 15th minute in front of a 26,630 crowd! (I would have been in the old Leazes End that day!)

The game kicks off at '8:00 bells' and we will bring yoo any news of the score az we receive it 'second hand, forst' (or shud that be 'forst hand, second'???)

HT 2-2   both Toon goals well taken by Almiron!

1st half line up

The 2nd half started off with an entirely different NUFC side az aall 11 players who started ,were substituted!

2nd half line up

FT a last gasp goal in the 89th minute won it 3-2 for the home side.

Joelinton woz sent off for a stamp on a Benfica player in the 82nd minute!

Remember! This woz a FRIENDLY!

DOUBLE HELPIN' OF FUTBAALL

 Posted from'12:22pm bells' Saturday 23rd July 2022 onwards

"WHEEEZ TREEEZ ARE THEEEZ!"

The Toon are playin 2 friendlies against Bornley at The Portugese National Trainin' groond (Gidade Do Futebol) today, simultaneously!

The 24 man squad will be split in 2 and Eddie Howe and Bornley's new manager Vincent Company have agreed to field 2 eleven a side matches on adjacent pitches! (we understand that the games have both kicked off)

The games are behind closed doors, but we understand that intrepid 'NUFC mad-sad groundhopper' 'Glennn from Ashington' iz attempting to view the game from ootside the groond!

He haz promised to send 'The Geordie Times' some action photos if that iz possible?

Lookin at the ariel groond photo above, there are a forest of trees on one side of the trainin complex where a vantage viewin point iz possible!

We have nee idea if Glennn iz any good at climbin' trees!!!!

MATCH RESULTS HERE 

Pitch 1

Full time: NUFC X1 3 THE BORNLEY HILLBILLIES 0

Scorers: Saint Max, Wilson, Almiron

Pitch 2

NUFC X1 4 (correction 6 (SIX!)

THE BORNLEY 

HILLBILLIES 1 

Nee idea of who scored yet, but Glennn saw the game (don't know he was swingin' in the trees?)

NUFC swapped teams for the 2nd half and the team who played on Pitch 1 played on Pitch 2    Bornley didn't swap pitches for the 2nd half! (Confused?--so are we??.)

And here iz an excluuusive photo of the game on Pitch 1   thanx to saddo Glennn for sendin it!