HARRY PLAYED FOR BOTH DUNDEE CLUBS

The Dundee/Dundee United saga continues regarding players who have played first-team football for both city clubs.

HARRY SMITH (harry.smith 05@tiscali.co.uk) diversified a touch when he sent in the photo (below) of ST JOSEPH’S JFC, taken in 1958.

We were originally just setting up a file of players from 1960 onwards, but it’s such a good photo of the Joeys — with some great names from that time — that a blind eye has been turned.

“My dad, also Harry Smith, played for Dundee in the 1930s,” said Harry, Jun.

“After the Second World War, when he returned home, he joined Dundee United.

“Also, some time back in BwB, someone mentioned Frank Haughey.

“I played with Frank at St Joseph’s and I enclose a photo of the team of 1958 prior to my National Service.

“I also had a brief spell with United before playing for East Fife and Brechin City.”

Returning to our original exercise, Dundee fan DAVID RALSTON came back with a good one for our Dundee United/Dundee collection.

“Beto Naveda,” he offered.

Indeed, Naveda had 13 appearances for the Tangerines in 2000-01, had a spell in Israel, then re-appeared at Dens the following year and played twice in the Dundee first team.

“Another name which has been mentioned to me was Paddy Morris,” continued Dave.

“He was with Dundee in the mid-1970s. A colleague of mine is adamant that he went to United after leaving Dens.”

Can’t find any trace of Paddy Morris playing with United, although he did come on as a first-team substitute at Dens on two occasions.

United historian PETER RUNDO also failed to find any trace of Morris in the United first team.

And just when I thought “that’s it”, DAVIE and JOE (Lochee Baths) came up with a belter . . . Duncan McLeod.

He played in the United first team in the 1970s and I recall him scoring a hat-trick against Morton.

In 1972, he turned out for his one and only time in a dark blue jersey in an away Texaco Cup defeat (2-0) against Norwich.

Thanks also to PATRICK NORRIE, ALLY BRUCE, CHRIS GIBB, JOHN WALSH, JOHN FIELD, MARTIN SMALL and JOE DARGIE for the same input on this subject.

The photo is captioned at the foot of this column.

FIRST VIEW OF UNCLE WILLIE?

Previous contributor WILLIE COUPAR (williamcoupar1@aol.com) has come back in again with “a bit of a puzzle.”

He said, “I was up in Scotland a couple of months ago for a family get-together.

“My uncle, who is a regular Tele reader, told me about a BwB article last year with photos of Dundee FC players around 1910, the year they won the Scottish Cup.

“In the piece, you mentioned that Dundee regularly farmed out players to Violet at that time.

“One of the photos in the set, along with Dundee legends such as Bob Crumley and Herbert Dainty, was captioned ‘W. Cooper’.

“My uncle then told me that, when he was a young lad, he was told that his own uncle Willie Cooper had been ‘a bit of a football player’.

“Willie Cooper, my grandfather’s brother, served in the Black Watch and was killed in 1917 near Ypres.

“From memory as a boy scout in the 40th Dundee in the 1960s, the war memorial in St Patrick’s Church hall in Maitland Street includes the name William Cooper M.M. This means that he won the Military Medal.

“The question is whether or not the footballer shown in your BwB at the end of September is the same Willie Cooper after whom my own father and then myself were named (the spelling change came later).

“He looks not unlike my own father, born in 1919 two years after his uncle died. He was older than my grandfather (born 1896), so could well have been playing around 1910.

“I also know that Willie Cooper had several daughters who will likely now have passed on, but he may still have grand-children around Dundee.

“If this is my great-uncle Willie Cooper, then this is the first time I’ve seen a photo of him.”

DOGS AND DERRY AT DENS PARK

Dundee’s DAVE FORBES sent in this programme (below), which shows greyhound racing at Dens Park.

“I think some of your readers might have an interest in this,” said Dave, of Dave Forbes Newsagents, Clepington Road.

“The racing was very popular at Dens in those days.

“However, it didn’t take off when Ron Dixon resurrected it in the 1990s.”

Dave then responded to our “Derry” query of May 4.

“The south enclosure was situated across the road from the DPM (the Dundee Pasteurised Milk Company), so it used to be called the ‘Dairy End’,” offered Dave.

“Later, when a sign for Rangers Pools was put up at the back of the enclosure, it somehow became the ‘Derry’.”

However, ANDY WALKER’S take on this subject has a somewhat different tinge to that offered by Dave.

“There was a game between Dundee and Rangers at Dens Park in 1972,” recalled Andy, of Lochee, Dundee.

“Rangers’ officials were not happy with some of the abuse coming from home supporters in the south enclosure.

“General manager Willie Waddell came out at half-time with a megaphone and urged the Dundee fans not to continue with their chants.

“He likened their chants to slogans which would have been heard in Derry at the time, with the Northern Ireland ‘troubles’ at their height.

“From then on, Dundee fans called their enclosure ‘The Derry’.”