Slide Tackles and Boardroom Battles
Book Review
Just before Christmas former Dundee player and Chief Executive David Mackinnon released a new book entitled Slide Tackles and Boardroom Battles which tells the fascinating story of his playing career and his time working in several Scottish Football boardrooms with plenty to pique the interest of Dark Blue fans.
The catalyst for David writing the book came from an unfortunate accident in February 2022 when a fall down a flight of stairs after a business meeting in Edinburgh almost cost him his life. The recovery period allowed him to reflect on his life and on his career and he therefore decided to document it by sharing his incredible story in his book.
From the start of his career as a youth at Arsenal through to his final playing days as a part-time player at Forfar, David shares tales from his time at Dundee, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Airdrieonians and Kilmarnock in between.
Mackinnon started his football career at Highbury where he was mentored by Pat Rice and World Cup winner Alan Ball but after impressing for Arsenal against Dundee in an end-of-season tournament in Holland in May 1975, David was persuaded to sign for The Dee by League Cup winning manager Davie White.
Mackinnon had an unlucky start to his career at Dens when he was asked to prove his fitness in the reserves before making his debut, but he took a knock to his ankle where a flake of bone was detached and his time at Dundee would be plagued by injury.
In total Mackinnon made 56 appearances, scoring 4 times for The Dee and the book shares plenty of tales from his time in Dark Blue. He tells of his friendships with Gordon Strachan and John McPhail and in a poignant chapter shares memories of players and managers no longer with us, including former Dark Blue teammates Erich Schaedler, Ian Redford and Tommy Gemmell who also managed him at Dens.
There are a good number of amusing anecdotes including when David was playing in a friendly for Arsenal against Luton Town where comedy legend Eric Morecambe was a stand-in linesman, wearing his famous deer stalker and smoking a pipe, repeatedly shouting “play on” for blatant offsides in his club’s favour.
While at Dens there is a story of Ian Redford, whose family had a farm in Errol, distributing geese to his teammates at Christmas where they had to pluck the birds themselves in the away dressing room and left an almighty mess a day before a game on Christmas Eve. There were blood and feathers everywhere alongside an irate groundsman and Morton were still finding feathers on matchday, complaining pigeons must gotten inside overnight!
What might be of more interest to Dundee fans however is Mackinnon’s time as Chief Executive at Dens as he lifts the lift on some turbulent times and his untimely departure amid boardroom politics and machinations.
Of further interest will be MacKinnon’s part in the crisis that Scottish Football found itself in during the COVID-19 lockdown whilst he was CEO at Morton and his push for reconstruction in the shutdown aftermath. It illuminates much of what went on behind the scenes in a saga in which The Dee were fully embroiled in, showing much of the self-interest that can hold back our national sport.
This isn’t just a football book however and Slides Tackles and Boardroom Battles is much more than the regular footballer’s biography you might read. It weaves David’s ongoing health battles – before and after his fall – both physical and mental. It is incredible that David had such a successful playing career with only one kidney, and he lays bare his mental health issues as well as exploring family traumas in a tender and humble way.
It’s a story told with sincerity and warmth and a memoir that raises awareness of the trials and tribulations footballers face and his campaign for the Scottish Football Association to introduce compulsory heart tests for players.
It is a book that Dundee fans will enjoy which should definitely be on any Dark Blue reading list.
Review by Kenny Ross.
