On Friday, 26th January, Dundee Football Club and The Dundee Supporters Association (DSA) celebrated the 50th anniversary of Dundee FC winning the Scottish League Cup. On 15th December 2023, it was 50 years since Dundee defeated Celtic in the Scottish League Cup Final, and on Friday night the club celebrated the heroes of 1973 at a dinner at the Invercarse Hotel, Dundee.

Winners of that squad were in attendance on Friday night, with the evening being hosted by Stewart Brand and the guest speaker being Dick Campbell.

Dundee FC would like to thank everyone who came along and to Drain Blitz and Balgove Plumbing and Heating for sponsoring the dinner. A special thanks to the DSA for all of their hard work and for putting on a fantastic event.

On the evening Bobby Ford and Eric Ferguson were inducted into the Dundee FC Hall of Fame.

Bobby Ford 

Bobby Ford played for Dundee from 1971 through to 1978 and has the distinction of being part of the side which lifted the club’s last major trophy, the League Cup in December 1973.

The busy midfield man joined the club from Falkirk in an exchange that took Alex Bryce to Brockville and he made his Dark Blue debut in a stunning 3-2 victory over Rangers on November 13th 1971. In front of 35,000 at Ibrox, Alex Kinninmonth, Gordon Wallace and Dave Johnston were on the scoresheet for The Dee to give Bobby an auspicious start in a dark blue shirt (it would be the first of four victories Bobby enjoyed over Rangers) and it would be over two months until he would taste defeat.

Bobby’s first goal in Dark Blue came in a Dundee derby at Tannadice during his second season with the club and in his time at Dens he would enjoy three victories over Dundee United.

In his third season, Ford made over 50 appearances and joined an elite band who have lifted silverware with the club. Season 1973/74 saw Bobby turn out 51 times for Dundee which included matches in the UEFA Cup and on December 15th, he was part of the side which beat Celtic 1-0 in the League Cup Final after playing in all 12 matches on route to picking up his winner’s medal.

That season also saw the Dark Blues embark on an impressive run in the Scottish Cup and reach the semi-finals for the second year in a row. On their way to Hampden for the third time that season Dundee disposed of Aberdeen at Pittodrie, Rangers at Ibrox and Hibernian at Dens in a quarter-final replay which saw over 30,000 in attendance. In the semi-final, as was so often the case in the Seventies, Celtic stopped The Dee from reaching the final with a 1-0 win at Hampden, denying Dundee a chance to pick up a cup double and meet Dundee United in the final.

He was a regular for the rest of his time at Dens and arguably his most famous moment in Dark Blue came when he played in the opening weekend of the newly formed Scottish League Premier Division. Two minutes into the match against Aberdeen at Dens, Bobby found the net to go down in history as the first person to score in the Premier Division.

Ford’s departure from the club came when he was used as part of an exchange deal that brought Less Barr to the club from Montrose in April 1978 and in his seven years at the club, Bobby played a total of 258 times, finding the net on ten occasions.

As a member of the legendary 1973 League Cup winning team Bobby Ford will always have a special place in the history of the club and Dundee Football Club are delighted to have inducted Bobby into the Hall of Fame with a Legends Award, joining 1973 teammates Gordon Wallace, Jocky Scott, Thomson Allan, George Stewart, Bobby Wilson and John Duncan.

Honours With Dundee:

Scottish League Cup winners: 1973/74

Dundee FC Hall of Fame: 2024 Legends Award

Appearances, Goals:

League: 173 + 14 subs, 9 goals

Scottish Cup: 20 + 2 subs

League Cup: 40 + 1 sub, 1 goal

UEFA Cup: 3

Anglo-Scottish Cup: 2

Drybrough Cup 3

Totals: 258, 10 goals

Eric Ferguson 

Eric was inducted into the Hall of Fame with a Special Recognition Award.

Eric Ferguson served Dundee as a physiotherapist from 1971 until 1992 and working under ten different managers he was part of the team that saw Dundee win two First Division championships, three promotions, one Centenary Cup and reach two League Cup Finals with The Dark Blues, lifting that trophy in 1973 after a 1-0 win over Celtic at Hampden.

A wartime baby, Eric was born in Kirkcaldy but in his early years the family moved to Glasgow, and it was there where he received his schooling. Called up for National Service with the RAF, he spent most of his military career in Northern Ireland and the Middle East and when he returned to the civilian population, he started work as an accountant with the Scottish Gas Board.

By 1957 however, he decided his future lay elsewhere and enrolled as a full-time student of the Scottish School of Physiotherapy in Glasgow and on qualifying after three years, joined the staff at the Outpatients Clinic in Bath Street.

As Dundee were winning the Scottish League championship in 1962, Eric went back to physios’ college but this time as a student teacher and on completion of the one-year course was appointed to the staff at the College where he remained until 1970.

It was then that he moved to the city of Dundee to serve at Strathmartine Hospital but just twelve months later was signed up by Dundee Football Club where he remained for the next two decades.

His time at Dens Park saw him work with a wide variety of injuries to players, ranging from the short-term to the career threatening and there are many a Dee who are grateful to Eric for helping them make a full and fast recovery.

It is not only Dundee FC that Eric served with distinction but also his country and he became involved with the national team set up in 1974. Initially working with the Under 23 and Under 21 sides, Eric moved up to the full Scotland squad and went to the World Cups of 1986, 1990 and 1998 as well as the European Championships of 1992 and 1996. He worked under seven national team managers before leaving the Scotland set-up in 2004 when Berti Vogts was in charge.

It was not only with the Scotland team that Eric got to travel extensively as his time with Dundee saw his travel to West Germany, Denmark, Italy, England, Belgium, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the Isle of Man, Switzerland, the United States and Canada. Eric especially enjoyed Australia when The Dark Blues toured Down Under in May and June of 1978 and played nine games, winning 5, drawing one and losing three.

Eric left Dundee in 1992 and having been The Dee’s physio for over 1000 matches in a 21-year period, Eric fully deserves his Hall of Fame Special Recognition Award. He is only the second person to receive this after goalkeeper Bobby Geddes, whom Eric helped after he received severe ligament damage to his knee and a head knock against Hibernian in 1980.

As always the DFC Hall of Fame aims to be,” honouring the past, inspiring the future” and Eric’s service and dedication to Dundee Football Club means that he more than deserves this honour and is certainly an inspiration.

Photos by Derek Gerrard.