Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Your team of the born in Dundee?
I guess it is just easier to recall and reminisce about those who are or were on your doorstep.
With that in mind, here is a Dundonian XI (4-4-1-1) of which the city can be proud.
The players’ given clubs are the ones deemed to have been where they shone the brightest.
The greatest of all time and captain: Dave Narey (Dundee United).
Sandy Davie (Dundee
Goalkeeper:
United).
John Holt (Dundee United), Narey, Frannie Munro (Wolves), Bobby Cox (Dundee).
Peter Lorimer (Leeds United), Jimmy Gabriel (Everton), Alfie Boyd (Dundee), Charlie Adam (Liverpool).
Defence:
Midfield:
Midfield/forward:
Ralph Milne
(Dundee United).
Derek Johnstone
Forward:
(Rangers).
Already names crop up that seem impossible to leave out. It all, of course, comes down to personal choice and opinion.
United fans will shout for Graeme Payne, Davie Dodds and even Scottish Cup hero Craig Brewster.
Dundee supporters will ask, with justification, where Cammy Fraser, John Duncan and Gordon Wallace are.
There is no place, either, for Christian Dailly or Stephen Glass despite having played in England’s top flight, and no Iain Phillip despite League Cup medals with both city sides.
Narey is number one because he could have played for any top club in England, Italy, Germany or Spain and would not have looked out of place.
He famously scored against Brazil for Scotland in the World Cup in Spain in 1982 but almost as noteworthy was how he matched the Brazilians for technique.
The finest footballer of the remarkable Jim McLean era, Narey spent 21 seasons as a United firstchoice, making 866 starts and winning two League Cups with the Tangerines as well as the Scottish Premier League title in 1983.
He was also famously named Man of the Match when Raith Rovers beat Celtic in the Coca-Cola Cup Final in 1994.
Boyd is a Dens legend and captained Dundee to two consecutive League Cup wins in 1951 and 52, while Gabriel played 256 times for an Everton side that won the English league title in 1963 and the FA Cup in 1966.
Johnstone collected no fewer than 14 major honours with Rangers, including a European Cup Winners’ Cup medal in 1972 while playing – aged just 18 – at the back for the Ibrox team against Dynamo Moscow in the Nou Camp.