Boss told Dave: ‘Beat Morton – or there’s no time off on wedding day!’

“I asked the boss,

Alex Wright, for the day off, and he replied: ‘Only if we beat Morton at Cappielow on the Saturday!’.

“We drew 1-1!

“True to his word, he had me in training on the Monday morning, then I had to dash away to get married in the afternoon at St Andrew’s Church in King Street,

Dundee. The wedding was in the afternoon at 3pm – and it was pitch black when we came out at 3.40pm.

“All the wedding photos were taken with a flash-bulb camera.

“The manager also insisted that I turned up for training on the Tuesday morning, which meant I had to leave my own wedding reception at the Invercarse Hotel in Dundee early in the evening.

“We had bought a new house in Carnoustie and our honeymoon consisted of an overnight there – the first time we had actually slept in the house.”

Former Dundee legends Hugh Robertson and George ‘Dandy’ McLean were at the wedding. They were Dave’s team-mates at East End Park and carshared daily to training and on match days.

One massive claim to fame central defender Dave has is that, on January 24 1970, he became the youngestever captain in British football when he led out the Pars in a Scottish Cup tie against Celtic at Parkhead. Incredibly, this was just two months – and around a dozen games – after he made his Dunfermline Athletic debut on December 6 1969, in the 0-0 draw with Motherwell at Fir Park.

As his reputation grew, he was sought after by, among others, Liverpool. He and Kevin Keegan were actually in digs together while discussions were going on (more on this in next week’s issue).

He left Dunfermline at the age of 23 after 162 first-team appearances and went on to play for Montrose, Hearts, St Johnstone and East Fife.

Dave’s brothers Brian and the late Jim also played senior.

Left – Dave’s Dunfermline team-mates George McLean (left) and Hugh Robertson congratulate the happy couple after the wedding ceremony.