Escape to victory: Ryan wins man cave contest

Dee-themed cabin nets superfan £3,000 in games room competition

A football fan who spent six months building a garden cabin as a shrine to his beloved club has been crowned the winner of the UK’s top man cave.

Ryan Paterson, 38, created the £5,000 games room as a tribute to Dundee FC, with memorabilia and the club crest adorning the walls.

Joiner Ryan, from Dundee, spent his Sunday’s off building the wooden cabin to house his hoard of memorabilia.

The dad’s hideaway comes complete with a pool table, sofas, dart board and a projector screen for watching the football.

Ryan also created a fully-stocked bar, called Derry Bar, named after the stand within Dens Park.

The football fan’s sanctuary scooped the Games Room Of The Year crown after beating competition from hundreds of other entries around the UK.

Ryan said he is proud of his success, after six months of hard work to turn “an idea” into the award-winning room. He said: “It was an idea I had, as I had a lot of Dundee FC memorabilia that I’d like to store somewhere that I could showcase.

“I’m a joiner by trade so I designed it all myself and then built the space myself as well. It took about six months from start to finish, although I was only working on it one day a week – a Sunday. I had Dundee games on a Saturday so only had a Sunday to do it.”

Some of the memorabilia in the games room includes an issue of The Sporting Post from the day that Dundee won the league in 1962.

Ryan’s father’s matchday programme from the Scottish League Cup final in 1973 – the last time Dundee FC won a trophy, against Celtic at Hampden Park – is also in the cabin.

The Games Room competition, run by Home Leisure Direct, saw entrants from all over the UK competing to win a £3,000 top prize. Father-of two Ryan plans to enjoy his prize money with his family but would like to re-cover the pool table with a dark blue baize in further tribute to Dundee FC.

He is the second Scotland-based winner of the competition with last year’s winner, Graeme Strachan, hailing from Aberdeen. Graeme clinched the top spot with his loft conversion, a tribute to his beloved Aberdeen FC.

Andy Beresford, MD of Home Leisure Direct, the UK’s leading supplier of specialist games room equipment, which hosted the competition, said: “Yet again the Games Room of the Year competition has seen some absolutely fantastic efforts rolling in.

“One of the perks of the job is getting to see the levels of creativity and dedication that people stretch to in order to perfect their games room setup.

“Ryan has really gone to town in displaying his love for the Dee and he’s a very worthy winner.”

The Home Leisure Direct team flew up to Dundee from their head office in Bristol to present Ryan with his prize.

Andy added: “Presenting the winner with their prize is the highlight of the competition for our team. It’s a lovely feeling when we break the news to them and Ryan was absolutely chuffed.”

Triumphs have not been easily found for Dundee FC fans in recent months. So all hail Dark Blue fanatic Ryan Paterson who at last has something to smile about after the “man cave” he created as a shrine to his beloved team scooped a top award.

Packed with memorabilia, it took Ryan – a joiner by trade – six months to complete the impressive conversion.

He now has his eye on a dark blue covering for his pool table – a fitting way to celebrate pocketing the prize money.

Pictures: SWNS. A month of Sundays: Ryan spent six months creating his retreat, working on it every Sunday.

Ryan would like to re-cover his pool table with a dark blue baize in tribute to his favourite football team.