FC: I’m joined this evening by Ross Kilvington. Ross has written for, This Is Ibrox, Forgotten Clubs and many other publications, as well as our own here at The North section. Looking forward to that’s one, two articles, which have contributed to the website, and they’re in the kind of past year and 2020, and the saw articles came to be in capped at a thousand words a sort of a good opportunity to actually actually just do a podcast and go a bit more, a bit more in depth into them.
RK: That’s a good point because some of the Jim McLean stuff you could write a book on that guy. I suppose with this you’ve got the kind of limit it at some stage, but now we get to go more in-depth on both articles and just have a chat with the Derby in general.
FC: How did you get into football?
RK: By accident. I’ve always worked to a goal and obviously started reading These Football Times in the past couple of years. So I thought, why not just give it a go as it’s subjective, so no one can, can tell you you’re wrong. It’s just the case of bettering yourself and becoming a better writer. And so after I got some encouragement from a few already. “Just write a piece and just see what happens.”
So I remember coming home from work on Friday and I sat at my laptop, and I wrote about my experiences of Scotland at France ’98. It was about 1,000 words, and anyone can do it if you just got that mentality. So that was it, and then it just basically snowballed from there.
FC:
So you picked up the articles, which I gave you pretty well. You studied in Dundee, when you came to study in Dundee, did you just commute or did you come to live in Dundee for a period?
RK: I just commuted. I’m not gonna lie, I’m a bit of a home bird so I didn’t want move. I know that you can miss out on some of the nightlife and stuff, but, and then kind of go out. I just got to train up every day. So when they’re 45 minutes from Kirkcaldy, so it wasn’t a far, and obviously on the train can, you could read and stuff and whatever else. But yeah, it was five years and I made some good friends, friends from kind of both sides of the Derby divided as well. So it was always good in that regard.
FC: Did your perception of the Derby change, as you kinda got to know these people and get to know, you know, a bit more about the kind of idiosyncrasies of the Derby and things like that?
RK: I knew it was big before coming up to Dundee on a regular basis. I just don’t think I knew exactly big it was. That was until you meet people who have supported either club for a certain period of time. I’m obviously being a bit bias here but the Old Firm is probably one of the biggest derbies in the world. But Dundee / Dundee United fans may say it’s one of the biggest in Britain, and some folk may laugh at that, but I genuinely think it is, yes, it’s the same City and they are only, what, a hundred years away from each other, but again, that’s like in another thing I highlighted in the the McLean article. So course together. It just makes it more special if that makes sense.
FC: Yeah, it definitely has that kind of feel to it. I wouldn’t go as far to say as kind of an Everton / Liverpool sort of a thing, but there’s a definite closeness kinda between the clubs. That said, there’s an intensity to it, but, obviously there was a period quite recently as well, where there was no Old Firm in the Scottish Premier League. And there was no Edinburgh Derby when Hearts and Hibs had both went down. , Scotland. I also loved it when, last season, they were playing in the Championship and BBC Scotland on Friday nights, uh, I thought that was a good entertainment, obviously more time for the partners to get bevy to as well. Um, but, but the, the, you know, the other Seattle’s games was crack and yeah, obviously United got promoted, but, uh, that was a good period for the derby as well, in terms of entertainment value.
RK: Yeah. It’s something that’s kinda missing. And then as, as you said, that’s a couple of seasons, been clubs were kind of in-between divisions. And I remember a think it was a 2-2 draw and the season that Dundee United got relegated. I remember watching it and I thought this, it was a really good game. And to me, it was better than Hearts & Hibs like asking this seem over the last few years, a couple of exceptions, but I’ve never really kind of taken off to me compared to like all of a sudden I’ve done Dundee and I can recall my bias there, but I just watched or not done the I’m sure there was one last season, a bit of man, but as well. And I think I said 6-2?
FC: There has been a couple of 6-2s, and one of them was last season.
RK:
That was a good game. And again, I just kinda highlighted the fact that should be a game that’s played in the (Scottish) Premier League.
FC: Definitely. I’ll play a soundbite from Ross Tough who is a Dundee fan
There’s never dull moments supporting in Dundee, essentially, a yo-yo club who bounces back time and time again and asked for the Dundee Derby itself. Well, it’s the most underrated and unique Derby and world football. Two sets of fands who sit in the pub, drink together, have a laugh with each other before the game despise each other for 90 minutes, whilst the game goes on and the game itself, there’s always goals never a 0-0 draw. And then after the game, both sets of fans go back to the pub and it’s like, it was before the game, no hostility whatsoever. And that’s what makes it so special. Both sets of fans are proud to be part of the Dundee Derby.
FC
That was an interest in soundbite from Ross. It actually covered a lot of things, which we mentioned. You mentioned Dundee, where are you your club as a description you use to distributors on club, which I think to be fair, that was quite articulate, uh, particularly in the past 20 years, which will kind of come to their ups and downs. Um, but also just in the way, describe the Derby as an intensity to kind of end that much. You can see it, especially the flight in eight games I talked about. Um, but atmosphere has rock and kind of doesn’t class. I came to get a lane that as I came to mutual, respect it as well. And as kind of just banter to them at the end of the day in the pub and such,
The Granite City allowed him to shape his philosophies and with time, excellent scouting and an abundance of youth prospects, he challenged the hegemony of the Old Firm and established Aberdeen as the best side in Scotland.
With the seal of approval from Ajax and Rangers, the idea was put to UEFA but an endorsement was not forthcoming. There was still interest in the tie being played, even without the backing of UEFA and De Telegraaf even procured a trophy for the winners, grandly titled “The Super Cup of Europe.” The match was on.
Dundee won the 1961-1962 Scottish Championship under the tutelage of a certain Bob Shankly (achieving success before Bill managed to build a dynasty at Liverpool) and therefore became the Scottish representatives in the following seasons European Cup.
FC: I’m joined this evening by Ross Kilvington. Ross has written for, This Is Ibrox, Forgotten Clubs and many other publications, as well as our own here at The North section. Looking forward to that’s one, two articles, which have contributed to the website, and they’re in the kind of past year and 2020, and the saw articles came to be in capped at a thousand words a sort of a good opportunity to actually actually just do a podcast and go a bit more, a bit more in depth into them.
RK: That’s a good point because some of the Jim McLean stuff you could write a book on that guy. I suppose with this you’ve got the kind of limit it at some stage, but now we get to go more in-depth on both articles and just have a chat with the Derby in general.
FC: How did you get into football?
RK: By accident. I’ve always worked to a goal and obviously started reading These Football Times in the past couple of years. So I thought, why not just give it a go as it’s subjective, so no one can, can tell you you’re wrong. It’s just the case of bettering yourself and becoming a better writer. And so after I got some encouragement from a few already. “Just write a piece and just see what happens.”
So I remember coming home from work on Friday and I sat at my laptop, and I wrote about my experiences of Scotland at France ’98. It was about 1,000 words, and anyone can do it if you just got that mentality. So that was it, and then it just basically snowballed from there.
FC:
So you picked up the articles, which I gave you pretty well. You studied in Dundee, when you came to study in Dundee, did you just commute or did you come to live in Dundee for a period?
RK: I just commuted. I’m not gonna lie, I’m a bit of a home bird so I didn’t want move. I know that you can miss out on some of the nightlife and stuff, but, and then kind of go out. I just got to train up every day. So when they’re 45 minutes from Kirkcaldy, so it wasn’t a far, and obviously on the train can, you could read and stuff and whatever else. But yeah, it was five years and I made some good friends, friends from kind of both sides of the Derby divided as well. So it was always good in that regard.
FC: Did your perception of the Derby change, as you kinda got to know these people and get to know, you know, a bit more about the kind of idiosyncrasies of the Derby and things like that?
RK: I knew it was big before coming up to Dundee on a regular basis. I just don’t think I knew exactly big it was. That was until you meet people who have supported either club for a certain period of time. I’m obviously being a bit bias here but the Old Firm is probably one of the biggest derbies in the world. But Dundee / Dundee United fans may say it’s one of the biggest in Britain, and some folk may laugh at that, but I genuinely think it is, yes, it’s the same City and they are only, what, a hundred years away from each other, but again, that’s like in another thing I highlighted in the the McLean article. So course together. It just makes it more special if that makes sense.
FC: Yeah, it definitely has that kind of feel to it. I wouldn’t go as far to say as kind of an Everton / Liverpool sort of a thing, but there’s a definite closeness kinda between the clubs. That said, there’s an intensity to it, but, obviously there was a period quite recently as well, where there was no Old Firm in the Scottish Premier League. And there was no Edinburgh Derby when Hearts and Hibs had both went down. So that actually was for a time to kind of plumb your diabetes, Scotland. I also love love debt when, uh, last season when they were pulled from the Championship and BBC Scotland on Friday nights, uh, I thought that was a good entertainment, obviously more time for the partners to get bevy to as well. Um, but, but the, the, you know, the other Seattle’s games was crack and yeah, obviously United got promoted, but, uh, that was a good period for the diabetes as well, in terms of entertainment value.