They are all Dundee United legends of course, the class of 1982/83.
It couldn’t be any other way for a provincial football club that has only won Scottish professional football’s top league the once.
David Narey is widely regarded as the finest of that team. A class act beyond compare.
Paul Sturrock was the headline-grabber, and a very close second to Narey.
And if there’s a holy trinity for United fans, Ralph Milne completes it.
How fitting that on the Tangerines’ greatest ever day, the three of them played their part in the Tangerines’ greatest ever goal.
Narey put the ball into Sturrock’s feet on the half-way line. Sturrock turned his man and, half-slipping in the Dens Park centre circle mud, picked out Milne. Milne evaded the sliding tackle of Stewart McKimmie, glided up the pitch and chipped goalkeeper Colin Kelly from 20 yards out.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YbPeVkmnwXI%3Frel%3D0
United were on their way to winning the league at the home of their bitter city neighbours, and Milne had given them the iconic image to remember it by.
He needn’t have kicked another ball to be forever revered. It was instantly assured that the name Ralph Milne would be passed down from one generation to another.
But kick a good few more balls for United he certainly did, playing his part in the memorable 1980s European adventures. Indeed, Milne is the club’s all-time top scorer in continental competition with 15 goals a record not likely to be threatened any time soon.
Amazingly for a player so elegant, quick and so typically Scottish, there were no caps.
Jim McLean took it as a personal failing, suggesting that Milne should have had “a bundle”.
Milne became a Manchester United player at the back end of his career. It says it all that Sir Alex Ferguson, the finest judge of a player British football has ever known, was willing to take a chance that Milne could roll back the years. It didn’t happen, but that wasn’t down to his ability. Even the very best can find longevity beyond them.
Dundee United were his club and Dundee United supporters saw the best of him. It was they who got the pleasure of witnessing him at the peak of his powers, and they adored him for it.