Seeing Manchester United unveil the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand at Old Trafford in April this year prompted Willie Young to (again!) remind me of his debut.
“And where did he make his debut for Man Utd?” bellowed Fort Hotel regular Willie, with that knowing smile.
“Dens Park!” I replied, reminding him that he’s asked me this umpteen times.
We all laughed, then reminisced just how good a result that was for the Dark Blues on Monday, April 9, 1956. Especially as Manchester United clinched the First Division title the previous Saturday.
Stewart Harris also mentioned this match to me as he responded to several BwB articles involving George Merchant. Most of what Stewart discussed with me has been mentioned before but he reckoned Merchant netted a hat-trick in that Man U game.
Indeed, he did and Dundee’s other goals came from Alan Cousin and George O’Hara.
Dundee lined up — Brown; Gray, Irvine; Black, Stevenson, Cowie; Stables, Cousin, Merchant, O’Hara, Ritchie.
It wasn’t Manchester United’s strongest line-up, it has to be said. I’ve put their league appearances in their Dens line-up — Wood (42); Greaves (15), Kennedy (0); Goodwin (8), Jones (43), McGuinness (3); Berry (35), Viollet (35), Webster (15), Charlton (0), Pegg (36).
Whelan (13) came on as sub when Wood went off injured, Kennedy taking over in goal.
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