Tom Black’s latest offering to BwB is in response to the Dundee FC photo which appeared on October 28.
It was of the Dens Parkers’ 1951 side which won the League Cup after a 3-2 win over Rangers at Hampden Park.
“Looking at that photo reminded me of the wages these players were on at that time,” recalled Tom, of Lawside Road, Dundee.
“Goalkeeper Bill Brown was just 19-years-old at the time.
“Doing his National Service with the RAF at that time would have seen him being paid less than 1 per week.
“His pay with Dundee FC would have been no more than 20 per week the maximum wage allowed at that time for any players in senior football.
“To earn a bit more, he was paid 10 shillings (50p in today’s money) to shoot pigeons in the stand on Saturday mornings.
“Johnny Pattillo was paid 8 a week as George Anderson’s chauffeur.
“Even Rangers players at the time were on the maximum wage.
“I had just left school at 15-years-old and earned 1.10 shillings per week (1.50).”
Now, not that I didn’t believe Tom, but I thought there is one guy who might be able to verify the aforementioned.
So I got in touch with my former Tele sports editor Ed Gorrie.
I asked if he could verify these stories by Tom.
“Now, the Bill Brown and pigeon story does ring a bell with me,” said Ed, who has now brushed off his ‘neutral’ tag that goes with being a sports editor in a two-team city.
“And the chauffeur would have been Johnny Pattillo,” he confirmed before I mentioned who the driver was.
“One other story concerning George Anderson was when I was a young schoolboy and Dundee were going on a trip abroad,” he recalled.
“My mother and father took me down to Dundee rail station to wave the players off.
“George Anderson saw me and came off the train to speak to me. He then took me on to the train and introduced me to all the players.
“Not only that, as I left the train, he handed me a couple of club badges.
“He then got all the players to wave to me at the window as the train pulled away.”
Not-so-neutral Ed is now enjoying going to watch Dundee FC home and away.
He agreed with me that there is no better feeling than travelling back after a game after your team has won.
He reminded me, though, “There is no worse feeling than after a defeat as Ross County was earlier in the season.”
Anderson, Brown and Pattillo are in this photo (above), which shows the team celebrating after their League Cup Final win in 1951.
Do you have any great Dundee or United stories like the one above?
Email John: jbrown@dcthomson.co.uk
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