George Mather has enough memories of life as a Lochee barber and dedicated follower of Dundee United and Scotland to fill a book.
He has watched his football teams in more than a dozen countries and recounts madcap experiences such as being trailed for four days by the ‘KGB’ in Czechoslovakia, almost missing a game at Italia 90 after a minibus puncture and hiring a 16-seater aircraft for a flying visit to Norway.
The 61-year-old can also name an entire team of footballers whose hair he has cut in 40-plus years as a barber.
The XI, plus substitutes, includes household names such as David Narey, Sean Dillon and Tommy Coyne.
Instead of filling a book, George fills the barbershop he has run on Lochee High Street for 35 years with an impressive collection of football memorabilia – from flags, pennants, framed and signed shirts to metal badges, hats, and pictures.
George has juxtaposed his profession with his passion of football and this is how he did it – under the following sections:
- Christmas baby and school struggle
- Ups and downs in Lochee
- Love of Dundee United and memorabilia
- George’s haircut XI
- Foreign football trips
- Tangerines’ return to Europe
Christmas baby and school struggle
George Mather believes he was the only boy born in Dundee’s Maryfield Hospital on Christmas Day in 1960.
“The Courier published all of the Christmas babies and they were all girls apart from me,” says the son of Bob and Moira.
George and siblings Bob, now 63, and Alison, 59, were raised in Fintry addresses Findale Street and Finavon Place.
In his final year at Fintry Primary School, George won the league and cup double in the same team as John Reilly, who later went on to win the league with Dundee United in 1983.
“He was a great wee lad,” recalls George. “His nickname was bony because he was so skinny. He is still called that now.
“I organised a 40-year reunion eight years ago and the teacher, Frank Leighton, who picked the team, turned up.
“He knew everybody except John yet John is the one who went the furthest, winning the Premier League.”
‘For the first year I hardly cut anybody’s hair’
After a promising start at Linlathen High School, which has since been replaced by a Morrison’s supermarket, George “lost my way a bit” and started to struggle.
His father said he could join him at the barbershop in Strathmartine Road that he had owned since 1966.
George, then aged 15, took him up on this offer and initially left Linlathen to do a six-month link course at Kingsway Technical College where he learnt about hairdressing.
As soon as he turned 16 he began a four-year apprenticeship at his father’s barbershop.
“For the first year of working with my dad I hardly cut anybody’s hair,” George recalls.
“I stood over his shoulder and watched him. He talked me through it.
“It was very, very slow and then gradually you do a little bit at a time and a little bit more.
“You were taught in a manner where you didn’t make mistakes.”
Ups and downs in Lochee
George eventually took a lead role at the shop, which is currently being run by his sister Alison, 59.
He went it alone when he was 26, taking over a barbershop run by Jack Peters in Lochee High Street.
Hair has been cut at the building, which was originally a chemist, since 1918.
The original JW Peters logo is still present as you enter.
“When I started here Lochee was very busy,” George says.
“The street was two-way with plenty of parking and plenty of people going up and down the streets.
“This place was really busy and on a Friday afternoon we would sometimes have people queuing out of the door.”
‘That haircut used to get ridiculed’
He initially employed his sister and was also assisted by Kim Scott for 28 years and Ailsa Proctor for 20 years.
“I had thoughts of retiring at 60 and letting the girls run the shop, taking a back seat,” George says.
“But they made Lochee a one-way system, the banks started to close, Superdrug closed. I lost customers and then gradually it has got quieter. There are no jobs now.
“The other Friday I looked outside at 4pm and there wasn’t a single person there.”
George now runs the shop alone and operates a booking system. The Woodside resident says he will continue for as long as he still has a mortgage to pay.
He believes the worst haircut he has had to administer was the ‘bowl style‘ of the early 1990s.
“My father said that when he was young, in the 1950s, a bowl cut meant your mum and dad couldn’t afford to send you to the barbers for a proper haircut.
“He never thought that would be fashionable because everybody with that haircut used to get ridiculed in the playground.”
‘I thought I could deck it out with football stuff’
George’s love of football, apparent throughout his shop, began when he was seven years old.
His grandfather, George Cameron, took him to watch Dundee at Dens Park one week and United at Tannadice the one after.
“He never revealed he was a Dundee fan but told me that if you go to Dens you shout on Dundee, if you go to Tannadice you shout on United,” George recalls.
Such an attitude soon became archaic and George opted to support United because it was easier for a youngster small in height to see the pitch from the Shed than at Dens.
“When I started going United were regarded as the smaller team and hadn’t won anything.”
Following Dundee United across the country and Europe may have been a hobby for George, but it was handy for his business too.
He began collecting memorabilia that attracted both football fans and professional footballers.
“When I was in my dad’s barber shop I used to take photos from European trips – nothing else, no pennants,” he explains.
“Then when I came to Lochee I thought I could deck it out with football stuff.
“A lot of stuff I got was from eBay but a lot was also on my travels following Dundee United and Scotland.”
George’s barbershop contains the following:
- Badges of every team Dundee United have played against in Europe.
- Matchday programmes, including of Dundee United’s league-winning victory at Dens Park in 1983 and United’s first game the following season.
- Photographs, including one of George with former United manager Jim McLean at Rome airport after losing to Roma in the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1984. A signed photo of David Narey scoring for Scotland against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup is also on the wall.
- Signed shirts, including one from a Dundee pub reunion for the United players who won the 1983 league and league cups in 1979 and 1980.
‘More sentimental than worth loads of money’
There is much, much more.
“There’s a lot of stuff that is more sentimental than worth loads of money,” George says.
“I have flags, pennants, framed and signed shirts, metal badges, hats, pictures, all the Scotland World Cup squad pictures.
“I have a Scotland shirt from Rab Douglas, a ball signed by Claudio Caniggia.
“Some would be from customers on their travels who would have been to, say, Madrid, and come and give me stuff.
“One woman went on holiday to Malta and I didn’t have stuff on the two teams Dundee United played in Europe, which was Hamrun Spartans and Floriana so she got the two pennants for me.
“Hamrun were the first team we played in the European Cup.”
The items that George values the most are the only medals he won playing football as a 12-year-old, and a picture with his son Cameron standing behind the Scottish Cup that United won for the first time in 1994.
He also treasures a bottle of whisky signed by Tannadice legend Jim McLean and a picture of the pair together.
George’s haircut XI
It is perhaps no surprise that George’s shrine to football has attracted numerous footballers into his barber chair.
He has compiled the following team of players whose hair he has cut.
GOALKEEPER
Hamish McAlpine
The well-known Dundee United goalkeeper played for the Tangerines between 1966 and 1986.
DEFENCE
Sean Dillon
The Irishman spent a decade at Dundee United after joining in 2007. He is currently a player-coach at Montrose. “I cut his hair three days before he won the Scottish Cup against Ross County.”
Iain Jenkins
The former Northern Ireland international played for Dundee United between 1998 and 2000.
David Narey
The Dundonian is one of United’s most decorated players, making 612 appearances between 1973 and 1994 and playing 31 times for Scotland.
“He is my all-time favourite Dundee United player. He scored a great goal against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup.
“I remember the day he walked into the shop. One of the girls was going to put him on the chair but I said, ‘no no, I am doing Davie – that’s my hero.
“Davie has lived in Gowrie Park for years. He could have walked into any team in the world, he was that good.”
Bobby Glennie
The Lochee-born former Forfar manager made 309 appearances for Dundee between 1978 and 1988.
MIDFIELD
Walter Carlyle
The right winger played for Dundee United between 1960 and 1964.
Jocky Scott
The Aberdonian made 302 appearances for Dundee in two spells between 1964 and 1981. He has also had three stints in charge of the Dark Blues.
Tommy Coyne
The former Irish international joined Dundee United from Clydebank in 1983. Three years later, he moved to Dundee.
“I did his hair a month after he signed for Dundee. He had very long hair and said he wanted a light trim.
“But I said to him, ‘you’re going to get a short back and sides, you traitor’. His face was a picture but I put my hand on his shoulder and went ‘Tommy, I’m only joking’.”
Emilio Pacione
The Dundonian played for Dundee United from 1945 to 1950. At one time he was the club’s oldest player. He died in 2012, aged 92.
ATTACK
Davie Dodds
Scored 102 goals in 243 appearances for Dundee United between 1975 and 1986.
John Duncan
The Dundonian scored 64 goals in 121 appearances for Dundee between 1968 and 1975.
“He went to Chesterfield but came back to Dundee to see his father.
“My sister was on holiday so I ran her shop for the week and that is when he came in and I cut his hair.”
SUBSTITUTES
Pat Liney
Was in goal for Dundee for six years from 1957 and was between the sticks when The Dee won the league in 1961-62.
Mark Fotheringham
Born in Dundee, the midfielder became the youngest player to appear for Celtic’s first team when he made his debut as a 16-year-old in May 2000.
After just three appearances he signed for Dundee in 2003, making 51 appearances in two years.
He was most recently assistant coach of German club Hertha BSC.
Jimmy Kyle
Was in the same Celtic squad as Kenny Dalglish. Later joined Montrose.
John Clark
The striker scored 125 goals in 460 appearances for Forfar Athletic between 1978 and 1990.
Billy Gallagher
Signed by Forfar Athletic from Auchterhouse Amateurs, he went on to make 325 appearances between 1977 and 1986.
Foreign football trips
George has been associated with greatness in the footballers whose hair he has cut, and in the memorabilia he has collected.
But many of his best memories have come from away trips with fellow Dundee United and Scotland supporters.
His first away European game was in October 1979 to see Dundee United draw 1-1 at Anderlecht in the Uefa Cup.
The 18-year-old boarded a coach to Brussels that left Tannadice at midnight. Later that day he saw the famous Frank Kopel goal that secured United’s away-goals success.
“I have been to 10 away games in Europe with Dundee United and numerous for Scotland,” George says.
“I have been to Latvia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Czechoslovakia.”
‘Plane was getting thrown about all over the place’
Dundee United’s 1982-83 Uefa Cup run was particularly memorable.
In the second-round they were drawn against Viking Stavanger and George was one of the supporters who hired a 16-seater Bandeirante plane to fly up to Norway for the away leg.
“Sixteen of us hired the plane from an Aberdeen company called Air Ecosse.
“The game was at 7.30pm in Norway and the plan was to fly to Stavanger and fly back that night.
“We met at a pub at Lindsay Street where the bus was going to take us to Aberdeen.
“The flight from Aberdeen to Stavanger only took an hour but one of the guys was really scared on the small plane.
“There was only one pilot and he was quite happy for us to sit in the cockpit with him.
“The west coast of Norway is like the west coast of Scotland – all windy and rain. It was like a sea runway and the plane was getting thrown about all over the place.
“You really know you’re flying when you’re in a small plane like that. We landed and then the pilot, an English lad, decided to watch the game with us.”
After watching their team win 3-1, the United 16 had to return to Scotland.
“We were meant to fly to Edinburgh but as we were over the North Sea a message was sent to the pilot that he had to land in Glasgow because customs had closed down in Edinburgh for the night.
“But we stated that we had only been in Norway for half a day and it was £2 for a beer and £3 for a whisky – a lot in those days. It is not as though we are coming home with a lot of stuff.
“To go to Glasgow we had to fly right over Dundee and down below was a runway that could take this plane!”
‘We were followed by these KGB guys’
The trip to Czechoslovakia to see United’s Uefa Cup quarter-final first-leg defeat by Bohemians Prague in March 1983 was also unforgettable.
“I was there for four days when it was a communist country,” George recalls.
“There were six to eight of us in a group who got a sleeper train from Dundee to London and then flew from Heathrow.
“As soon as we set foot in the country we were followed by these KGB guys.
“Westerners weren’t wanted there and every place we went we were followed. They were wearing a raincoat and a hat.
“As soon as we left the hotel after breakfast they followed us every place.”
‘It was a nightmare journey’
Dundee United played in European competition for 14 successive seasons from 1976.
Once this era came to an end, George followed Scotland on the road.
For Italia 90 he joined fellow Scots on a coach – used throughout the season to transport Falkirk’s first team – all the way to a caravan park near Saint-Raphael on the Cote d’Azur in southeastern France.
After losing to Costa Rica, Scotland faced Sweden for a must-win game in Genoa.
“It was a nightmare journey,” George recalls. “It was four hours in the bus to get to Genoa and then four hours to get back the same day.
“We broke down on the way to the game near the Italian border. A tyre burst.
“France had been knocked out of our qualifying group so the mechanics we called weren’t in a hurry to change it!
“It was 90 degrees Fahrenheit and we were saying ‘hurry up, hurry up, come on!’. It made them take even longer.
“It was mental but we got there in the end.”
‘The game was in Turin, six hours away’
After beating Sweden 2-1, Scotland’s last game in Group C was the 1-0 defeat by Brazil that eliminated them from the tournament.
“The game was in Turin, six hours away,” George recalls.
“We got back to the caravan park at 5.30am the following day and had to be out of there by 10am for the journey all the way back to Dundee!”
Eight years later, George was present in France for the 1998 World Cup.
Instead of relying on an unreliable coach, he travelled by planes and trains. “It was a bit more sensible than in 1990,” he said.
‘Frisked by the blonde Swedish woman’
Another trip that stands out was for Scotland’s 2-1 defeat by Sweden in an April 1997 World Cup qualifier in Gothenburg.
“Scotland fans like to be in the pub up to 15 minutes before kick-off,” George says.
“We got to the stadium and there was a long queue and the Swedish police were frisking us for alcohol.
“A blonde policewoman and a policeman were doing the frisking.
“Well, there was nobody at the queue for the man as the guys were quite prepared to miss the first five, 10, 15 and even 20 minutes as long as they got frisked by the blonde Swedish woman.
“It’s a true story and it was really funny.”
Tangerines’ return to Europe
George’s wife, Penny, also 61, is a seamstress who often works on bridal alterations.
His son, Cameron, 28, works as a stock-checker at the Tesco on the Kingsway West Retail Park.
Though his days of travelling abroad to watch football appear to be over, George is excited that Cameron’s generation now have the chance to see Dundee United on the road in the Europa League in 2022-23.
The Tangerines will discover their first opponents on July 18.
“It is 10 years since Dundee United were in Europe,” George says, “and some young laddies out there follow Dundee United home and away so they’ve got the opportunity now to have a trip and a great time.
“Let them go and enjoy themselves. For them to have a chance to get to the next stage they must get a team from Latvia, Estonia or Lithuania. Even then, it will be a tough game.
“I hope they don’t get somewhere too far away, such as Kazakhstan.
“We have had some great laughs travelling over the years. It has been great fun. I really could write a book.”
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