Covering Dundee and Dundee United for 25 years has been eventful.
That’s an understatement if ever there was one.
There have been highs and lows aplenty and even a few scandals.
Now, I look at the latter.
And the two that stick in the memory came within a few months early in the millennium.
The first came at United, on October 14, 2000.
It goes down as one of the darkest moments in the history of the Tannadice club.
It was when Jim McLean, by then chairman, infamously landed a blow on television reporter John Barnes during an interview with the BBC following a depressing 4-0 home defeat by Hearts.
It would lead to the resignation of the biggest figure in United’s history, a fact that to this day provokes a mixture of sadness and regret.
Far be it for me to make excuses for a man I both like and respect but the incident came at a time when the pressure on all at Tannadice was intense.
On the park, results were poor, leading to speculation manager Alex Smith would be replaced, perhaps even by McLean himself in the short term.
It was also a period when fans’ group United for Change were pressing hard for a new regime to take over, another reflection that all was not well.
Asked for an interview, McLean agreed to answer two questions.
When two became three, he grew irritated. When three became four, he snapped.
Out of shot but with the microphones of both the BBC and Sky on, the chairman landed a blow on a startled Barnes.
It was a moment of madness but one that tarnished an illustrious and long career at United as well as, of course, ending it.
My own uncovering of the affair was almost as surreal as the punch itself.
With impeccable timing I was on holiday and had still decided to travel to Aberdeen to cover Argentina World Cup star Claudio Caniggia’s Dundee debut.
After events there had ended not only with a Dark Blues win but a late goal from the great man, I put in a call intended to rub salt in the wounds of United’s then Press officer Niall Scott.
An old friend and colleague from our days together at the Tele, I knew he would take the ribbing in the light-hearted manner it was meant.
He did but only much later.
In that initial call before I could speak, he curtly ordered me to get off the line with words to the effect of “Get lost Tam, the chairman’s just punched John Barnes.”
Slow on the uptake, I struggled to work out: a) why the then Celtic boss would be at Tannadice when his team were playing that day? b) What earthly reason would he have to fall out with Jim McLean?
In less than an hour, the true circumstances had been revealed on TV and radio and the rest, sadly, is history.
The scandal that rocked Dundee and led to critical headlines not just about the club but the city as well came as the Bonetti era was entering its final few months.
It was in January 2002 and, inevitably, centred on two Italian players.
Patrizio Billio and Marco De Marchi were the men in question.
In fairness, neither was to blame for what goes down as one of the most shameful incidents for football in my home city.
Although from Italy, Billio wasn’t an Ivano Bonetti signing. He’d arrived at Dens in November 1999 during what proved to be the final season of Jocky Scott’s second spell as manager.
Under Jocky, the one-time AC Milan kid flourished and helped the team to a solid season in the top flight in 1999/2000.
Though popular with the fans, he fell out of favour with the Bonettis and, after a disagreement, was effectively sent into exile and not allowed to train with the first-team players.
Joining him in that situation was the vastly-experienced De Marchi, a man who’d lifted the UEFA Cup with Juventus in the early 90s.
He was a Bonetti signing, fixed up from Dutch outfit Vitesse Arnhem shortly after the new manager arrived.
His arrival was considered something of a coup but it soon became apparent his best days were behind him.
Like Billio, he fell out with the management team and, by the beginning of 2002, it was apparent he would not be featuring for the first team again.
On January 9 that year, while the rest of the squad were resting before heading for a midweek fixture at Motherwell, he and Billio were leaving Dens Park after a training session.
Outside the ground they were approached by a so-called fan who proceeded to assault Billio.
How badly hurt he was remains subject to debate and, having initially been taken to hospital for treatment and being quickly discharged, he’d return later to spend a night under observation.
What wasn’t in question was he’d done nothing whatsoever to justify a quite disgraceful attack on him.
Thereafter, unfortunately, the whole affair descended into an unsavoury farce, from which few emerged with any credit.
A man was arrested and stood trial for assault but was acquitted.
Later, De Marchi, a well-known name in his homeland, would appear on Italian television and give a description of Dundee that made it out to be more like a frontier town in the Wild West than the modern city most liked to think it was.
He and Billio would leave the club still bitter over their treatment and in De Marchi’s case it’s fair to say those wounds have never healed.
Thankfully, in the likeable Billio’s case, he is now back on friendly terms with his old employers.
Earlier this season, he was instrumental in the arrangement that saw members of the Milan youth set-up, where he now works, come to Dundee to take coaching session with some of the club’s kids and to show coaches from across the country their methods.
That Billio is again remembered fondly for his brief but impressive Dundee playing career is some consolation.
What happened to him remains a stain on both the club and the city as a whole.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.