A fantastic night at the 50th Anniversary of Dundee's Championship win saw the surviving members of the league winning squad honoured by 600 fans at a packed Caird Hall.
League medals were presented to the fringe players from the squad, as
well as four of the side being inducted into the Dundee FC Hall of Fame.
One of the most emotional moments of the night came as the players, physio Lawrie Smith and family representatives were presented with prints as mementoes of the occasion - when it came to the turn of captain Bobby Cox his daughter Lorraine Watt stepped forward to get the award and led the Caird Hall in a deafening chant of "One Bobby Cox" - it was spine chilling stuff.
A video presentation on the big screen and TV's around the Hall started the evening off as the meal was being consumed and it was noticeable that many of the 62 side never took their eyes off the photos and video clips - Massive cheers greeted an Alan Gilzean goal at Tannadice and the goals and final whistle crowd invasion from Muirton were celebrated as if the game was being shown live.
Jim Duffy did a fine job as compere of the evening and first speaker Paddy Barclay spoke of his love of the Dark Blues, forged via late 1950s visits to Dens and his joy at the Muirton victory and surprised pride at the European Cup run the year later. Indeed he made it clear that even from afar his is a love for the club which has never faded.
Any comfort breaks were filled with massive queues for autographs, Alan Gilzean in particular spent a large part of his evening signing for fans, many of whom wouldn't have seen him play live but grew up on the legend of his goals.
The Hall of Fame inductees honoured the last four of the Championship regular starting eleven not already inducted. Gordon Smith's son Tony showed great pride as he received his father's award - his dad having been described by Craig Brown as "The only glamorous Scottish footballer" and Hugh Robertson's son and grandson Derek and Robbie were close to tears as they accepted their dad's trophy.
Bobby Wishart was next up and he spoke of how much his time at Dens meant to him - signing off with a jokey line "In the future I'm going to be asking my good mate 'Gillie' if there were as many people there when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame."
Bobby Seith was last inductee and he spoke of growing up a Dundee supporter and the pride he had in what that side had achieved as well as what a privilege it had been to be part of the team - a pride shared by his family judging by the tears in evidence as he spoke.
Craig Brown turn as speaker came after the induction and he told many a tale of his time at Dens "I was Bob Shankly's first signing and the last to leave in his time in charge" he said while praising the part Seith and Wishart, who had already won league medals, had played in mentoring the side tactically and how important physic Lawrie Smith and trainer Sammy Kean had been in keeping the side fit and injury free.
Then it was time for each of the players to receive a print as a memento of what they had achieved fifty years previously - and as they came up one by one to standing ovations Jim Duffy took the opportunity to speak to Ian Ure who said of Bobby Cox "There was nothing of him but he could tackle harder than me" and also Alan Gilzean who was last up - Alan brought the house down as he spoke at some length, telling the cheering fans that he'd loved his time at Dens and considered those he had played with there "Mates for life."
The auction brought some incredible prices for the items on offer - Top billing went to a giant print of Bobby Cox with the championship trophy which went for £5,000, while one fan paid £900 to be part of next season's squad.
Tam Cowan was the last speaker and he was in sparkling form, with the Caird Hall in uproar at his stories and he made sure of an ovation at the end of his turn after talking about how he'd realised after a fans sent a picture into Off the Ball that he'd met Wullie Reilly a couple of times at previous events he'd done for Dundee "If not for me then cheer for Wullie" he implored the crowd and got a massive response.
That was the last advertised part of the agenda for the evening but there was a surprise for three of those in the room as well as two who weren't there at the time as it was revealed that the players who hadn't been regulars, nor Lawrie Smith hadn't received medals when Dundee won the title and that the Club had asked the Scottish Football League if that could be rectified - The league had agreed and Bobby Waddell, Craig Brown and Alex Stuart, none of whom knew this would happen, came back to the podium to be presented with their medals by Dave Forbes, there are medals too for Lawrie Smith and George McGeachie so the whole squad and back room staff will now have their reward for their part in our greatest season.
That concluded a glorious evening and the fans headed into the night singing "Up wi' the Bonnets' lustily.