Dundee United Centenary

Copyright B MCPherson www.dundeehibernian.co.uk

Tonight I attended a civic reception in honour of the centenary of Dundee United FC. United were formed in 1909 as Dundee Hibernian and they were discussed in my PhD thesis on the influence of Irish migrants in Dundee, in 1923 they changed their name to Dundee United. On the left is the old Dundee Hibernian badge and on the right is the Dundee United badge. There is a range of interesting centenary related information on the Dundee United website.

It was good to see some old United players at the event such as David Narey and Paul Hegarty who were great players I remember from the 1980s and the current team was there as well. United deserve to enjoy their centenary, I'm not actually a United supporter but as Labour's spokesperson for Leisure, Arts and Communities I felt it was important to support this event. United have over the years done an excellent job in promoting Dundee across the world.

I was also delighted to speak to members of the ArabTrust the supporters trust for Dundee United at tonight's event. As a Labour and Co-operative Councillor I support supporters' trusts and think that the fans should have a greater say in running football teams. To find out more about supporters' trusts visit the Supporters' Direct website.