Jim McLean was showered with a huge batch of congratulatory letters, telegrams and postcards following Dundee United’s greatest day in 1983.
Messages from all over the world were pouring in following the nail-biting season finale at Dens Park where the Tangerines clinched the Scottish Premier League title.
Apart from clubs from all over Britain, there was also one message of congratulations from President Josep LluÃs Núñez from Barcelona, which was particularly gratifying.
The relationship between the two clubs spans back to 1966 when Jerry Kerr’s United side defeated the Catalan giants 4-1 over two legs in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Núñez spoke with remarkable warmth about his old rivals.
Worthy of a Hollywood script
Another well-wisher was author Neil Paterson, who excelled as an amateur at United under Jimmy Brownlie after signing in 1936, before going on to win an Oscar in 1960.
Paterson’s screenplay for Room at the Top prevented Ben-Hur from amassing a 12th Oscar, although he always said his personal career highlight was captaining United.
The congratulatory telegram from Paterson was warmly welcomed by McLean following the culmination of a rags to riches story that was worthy of its own Hollywood script.
The messages flooded in from points north, south, east and west, including one from Joe Gilroy in Australia, who was a former team-mate of McLean’s at Clyde and Dundee.
One arrived from the principality where United had won new friends after they embarrassed the aristocrats of Monaco 6-2 on aggregate in the Uefa Cup in 1981.
There was even a message from the high seas!
It was from the Russian cruising ship Grace and was signed by “10 happy Scots”.
McLean expressed his gratitude to all well-wishers and said he had also been impressed by the number of Celtic fans who had taken the trouble to write to him.
Celtic finished second but there were no hard feelings.
McLean said: “The first letter I opened this morning was from a Celtic supporter and I honestly believe that we have had more from them than anyone else.”
‘Unforgettable occasion’
It was a similar story when United players Paul Hegarty and Eammon Bannon travelled to Glasgow for a black-tie awards ceremony being hosted by Radio Clyde.
United were named Scotland’s best team at the ceremony and Hegarty said he was blown away by the response they were given by the Old Firm’s players and fans.
He said: “The Celtic and Rangers team were there as well as about 300 of their fans.
“Both Eammon and myself were staggered by the warmth of the welcome they gave us and by the genuineness of the congratulations from the Celtic players in particular, especially as we had just beaten them for the title.
“It was an occasion we will never forget.”
In addition to all the messages, United found themselves inundated with requests from hospitals and factories for their players to show off the championship trophy.
Everyone got a chance to see the trophy – eventually!
McLean said: “The trophy went back to Glasgow today to be engraved. It won’t be officially presented to us until the Scottish League annual meeting on May 23.
“Apart from that, the players have now broken up for the close season and are not due back until July 18.
“We will be happy after that to fulfil the many requests we have had to take the cup around hospitals and factories.”
More records were broken
It was United’s greatest-ever campaign.
They scored 127 goals in 55 fixtures across all competitions with 14 different scorers.
The records continued to topple when Scotland manager Jock Stein announced his squad for the British Home Championship, which included four United players.
Paul Hegarty, David Narey, Richard Gough and Paul Sturrock were included for fixtures against Northern Ireland at Hampden, Wales in Cardiff and England at Wembley.
Then Jim Bett pulled out to complete his transfer back to Belgium’s Lokern from Rangers and United’s quota of international players became a record-breaking five.
Things got even better.
Eammon Bannon was called up to replace Bett for what was only his second cap since making his debut in a 3-1 defeat against Belgium at Hampden in 1979.
At this time McLean was also acting as assistant manager to Stein with Scotland.
Hegarty, Narey, Gough and Bannon were all named in Stein’s starting line-up for the first match against Northern Ireland’s 1982 World Cup veterans on May 24 1983.
It could have been five but Sturrock was still suffering from a thigh strain that saw brought him off against Dundee at Dens and he was left out through injury.
Stein said: “Eammon Bannon has been one of the excellent players for Dundee United during what has been a marvellous season for them.
“Although it’s a very strong-looking side, it’s still very inexperienced.
“I brought in Andy Gray, another ex-Utd man, for the first time in two years and his partnership with Charlie Nicholas is one that excites me.
“But I saw there was no point in playing Gray without someone to cross the ball for him.
“Eammon Bannon is the man for that — he’s had a good end to the season and exudes enthusiasm for the game.
“He has also scored 22 goals this season, which people are inclined to forget.
“I’ll be looking for him to play a vital part tonight — we want to get off to a good start in these championships so that the England game at the end of the series is vital to us.”
A final showdown at Wembley
John Wark and David Narey were the only usual regulars Stein started with and the experimental Scotland side struggled to break through the Northern Irish defence.
The game ended 0-0.
Gough, Narey and Bannon played in the next game, against Wales at Ninian Park in Cardiff, which Scotland won 2-0 with goals from Alex McLeish and Alan Brazil.
The United trio played in the final match of the tournament on June 1 against England in front of 84,000 fans at Wembley, which became a winner-takes-all showdown.
England were just too good.
Skipper Bryan Robson gave England the lead in the 13th minute before Gordon Cowans scored on 54 minutes to clinch victory and the British Home Championship.
Scotland finished second in the table.
United’s Scotland stars would travel even further afield the following season.
The golden era continued as McLean guided his side to the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they lost – not without controversy – 3-2 on aggregate to Roma.
Halcyon days indeed.
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