The passion of Dundee fans – good and bad – is what brings the most vivid memories for Dave Mackinnon both on and off the field at Dens Park.
The former Rangers and Partick Thistle full-back has had quite the life, in football and in business.
And with it, Mackinnon has plenty of tales to tell; something he has done in his upcoming book ‘Slide Tackles & Boardroom Battles’.
He was inspired to write the book after suffering a near-fatal fall down 12 concrete steps that ruptured an artery to his brain. In recovery, he picked up the pen and jotted down his experiences.
From caring for his mother – who was given electric shock treatment in the 1950s – to disappointing the late, great Alan Ball by ripping up his Arsenal contract to join Dundee, then enduring injury hell and stepping into the boardroom as chief executive at Dens Park, there is plenty to get through.
Remarkably, there’s also a run-in with Eric Morecambe, of Morecambe and Wise fame, who, while chairman of Luton, stepped in as an unlikely linesman for a reserve match against Mackinnon’s Arsenal fully decked in sheepskin coat, deerstalker hat and pipe in mouth.
He promptly called a Luton attacker onside for a late goal despite full-back Mackinnon playing him off.
Dens boardroom
But there is plenty for Dundee fans to get stuck into as well.
Mackinnon joined the Dark Blues as a player in 1976, spending two seasons at Dens Park before moving on to Partick Thistle.
But he returned as chief executive in the noughties as the club continued their recovery from administration number one.
Alex Rae was in charge as Dundee tried to get back to the Premier League but a poor start to the 2008/09 season saw the decision made to change manager – a decision that led to Mackinnon’s exit just a year after his arrival.
“When I was there it was Bob Brannan, Ian Bodie, me and George Knight as the four directors,” Mackinnon recalled to Courier Sport.
“We had a quarter say in things. We agreed in most things but getting rid of the manager, I didn’t agree with that.
“That caused a bit of a problem but I subsequently found out that was someone else’s decision.”
John Bennett
That someone else, Mackinnon revealed, was John Bennett. He had stepped in to buy Dens Park to help the club through major money troubles as the world financial crisis struck.
Only last week Bennett sold the ground to Dundee owners Tim Keyes and John Nelms after 14 years.
But back in 2008, he had plans to take over the club. In the book, Mackinnon details an email sent by Bennett that detailed his wishes for taking over – which included the resignation of Mackinnon – and would also see Rae’s tenure as manager end.
“He wanted to come in, buy the ground to satisfy the bank, which was great,” Mackinnon said.
“He put his money up but he also wanted to take over the club.
“He didn’t want me to be part of that and that was his decision, I had to respect that. John wanted to bring in his own people, that happens with new owners.
“I don’t know what fell down with John Bennett. I like John as a guy because he has football at the heart of things.
“I’m not sure why he didn’t push through with what he wanted to do.
“Then [after the arrival of Calum Melville as director] they started buying players. For me looking at it from the outside, I knew the club didn’t have an overdraft facility so I thought that was strange.”
‘Perfect alignment’
Despite what happened after his departure – a second plunge into administration would come in 2010 – Mackinnon’s main memory of his time as CEO at Dundee was one of joy.
Joy of seeing a fanbase and club working together.
“I had a business background as well as being an ex-player,” he added.
“What I always say is there is a language of the dressing-room and a language of the boardroom and sometimes the two don’t meet.
“Sometimes I think business boards sometimes make decisions on emotion and not what is best for the club.
“So I think one of the things we had at Dundee at that time was a perfect alignment between the board, the dressing-room and the fans.
“All three components were a part of it and that doesn’t happen very often.
“That’s the only time in the clubs I’ve been at where that’s happened.
“It was great because everyone knew the objective – to get back to the Premier League. But they knew it was on relatively tight budgets.
“That was a great time at the club but I don’t know if everyone realised that.”
Passion
He added: “The whole passion of the fans I remember.
“I never liked to sit in the director’s box and I remember standing outside the hospitality lounge on the paved area.
“Alex Rae would look round at me during games and we’d exchange glances about what happened on the pitch.
“We played St Johnstone at Dens and there was a big crowd. It was 1-1 near full-time and Kevin McDonald, great player, beat three men and stuck it in the corner for the winner.
“I ran the full length towards the Bobby Cox stand and was doing high jumps despite having a bad knee. Alex Rae just looked at me and said ‘are you daft?!’
“The passion had taken me and you can’t do that in a director’s box.
“It was a great experience being at Dundee, I really enjoyed it.”
Slide Tackles & Boardroom Battles will be released on November 2 and is available for pre-order HERE.
Mackinnon will be in Dundee for an event to talk about the book and raise money for his old team-mate John McPhail after his own health issues.
Gordon Strachan, Paddy Barclay and the Scotsman’s Alan Pattullo will be there on November 24 at the Logie Club.
Monday: Part two of our interview with Dave Mackinnon will detail his move from Arsenal to Dens, injury woes and being branded a “Dundee reject”.
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