A Dundee amateur football team manager has slammed vandals who left a trail of destruction running into thousands of pounds at his team’s ground.
Plants and hedges at Fairfield Park were uprooted and thrown into the nearby Dighty Burn, just months after they were planted.
St James AFC manager Jim Sorrie, whose team play at the Fairfield Park pitch, said he ”couldn’t believe” the extent of the vandalism.
He said: ”I was totally disgusted when I saw what they had done. They took a whole row of bushes from the entrance to the gate right back about 200 metres. Every single one of them was pulled out.
”We got a grant from the community regeneration fund but the trees and bushes couldn’t go in until October. They were just taking effect and it was looking terrific now they’re all ruined.”
The park was awarded over £12,000 of council funding last year to buy and plant the hedging with the aim of ”improving security and the local physical environment.”
Jim said: ”The park is for the whole community and there are over 100 wee kids there involved in the football, and then this happens. I had to go down there the other day to see if I could salvage what I could.”
In addition to the vandalism, piles of rubbish and the remains of small fires have also been found in the park.
Dundee City Council environment convener Bob Duncan said:”I utterly condemn the vandalism and its negative impact on people who have been working hard to improve their local community.”