The Man City goallie in the photo above is the German ex paratrooper Bert Trautman who famously suffered a broken neck in the FA cup final and played on! Lots of young United fans were allowed onto the pitch to get his a'

The Man City goallie in the photo above is the German ex paratrooper Bert Trautman who famously suffered a broken neck in the FA cup final and played on! Lots of young United fans were allowed onto the pitch to get his autograph

Last edited by Downfield Arab (20/12/2018 8:34 am)

smedDUm wrote:

redford_must_score wrote:

Arabnophobia wrote:

Think most or all of the 6 snowy pics were before we played Albion Rovers in January 1963. Beat them 3-0 infront of 12000.

According to the stats one of the worst winters for cancellations in Scottish football with United only playing 3 times between 22 December and 2nd March. I can remember we were snowed in at least once with a giant snow drift right over our back door and my old man digging it clear. Brilliant stuff as a wee laddie. The Albion Rovers match was the one which coined the nickname Arabs due to tons of sand being spread to make the pitch playable. A journalist is quoted as saying that United took to the surface like Arabs taking to a desert (or words to that effect) and the nickname stuck.

That theory is commonly believed Redford but is wrong.
My intention is to record the real reason.... when I get round to it
 

 
The real reason I'm told by older Arabs is that we had a fan called Nasser who used to start off the songs on the terraces. The president of Egypt was Nasser in 1963 and prominant in the news. Names being the same and folk having humour reference was made when talking obout oor Nasser as Nasser and his Arabs, those fans who joined in with the chants he started.

redford_must_score wrote:

smedDUm wrote:

redford_must_score wrote:

According to the stats one of the worst winters for cancellations in Scottish football with United only playing 3 times between 22 December and 2nd March. I can remember we were snowed in at least once with a giant snow drift right over our back door and my old man digging it clear. Brilliant stuff as a wee laddie. The Albion Rovers match was the one which coined the nickname Arabs due to tons of sand being spread to make the pitch playable. A journalist is quoted as saying that United took to the surface like Arabs taking to a desert (or words to that effect) and the nickname stuck.

That theory is commonly believed Redford but is wrong.
My intention is to record the real reason.... when I get round to it
 

 
Looks like arabnophobia beat you to it? I've heard the Nasser one but had forgotten about that. No idea where Nasser stood - I was in the Shed every home match from 1964 and never heard the name Nasser mentioned although there were boys who started songs in there obv

You had to be at the allotment end in the early 60s to know Nasser. It was our home end of choice then & if we found ourselves playing the other way 1st half we'd head round to the Shed via the north terracing sometimes meeting the opposition fans halfway. We sometimes referred to the allotment end as the Amalfi end, Amalfi being the name of the chipper then and is still there beside The Troll. I've been meaning to find a newspaper headline from the Suez Crisis that definitely proves the theory, but yeah, is all linked to Nasser the would-be cheerleader. The press box theory at the Albion Rovers game has some credence in an indirect way. But what sinks that theory is that the Arabs name was being linked to the players looking like Arabs. We are the Arabs, fans, not the team.
 

Last edited by smedDUm (20/12/2018 12:32 pm)

redford_must_score wrote:

smedDUm wrote:

redford_must_score wrote:

 
Looks like arabnophobia beat you to it? I've heard the Nasser one but had forgotten about that. No idea where Nasser stood - I was in the Shed every home match from 1964 and never heard the name Nasser mentioned although there were boys who started songs in there obv

You had to be at the allotment end in the early 60s to know Nasser. It was our home end of choice then & if we found ourselves playing the other way 1st half we'd head round to the Shed via the north terracing sometimes meeting the opposition fans halfway. We sometimes referred to the allotment end as the Amalfi end, Amalfi being the name of the chipper then and is still there beside The Troll. I've been meaning to find a newspaper headline from the Suez Crisis that definitely proves the theory, but yeah, is all linked to Nasser the would-be cheerleader. The press box theory at the Albion Rovers game has some credence in an indirect way. But what sinks that theory is that the Arabs name was being linked to the players looking like Arabs. We are the Arabs, fans, not the team.
 

 
Was this the mental guy (in a good way) that used to stand down at the wall sometimes on it lol with his shirt off etc

Nah, nothing like it Redford. Just an old guy in a long raincoat. He would have passed for Louis the famous newspaper seller on Boots corner. He'd lead us into songs from about 2.30 to kick-off time.
 

Tannadice and surrounding area, 1958.

This ains for B&T. When once upon a time Scottish folk used to dress like "daft high school type photos with jackets and ties" 😉.



Thank fuck we moved on while some still believe we all still donder aboot in kilts in day to day life whilst dressed similar in 20fkn18.

Last edited by Arabnophobia (21/12/2018 10:51 pm)

Tel lookin like Del afore lookin like Trigger.

Tek wrote:

The only man to be with the club during all 5 of our major trophy wins.

Paul Anthony Hegarty.

Heggy wasn't my main hero player as a bairn, it was Luggy & Mo, but is for sure the one I feel the maist for now. His blood runs Tangerine and his face when we won the Scottish Cup in 2010 compounds my feelings.
Looking back as well at some of the teams he has scored against is mair than impressive.

82 goals including goals against Porto, Slask Wroclaw (7-2 game), Borussia Monchengladbach (5-0 game), Winterslag, Werder Bremen, Standard Liege and Manchester United at Old Trafford and Tannadice to name a tenth of them.

Star players of the time Dennis Gillespie and Jimmy Briggs working at Tannadice.

Promotion day, Saturday, April 30th, 1960.