Not a lot has changed in the world of Scottish football since the 1960’s. Back then, the same as now, Celtic were the dominating force both at home and abroad. Rangers also had a terrific team while the rest of the Scotch clubs could do nothing but sit in the shadows of these two teams and admire them.  In 1966/67 Dunfermline finished in a mediocre 8th place in the league. In the 1967/68 season, Celtic took the Scotish league crown, again, while Rangers finished a close second and Hibernian sat in third. Dunfermline Atheltic were forth, but a huge 24 points behind Celtic. George Farm was the manager of the club, most famous for his time as the goalkeeper of the famous 1953 FA Cup winning Blackpool side. His predecessor was Willie Cunningham who played for the club in 1961 and became manager when the well renowned Jock Stein, who guided the club to a Scottish Cup in the early 1960’s, their first piece of silverware, was coaxed away to Celtic.

 

Under Cunningham,  as the result of a strange set of circumstances that included UEFA expanding the Fairs Cup to 48 teams, Dunfermline found themselves with the possibility of qualifying for the semi-finals thanks to a bye, granted they could defeat Athletic Bilbao and then get a favorable draw. In the first leg against the Spanish club, Dunfermline went down 1-0, but felt confident having defeated another Spanish team over two legs despite a 4-0 deficit the last tame they faced a Spanish side. Back in the league, a 6-0 win over Morton convinced the press that Dunfermline were contenders for the treble. But their success came with consequences, and the clubs fixture list started stacking up, so when Bilbao came to East End Park, it was Dunfermlines fifth game in only 11 days. They were denied by the Basque clubs brilliant goalkeeper and after an Alex Ferguson goal was disallowed, they managed a 1-0 win to make it 1-1 on aggregate. A play-off was required and a coin toss was conducted to decide where this would take place. This flip of a coin cost Dunfermline the Cup, and the treble, forcing them to fly to the San Mames for a second time where they were ultimately defeated. Dunfermline made the last 8 in the Cup Winners Cup and and reached the quarter-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a couple of fairly decent achievements.

 

Farms first game in charge was a 2-1 win over Raith Rovers and they really clicked into gear when they defeated none other than Celtic in the Scottish Cup, 2-0, the goals coming form Robertson and Gardner. This was Celtics first loss in the competition since 1952. In round 2, Dunfermline met Aberdeen and came out with another win, 2-1 thanks to an 85th minute winner. Another late goal put the team into the semi-finals after they beat Patrick Thistle. Here, they met St. Johnstone. It took a replay to find the winner, with the teams drawing 1-1. Dunfermline found themselves losing the second match until Paton scored an equaliser in extra time and Lister netted the winner in the 118th minute of the match. Dunfermline, against the odds, booked their spot in the final against Hearts.

 

In that game, Hearts dictated much of the play but Dunfermline engineered the second half with slick passing play. They were rewarded in the 56th minute when they went ahead following a mix-up in the Hearts defence, leading to Garnder smashing it home with his left foot. Lister converted from the penalty spot just four minutes later to make it 2-0. Hearts were given a chance through an own goal from Lunn, until Gardner wrapped it up from close range for a 3-1 score. Dunfermline had achieved glory in the 1968 Scottish Cup, but for some strange reason they weren’t allowed to show the trophy to their fans, which resulted in some diminished celebrations.

 

This win however, qualified the club for the European stage. They defeated Apoel from Cyprus, Greece’s Olympiakos and England’s current FA Cup holders West Bromwich Albion to reach the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup, but they were ejected by Slovan Bratislava 2-1 on aggregate. Meanwhile, Dunfermlines league form was also terrific. A 6 match winning streak kicked off with a win at Celtic Park followed by a 4-0 victory over Falkirk.  A home crowd of 20,000 were treated to a 3-2 win over Hearts the very next day. These wins put Dunfermline in equal second. And so ended the best of times for Dunfermline Athletic, whose fans have had to make to with mediocrity ever since their heroes of the 1960’s gave them hope.

 

The club had several wonderful players during this era: Future legendary Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson played for them between 1964 and 1967. Bent Martin from Denmark stood in goal, right back Willie Callaghan was a veteran and club legend and John Lunn was on the left, a former colliery player who sadly died at just 26 years old. Ex-Hearts player Roy Barry was the teams captain, Tommy Callaghan was the star of the team in midfield, Hughie Robertson played for Scotland in the 1962 World Cup, and Alex Edwards was labelled a future star. Up front were Pat Gardner who arrived at the club for a fee reported to be £70,000 (very substantial in those days), and Bert Paton, a reliable scorer.

 

Achievements:

Scottish Cup-Winners x2 Runners up x1

 

Star player: Alex Ferguson, dob 31 December 1941, pob Glasgow, Scotland

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Ferguson began his playing career with Queens Park and moved to St Johnstone in 1960. He was a regular scorer for the club but struggled to establish a regular place in the team and frequently put in for transfers. He was just about to move to Canada when an injury to a team mate meant that he was given a run against Rangers, in which he surprised everyone by scoring a hat-trick in a 3-1 victory. As a result, he was purchased by Dunfermline in 1964. In 1965/66, Ferguson notched up 45 goals in 51 games for the club and became the leagues top scorer. He joined Rangers for £65,000 and helped them to become fairly successful in Europe, but he was blamed for the goal that caused Rangers to lose the 1969 Scottish Cup final and was forced to play for the junior team as a result. He was so upset by this, that he threw his second place medal in the bin. There are rumours that he suffered discrimination at Rangers after he married a Catholic, but Fergusons biography denies this. Nottingham Forest came knocking for Ferguson’s signature, but his wife did not want to move to England so he signed for Falkirk instead. He stayed there for four years and eventually became their player-manager, but when this role was relinquished under their new manager, he asked for a transfer and ended his playing days at Ayr United. His first proper managerial job was part-time and paid £40 a week, at East Sterlingshire FC where he was described as “a frightening bastard”. He was then invited to manage St. Mirren. Ferguson transformed them from second division strugglers to first division champions in just three years. Bizzarely, Ferguson was sacked by the club, the only time he had ever been fired. The club states that this was due to various breaches of contract. Their chairman further stated that Ferguson “had no managerial ability”. In 1978, Ferguson became manager of Aberdeen where he was extremely successful, leading them to victory over Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur and even Real Madrid to win the Cup Winners Cup. He also took them to a Scottish League title and he was manager of the Scotland team at the 1986 World Cup. Ferguson was considered for the top job at Rangers, Arsenal and Liverpool, but it was Manchester United who eventually secured his services. He joined them in 1986, added several star players to the team and took them to second place. It’s little known that United played two friendly matches against Bermuda in 1987 in which Ferguson took to the pitch for United as a player. He boosted the squad further in 1989/90 but it was a terrible season for Ferguson. Manchester United plummeted to just outside the relegation zone as fans and the media called for his head to roll. When United faced a high flying Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, a loss would have guaranteed Ferguson’s sacking, but United won 1-0 and he lived to fight another day. United went on to win the cup. The early 90’s saw the emergence of a kid called Ryan Giggs and the signing of Peter Schmeichel in goals. Ferguson finally ended United’s long wait for a league title in 1993, and followed up with a league and cup double in 1994. The mid 90’s saw the rise of “Fergies Fledglings” who helped the club to a second double in 1996. In 1999, Ferguson steered the club to a phenomenal treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles. He then led them through a title hat-trick, a period of rebuilding and a second Champions League. More success followed through the late 2000’s before Ferguson shocked the footballing world by announcing his retirement in 2013. For his achievements, Alex Ferguson is quite possibly the greatest manager the world has ever witnessed. With Giovanni Trappatoni and Carlo Ancelotti, he shares the record of the most decorated manager in European competition. He is the first manager to win three consequtive league titles, is the only manager to win a double both north and south of the border, the only manager to guide his team to top three finishes in 20 consequtive seasons and the only manager to win the Scottish league with a non- Old Firm team.