Dundee FC

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Looking to the other end of the scale, the first of the away days that I found to be not so enjoyable was Dundee, not to be confused with Dundee United. The negatives revolving around a trip to Dundee begin with the transport; most easily surmised by the fact that a return ticket costs £40. However, other contributing factors to the poor journey are the knackered train they provide, seemingly built as long ago as Dundee's last trophy success (League cup 1973), and the fact that the journey is an hour and a half long.

Possibly the worst aspect of a trip to Dundee, with respect to any residing from Dundee, was the location of the. The ground, Dens Park, is situated in area that as soon as you enter it has a 'seedy' feeling; the place is dour and located a fair up-hill walk from anything that could be described as lively, including any decent pubs. A tip for any future travellers would be to stay at the retail area for as long as possible, venturing to the ground just in time for kick off. The ground itself is medium sized, seating almost 12,000, but strangely shaped like a pentagon rather than your traditional rectangle. It truly is an ugly, confusing stadium that resulted in myself doing a few laps of the whole pace before finding the directed area for the away fans.



A saving grace of the Dens Park experience is the cost; a programme plus a pie and bovril combo manages to stay under £7 - although - it could have been anything in the pie and i'm not convinced the bovril wasn't sourced from the terrible, saturated pitch; you do get what you paid for. Another decent aspect of the stadium is the seating allocation with away fans being given the whole of the Bob Shankley stand which, although behind the goals, is the perfect size of 3,000 meaning fans, top 6 teams and above to be honest, fill it nicely generating a great atmosphere. 

All in all, a trip to Dundee is an expensive and unpleasant occasion and i'm not ashamed to say i'm relieved their demise to the championship saved me from returning.

If you enjoyed this blog, check out my previous instalment here: https://scottishawaydays.blogspot.com/2019/10/hearts-of-midlothian.htm

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