Date of Birth: 1936 Place of Birth: Duntocher Height: 6ft Date signed: 27th August 1959 First team debut: 5th September 1959 v St Johnstone First goal: 9th September 1959 v Dumbarton

In 1957 Dennis Gillespie had just been demobbed after his national service in the army and was playing for Clydebank Juveniles when Jerry Kerr, then manager of Alloa Athletic, came to watch Dennis play. His side won 5-1 that day and Dennis notched a hat-trick, sufficiently impressing the Alloa boss to get Dennis to sign there and then. However, Duntocher Hibs were waiting for the 21-year-old when he arrived home and he agreed to sign for them also! Suffice to say the junior side were quickest off the mark and completed the registration before Jerry Kerr could.

The Alloa manager was still determined to get his man though but had to wait until the start of the next season at which point Dennis became an Alloa player. On his first visit to Tannadice Dennis scored a hat-trick and his team mate John White scored four as the Clackmannanshire side hammered United 7-1. A year later, with United struggling near the bottom of the Second Division, the Dundee United Directors persuaded Jerry Kerr to take over at Tannadice and one of the first players Kerr signed up in his bid to challenge for the top of the League was Dennis Gillespie.

His first game for United was at Tannadice and it was a poor one with St Johnstone returning to Perth with full points courtesy of a 1-0 win and in the next match Dennis netted his first goal for United but his side lost 2-3 at Dumbarton. A few days later however, signs of what was to come were evident as United thrashed Queen’s Park 8-1 at Hampden with Dennis grabbing a hat-trick.

Another big change that took place at Tannadice with the appointment of Jerry Kerr was that the Club went full-time. This proved to be a major factor in the success of 1959-60 campaign and as the season progressed, Dennis struck up a great partnership with Jimmy Irvine who had joined the Club from Whitburn. Between them they scored 44 goals. There were many changes of personnel that season, so much so that only five survived after 1958-59 concluded, and of the eleven who played in the first game of the season only four played in the match against Berwick to clinch the second promotion spot. On route to Division One, Jerry Kerr used 36 players and the team scored 90 goals in the League. Quite a turn-around from the previous year when United had finished third bottom and the progress made was a great testimony to Jerry Kerr and his astute trading in the transfer market.

The Club went into 1960-61 as a Division One side with many of the promotion winning side being given the chance to prove their worth in the top flight. Among them of course was Dennis Gillespie. He was again to play a major part in the campaign playing in 31 League matches. Scoring in the opening fixture against Hibs and after three games, including a 3-1 derby win at Tannadice, United sat top of the League! However the run could not be maintained and the Club were brought crashing back to reality with a 0-1 defeat at Partick. Dennis, with another front partner in the form of Neil Mochan, continued his fine scoring form with fourteen goals in the League campaign including a hat-trick against Dunfermline in the last game of the season. United finished ninth and although both the Scottish Cup and League Cup had been disappointing for all concerned the Manager was happy with the final outcome.

1961-62 was eagerly anticipated but the opening games in the League Cup did not appear to augur well as United went out of the tournament from a tough section that included Motherwell, Dunfermline and Aberdeen. Dennis managed three goals on the way and in the League his tally was twelve in 32 games. Yet another attacking player, Wattie Carlyle had joined United and with him, Dennis, Neil Mochan and Jim Irvine, United had a potent goal threat that between them netted 55 times in the League. Tenth position was achieved and despite a third round exit from the Scottish Cup again, it was felt that progress has been made with Division One status consolidated.

The same four attacking players recorded 46 goals in 1962-63 but by now Ian Mitchell had joined the ranks of United forwards and he accounted for seven. Dennis himself was now almost a certainty to start each week and, in a season which saw United finish a best-ever seventh in the League, he played in 32 League matches netting twelve times. The League Cup was again a disappointment, albeit it was a difficult group containing Celtic, Hearts and Dundee. In the Scottish Cup, United reached the semi-final for the first time. Dennis scored four of United’s seventeen goals in the Scottish Cup. A 2-5 semi-final defeat at the hands of Rangers was no disgrace as the Tannadice outfit had pulled back from being 0-2 down to go in level at half time with goals from Dennis and Ian Mitchell.

1963-64 saw Dennis fill the centre forward position and in so doing kept up his scoring record. In 33 appearances he netted 10 times as United continued to consolidate in Division One finishing eighth. In the Cups, United were again unsuccessful in going beyond the initial stages, although again it has to be said that the League Cup group including Aberdeen, Hibs and St Mirren made no easy route. In the new Summer Cup competition United were knocked out in the group stages despite losing only once in six matches. The 5-0 defeat at Pittodrie was all the more surprising as United had beaten Aberdeen 4-1 at Tannadice only ten days before with Dennis getting one of the goals.

1964-65 began well, got progressively bad and then turned completely on its head. In the League Cup campaign United did well to reach the semi-final stage and only lost to Rangers who scored two late goals to win 2-1. On the way to the semi-final Dundee, Falkirk and Motherwell were knocked out in the group stage with Dennis netting four of the thirteen goals scored in the process. He played in all the League Cup ties including the two-leg quarter-final 10-1 aggregate defeat of Hamilton although he did not manage to find the net in either game. The League campaign proved to be a disaster and United were staring relegation in the face at the half way point. However, Jerry Kerr proved his astute eye for talent again, bringing Orjan Persson, Finn Dossing, Mogens Berg and Lennart Wing to completely transform the side which then finished ninth. Dennis played his part with 31 appearances and seven goals. The Summer Cup, coming as it did at the end of the season seemed to suit United and in ten games the Terrors netted 25 goals although none from Dennis despite his playing in all ten. Perhaps by now Dennis was becoming more of a provider with players such as Dossing, Mitchell and Berg on hand to find the net.

The Scandinavian influence had its full effect the next season as United powered through the League to reach a best ever fifth place and qualified for a place in the Fairs Cup. In 27 appearances Dennis netted six times. One of his goals is still revered in the Dundee United supporters’ song which recalls “The Dens Park Massacre of 65”.

1966-67 was most probably the best Dennis Gillespie ever had. The League Cup threw up its usual disappointing early exit but in the Fairs Cup, United took on the might of Barcelona and beat them both home and away to record an aggregate 4-1 win which reverberated all over the continent. In the League United could manage only ninth and Dennis, by this time playing in the half back line, played in 29 matches and scored six times. Dennis was also the first United player ever to come off and be substituted and this happened in the 2-0 win against Dundee in the League Cup at Tannadice on 13th August 1966. Dennis was injured and came off to be replaced by Billy Hainey.

Of this particular time, Dennis was once quoted as saying “I thoroughly enjoyed the Scandinavian era. It was when we had the likes of Finn Dossing, Lennart Wing, Finn Seemann and Orjan Persson that we got into Europe and playing in both games against Barcelona was a big thrill. The next round against Juventus was the hardest I can ever recall with their rigid man-for-man marking system. Our European adventure came to an end at their hands even although we did manage to win the second leg 1-0. That was a momentous season because apart from that famous win over the Spaniards we also had a notable double triumph over Celtic. The Parkhead club won everything that season but slipped up not once against us but twice. I had the pleasure of scoring in both games.”

Now over the age of thirty, Dennis had not lost his appetite for the game and said in an interview a few years back: “I think I played every position for United bar goal and I look back on some wonderful memories. After all I did something I enjoyed for years and got paid, though not as much as I would have done these days.”

In 1967-68 Dennis turned in another 30 League appearances but scored only three goals, reflecting his new role as a defensive half-back. He also appeared in all eight Cup ties that season and netted once. The next season saw another first for Dennis as for the first time since his arrival at Tannadice he failed to find the net during the League campaign in which he made 28 appearances. Indeed his one and only goal in 1968-69 came in a League Cup tie against Dunfermline although he did find the net as United beat Juventus 1-0 in a friendly in June 1969.

United had finished in mid table in each of the two previous seasons but a strong in 1968-69 moved them to a fifth place again and another attempt at Europe in the Fairs Cup. Dennis was still commanding a regular first team slot in 1969-70 and was in the side for 34 League games and all eight Cup ties. He also played in both legs of the Fairs Cup tie against Newcastle which the English side won 3-1 on aggregate. His goal tally for the season was two, both of which were penalties in the League.

Dennis made only nine appearances in all competitions in 1970-71 and scored his last United goal when he came on as a substitute to net the winner against Dundee in a League encounter at Tannadice on 12th September 1970.

In 1971 at the age of 35 Dennis was freed by United having played in a total of 454 competitive matches and scoring 114 goals. He then signed for Brechin for whom he played until aged 40. “By that time I was playing sweeper” he once said “but the legs were beginning to go. I had only been booked once in my whole career at Tannadice but found myself up before the beaks for three bookings in my first season. However, because of my good disciplinary record, they let me off! When I was 40 I found that Saturdays were coming round to quickly and I was no longer looking forward to playing so I decided to pack it in despite being offered another season by Charlie Dunn.”

Dundee provided the opposition for a Testimonial match on 7th May 1973 at which 12,500 fans turned up to honour Dennis.

He was only ever capped once for Scotland, in an Inter League match against Ireland in Dublin in 1961 and his only other honour in a long career was a Summer Cup runner up medal in 1965. For a man who put so much into football in general and Dundee United in particular it is sad that he never received more to show for it.

Sadly Dennis passed away in the summer of 2001. At the time, Kenny Cameron, United’s striker in the late 60s and early 70s, commented, "I can honestly say Dennis was one of the finest players I have played with or against. He had outstanding ability and relentless energy to run up and down the pitch all day. Consistency was his trademark and you always knew what you would get from Dennis. My abiding memory of him was his fantastic 25-yard strike in a game against Juventus over in America. Dennis was a great player on the park and a magnificent person off the park."

 

next »