Away Day Review - Dens Park, Dundee FC.

In the first of our new away day review, a trip to Dens Park was calling. I heard a rumour en route that we’d be charged £19 to get in – much to my dismay, that wasn’t a rumour at all. The one (!) turnstile that was open would have been a struggle to negotiate for anyone carrying some leftover ‘festive plumpness’.

After being robbed by the cheery gent on the gate, I made a dash for my usual pie and hot drink before heading for my seat. The pie was OK – the pastry was edible but there wasn’t a great deal of meat inside. It certainly won’t be the worst pie I’ll have this season but it did take a good drizzling of brown sauce to save it. My drink of choice this week was a hot chocolate. Well I say hot chocolate, what I was served appeared to be more of a scalding, muddy puddle in a cup.

Into the stand and that feeling of robbery from earlier was further emphasised with a quick glance at where we’d be housed. If you can imagine paying to go to on an all inclusive holiday to Puerto Rico and actually arriving in Portobello then you’ll maybe understand how the travelling faithful felt right now. I took my seat in what appeared to be a shed in the corner of Dens Park, only to be greeted with two great big pillars that I instantly recognised would block my view at times regardless of where in this area I sat. A real shame given the lovely, shiny, empty stand behind the goals which would have helped to, very slightly, recoup some feeling of value for funny.

The one positive of being housed in the shed was the bit of atmosphere it helped to create for the away fans. The hardy bunch of singers and shouters were helped by a wooden floor to stamp on and create some decent noise. Unfortunately the game itself didn’t throw up many opportunities to fully test this but a good effort was given all the same. I’d imagine with a bigger away support and a goal to cheer, the atmosphere would have increased tenfold.

Overall, I don’t think Dens Park will be up near the top come the time we’ve reviewed every ground. An expensive entry fee for a poor view, only the one gate open meaning our notoriously small travelling support still had to queue for the best part of ten minutes to get in and not the greatest of food and drink from the servery. The only saving grace for me, was the potential for a great atmosphere given a better outcome of score line.

Access – 3/10
Admission – 2/10
Pie and Drink – 5/10.
Stadium/View – 4/10
Atmosphere – 7/10

Overall – 21/50

First published in 'ROAR' - Livingston FC Matchday Magazine on Saturday 21st January 2012.