Hugh Robertson Reminisces

Hugh played in all three European club competitions during the sixties

Hugh Roberson accepted his Special Award to the 1968 Cup Winners
from Graeme Dalziel, Chief Executive of Dunfermline Building Society

Hugh Robertson was one of the Pars Scottish Cup winners in 1968. He played in 17 European matches for Dunfermline having arrived at East End Park from Dundee where he had been part of the league championship side of 1962.

The former Pars midfielder now runs a hotel in Dalry in Ayrshire, although he was involved in football up to the age of 49. Hugh left Dunfermline in 1970 to be player- coach at Arbroath as player. After two years at Gayfield he went back to his first club, Dundee, as a coach.

"I was there 10 years before being offered a job at Boldklub in Denmark. I went out to a club that was in the second division, and in the first year I was there, they got promotion to the top league. There was good potential at the club, and I recommended the best young reserve players for first team places."

In those six years at Boldklub Hugh became fluent in Danish, something that really took his fellow Cup Winner, Bent Martin by surprise when they met up some time later.

"We were playing a team called Aarhus and I heard a voice fro the back shout "Shuggy". I thought it can't be me and just carried on with the warm up and team talk with the players. But this voice kept shouting so I looked up and there was Bent Martin.It was his hometown so afterwards I took him into the players lounge. They were all chuffed because they had heard about him".

Bent Martin had been brought to Scotland by Celtic but he failed to break into a team where the legendary Ronnie Simpson held down the No.1 shift. Bent joined the Pars in December 1966 and left at the end of the 1969-70 season.

Hugh was at Dunfermline for six years and he claims to have good memories.

"If I remember right we played in Europe every single season.  We had a great team spirit, there were no cliques, everybody joked with each other and it was a marvellous six years."

Team mates at Dunfermline: Alex Ferguson and Hugh Robertson

In January 1970 Dunfermline's European adventure came to an end.  Little did fans realise that it would be 34 years before Dunfermline would compete in Europe again.

It stretched the memory of player renowned for his short shorts to single out any particular opponent who stands out, "It's difficult because when I was at Dundee we went to the Semi final of the European Cup and when at Dunfermline we went to the Semi final of the European Cup Winners Cup.

When presenting prizes at his junior team Auchinleck Talbot he was introduced by the Chairman as the only Scottish player to have achieved that but Hugh feels there must be someone else who can match the record.

He now supports both Dundee and Dunfermline while keeping a very close eye on the fortunes of Talbot.

Hugh Robertson was signed by Willie Cunningham but it was under George Farm that he won his Scottish Cup winners medal in 1968. He praised Farm:-

"He was a good manager; there were not many provisional managers who won the Scottish Cup. I got on well with him although a lot of the players didn't like him for their own reasons. He was a wee bit eccentric."

It was a Robertson goal at Celtic Park that was instrumental in knocking the reigning European Champions out of that triumphant Pars Scottish Cup campaign.

Ian Hunter made the break that set Hugh up for the opening goal against Celtic. His shot rebounded back off a defender and a left footed shot sunk it in the bottom right. Celtic had a goal disallowed with Bent scooping the ball off the line.

The match is one of the many that are featured on the Glory Years DVD that will be available from the Club Shop from Saturday 6^th December.