LIVING THE HAMPDEN DREAM

Almost twelve years ago during my first visit to Hampden Park for a Diamond League athletics meeting I distinctly remember wondering if I would ever return to this famous old stadium to watch Dunfermline Athletic in a Scottish FA Cup Final.

It was a flighty thought to say the least. Finalists in 2004 and 2007, with another Hampden appearance in the League Cup in between, I might have already missed three chances of a lifetime. Certainly the probability of this happening again was becoming less and less likely through subsequent years of struggle.

By 2013 the club suffered a second successive relegation, in part due to a fifteen point deduction for going in to administration, and it would take three seasons to escape from the third tier of Scottish football. A plateau in the second tier for six years ended with another drop to the third in 2022. Whilst The Pars bounced back at the first attempt, two more dire seasons hanging on to championship status followed until the tail end of last season when new ownership succeeded in pricking the interest of Neil Lennon to become team manager. Quite a coup.
A year later and an indifferent and yet promising season has delivered a quite unbelievable climax, with good form clinching a chance of promotion in the play-offs and now a place in the Scottish Cup Final awaits.
Last month I went up to see Dunfermline play at Hampden in the semi final against Falkirk. This ticked the box. Later this month, returning to Glasgow again to see them in the final against Celtic will be living the dream.

It's been fourteen years since The Pars were in the Premier Division and fifty eight years since they last won the cup. You just wouldn't put anything past this side just now. Even if they end up empty-handed on both fronts, what a season this has turned out to be and bodes much promise for 2026-27.