The Glenrothes Dundee United Supporters Club started up in the early 80's, and by the mid to late 80's it was run by Alex Paton. (Early History coming soon!)

1988 - 1989

First game of the new season was Dave Narey's Testimonial versus Tottenham Hotspur, which we advertised in the Glenrothes Gazzette, bringing in a lot of new faces.

It was Toolan's Coaches that season, undoubtedly the best bus we've had, with TV and video - watching films on the way through to the West Coast: Robocop, Rambo III etc. Unfortunately at the end of the season they raised their prices and we had to change.

The "Player of the Year" Dance was at the Abbottshall Hotel, Kirkcaldy with a few players coming along including Paul Sturrock. (Anybody remember anymore? - bod)

The bus also took trips through to Hampden to see Scotland defeat France 2-0 and draw 1-1 with Norway to qualify for the 1990 World Cup, and to see the last match between Scotland and England for nearly 10 years, which the English won 2-0.

Glenrothes DUSC 3 St Johnstone SC 1. Finishing 3rd in a Round Robin tournament organised by the local Huns (possibly the first football match for the Supporters Club).

1989 - 1990

Hendry's Coaches this season. With moss growing up the windows and a maximum speed of 30 mph, this bus had character - and a large queue of cars behind it!

Several Glenrothes fans went to Glentoran, Northern Ireland, to see United win 3-1. Rammy, Graham Carswell, Mike Braid, Charlie all making the trip. (Possibly a few others too - bod)

Rammy, Graham, Mike Braid, Paul and Bryan travelled to Antwerp, Belgium on the DUSA bus, crossing by ferry at Dover. United fans were the first British fans to go back to Belgium after the Hyssel Stadium disaster, so we had a large police presence and an armed escort into the country! United were hammered 4-0 by Royal Antwerp and we had a long trip back home.

Another trip through to Hamdpen saw future United player Stuart McKimmie score the winner against Argentina. A Scottish Cup Semi Final at Tynecastle against Aberdeen saw United thumped 4-0, made worse with having Paul's brother Dave, a load mouthed sheep shagger, on our bus!

The "Player of the Year" Dance was at the Wayfarer's. A fantastic night with a great turn out by the fans and remarkable turn out by the players, with Paul Sturrock, Darren Jackson, Jim McInally, Paddy Connelly, Ray McKinnon, and John Clark, all showing up in Markinch.

1990 - 1991

Fife Scottish buses ran us to most of the games this year.

Rammy, Paul, Bryan and Ian Strawson (from the Kinross & Alva supporters) travelled with the DUSA bus to Arnhem, Holland to see United go down 1-0 to Vittesse Arnhem. We all thought we'd take them easily back at Tannadice, only to get smacked 4-0 and see some of the strangest goal celebrations ever!

Another trip through to Hampden saw United beaten by Celtic 2-0 in a League Cup Semi-Final. A couple of games close to home in the Scottish Cup as Paddy Connelly scored a last minute equaliser away to East Fife, and in April a trip down the road to East End Park with United beating St. Johnstone in the Semi-Final of the Scottish Cup.

The "Player of the Year" Dance was at the Galloway, Markinch. Good turn out by the players, Freddy Van der Hoorn, Guido Van de Kamp, Walter Rojas (?!), Victor Ferrera. A poor turn out saw only the usual fans coming along, so it was many thanks to the entire McDaid family for turning up and making the night one to remember. Most notably, Walter Rojas won most of the raffle prizes then fecked off back home without playing a game for United!

The season finished with a large turn out for the Scottish Cup Final against Motherwell - strangely travelling through and stopping in Motherwell for the pre-game piss up! Overall, not a nice day!

1991 - 1992

Fife Scottish buses again this year, but with them only supplying buses over 25 seaters and a dwindling support from the Glenrothes area, it was all getting a bit costly.

Several important members left the club this year, unhappy at the way things were being run. "Mr. P" was running things in the McLean style - having a committee appointed, then making all the decisions himself! They intended to start up another supporters club, but due to some deviancy and others being persuaded this wouldn't work, it wasn't to be… for the moment anyway.

1992 - 1993

During the first half of the season there was much unrest amongst the members of the Glenrothes Branch. Large 30 seater buses were being booked for a handful of fans, many buses weren't turning up on match days with many of us having to take cars, arguments over sweep money, arguments over bus leaving times, a severe lack of club funds. So an Emergency General Meeting was called and, after the man who had run the club for the past 6 years refused to turn up for the third time, the club was folded.

But from the Ashes arose a new club, with a new name, a new logo and with a new man at the helm. Andy Woodrow took over the running of the "THE GLENROTHES ARABS" and, with the assistance of Bryan Orr, the club took on a more friendly, professional appearance than the mess the old club had turned into. Chopping the bus size down to a respectable 16 regular fans that would turn out every week, the club started making some money again, travelling round the country in Altyre's Coaches with Mad Anne at the wheel, famous for going round Dundee's one way system the wrong way every week!

Just as one tyrant was forcibly removed, another stepped down as Jim McLean announced his retirement as manager of United. Though it would be a few years yet before he let United go altogether.

Another trip through to Hampden for Scotland against Germany, where United man Duncan Ferguson made a fantastic debut, that caught Ranger’s boss Walter Smith’s eye...

1993 - 1994

With the announcement that the Shed would be no more due to the Taylor report recommendations, we left our beloved Shed behind and all moved into the New George Fox Stand, with 2 rows of our season ticket holders now all sitting next to each other for the first time.

The season started of in the same vein as the last one had finished, with the regular's turning out every week. However, with the successes United were having in the Scottish Cup, and Ivan Golac's laid back attitude to football, by the turn of the year we had to change bus company from Altyre's to Black's Coaches to cope with the number of Arabs coming along.

Shuggie, Doddy and Eileen McDaid all travelled to Copenhagen, to see the return leg against Brondby. Many others decided to wait until the next round to watch United in Europe, but that didn't happen as United went down 2-0!

A shared Player of the Year dance was held with Jim Gardener's Edinburgh branch, with Dave Bowman, Christian Dailly, Paddy Connelly and Brian Welsh making an appearance. As a change from the usual trophies presented to the players, the Glenrothes Arabs gave them framed caricatures drawn by our very own, Bryan Orr.

After trips through to each round - Arbroath, Motherwell, Airdrie and Hampden against Aberdeen - Andy, in his first full season in charge, lead us to the Scottish Cup Final, taking two large coaches, about a hundred fans and a brand new flag (made by Kev, Bryan and Kev's mum!) through to Hampden. As Christian Dailly charged down Ally Maxwell, Brewster charged down on goal, and Spoons charged down the stairs from the bogs, the celebrations started. Then after another 43 minutes of nerve jangling football, the celebrations truly began!

A busload of Glenrothes Arabs travelled up to Dundee straight from the game to take in all the jubilation and atmosphere, spending the evening partying in the Phoenix bar with renditions of Dignity, Go West, We Are The Champions and Bohemian Rhapsody (!).
The party mood continued into the next day as we all travelled back up to Dundee for the presentation of the Cup at the City Halls. Then a few days later Andy, Kev, Spoons and Bryan went up to Tannadice for an opportunity to have photo's taken with the trophy and the man who won it, Craig Brewster.

In the same month, the Glenrothes Arabs won their first (and last!) trophy, winning the Angus Arabs Invitational 5-a-side Competition, beating a Manchester United supporters club from Aberdeen (!) on the way to the final. The event was held in Arbroath and many United Supporters Clubs turned up, entering many teams, ourselves entering three teams. (Winning team: Stevie,Doddy,Bryan,Paul & Kev).
What a season!!

1994 - 1995

Not a good season to be a United fan!
The start of the season saw the Glenrothes Arabs move from the George Fox stand to their current home in the East Stand. Again, all our season ticket holders managed to get seats together, covering three rows of the bottom tier, directly behind the goal.

Another trip to Europe for the Cup Winners' Cup was planned as Bryan and Kev put their names down to fly with the team to Slovakia to see United versus Tatran Presov, but the size of the plane was reduced and Bryan and Kev stayed at home!

As holders of the Scottish Cup, we had a long trip up to Huntly in the 3rd Round, where our trip back was delayed as we searched for one of the "Smellies" who hadn't come back to the bus. He had jumped on the United team bus claiming his bus had left without him, while we searched the town of Huntly for an hour!!

The remainder of the season was a roller coaster ride. Thinking we were safe one minute by beating Partick Thistle, to the defeat away to Aberdeen, then the heartbreaking defeat at home to Celtic, which sent us down.

1995 - 1996

First Division football had it's up's and down's for the Glenrothes Arabs. Most who had been going before continued to follow United, with probably more new faces on the bus than we received the season before. We even managed to convince our nut job Fife Scottish bus driver Ally, an Aberdeen fan, into going to most of the games and cheering on United! (Who remembers Ally driving in to East End park the BACK way, across the park, to the bemusement of the Car Park Stewards - one in particular, Freddy Boswell, getting a roasting for giving Ally a bad time!)

We were able to go places some of us hadn't been before: Dumbarton, Clydebank, Greenock Morton etc. and there were also long trips to Berwick and Stranraer in Cup competitions. But there were also some almighty embarrassments with the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Dumbarton and the depressing penalty shoot out defeat against Stenhousemuir at a cold McDiarmid Park.

A close rivalry with Dunfermline at the top of the league (a position we hadn't been at for over 5 years) made for an interesting season and giving Celtic a scare at Celtic park in the Scottish Cup as a 1st Div. Team was probably better than what we've done against them since!

All this ended with the nerve wracking match through at Greenock Morton on the last day of the season, which we took a double decker bus to, and then the highly emotional play-off against Partick Thistle, which no one will ever forget.

1996 - 1997

A 17 game unbeaten run and a Scottish Cup semi-final spot made for a great season for United and a great season for the Glenrothes Arabs. Again we had a following of the familiar faces every week but our numbers had swelled to an average of about 25 for most matches, with people coming from all over - Alva, Crossgates, Dunfermline, Leven - with a record number of ladies on our bus!!

New boss Tommy McLean started a Scandinavian invasion at Tannadice, which brought a party atmosphere to the Glenrothes Arabs with new songs (Love is in the Air), new hats (remember the Viking helmets?), new cakes (cheers award winning chef Scottie Lyall!! Oh how we miss you!) and a pride to wear your club's colours again. We even started our own merchandising line, selling Glenrothes Arabs T-Shirts, Polo shirts and woolly hats!

After a great run which saw us finish 3rd in the League, it was back to European football next season. Not bad for a team who had spent the previous season at Boghead and Cappielow!
A good Scottish Cup run took us to Easter Road for a Semi-Final against Kilmarnock, only for future United man Jim McIntyre to score the winner to leave us without a trophy in one of our best seasons in years.

One of the best "Player of the Year" Dances this year, again sharing with the Edinbugh Arabs, at the Oversea's Club, Princes Street, Edinburgh. A fantastic drunken night was had by all, again with many players coming along (anybody remember who - I was to drunk to remember! - bod) Doddy vanished that night, nobody knowing where he and his girlfriend had gone - not like him at all! The next week we found out they had supposedly gone down stairs to have a "quiet moment" - and woke up at 4 in the morning with everybody away home! Scot Lyall singing "Two Little Boys" over the bus microphone on the way home will live with me forever!

1997-1998

The season started with a trip up into the Pyrenees Mountains for Bryan and Spoons, flying out with the United team and a couple of hundred Arabs to Andorra and a two night stay in a luxury hotel. This was a great trip and made even better when United hammered the minnows CE Principat 8-0! Erik Pederson even missed a penalty! Many Glenrothes Arabs made the fateful decision to wait until the next round, only to turn down the trip to Turkey when United played Trabzanzibor where United were narrowly beaten. Haven't been in Europe since.

A run in the League Cup started with an exciting match at Tannadice against Hibs. 1-0 down in the 90th minute, several Arabs walked out in disgust, including myself, only for United to score a last second equaliser and a winner in extra time (luckily I got back in to see the winner! Learnt my lesson that day! A fantastic Gary McSwegan goal saw Rangers humiliated at Ibrox in the next round, then a trip to Tynecastle to see United beat Aberdeen 3-1 in the Semi-final led to our first League Cup final in 11 years, this time against Celtic. Optimistic Arabs travelled through in their thousands, only to see United surrender 3-0 with a very poor performance.

There was a trip up north in three cars to Inverness for a nail biting Scottish Cup game that went into extra time, where United won 3-2. On the way back home Bryan's car full of Arabs ran out of petrol at 1.00 in the morning leading to an improvised kick about on Dunkeld High Street! The next round saw a fantastic game against Celtic at Tannadice where United just missed out, beaten 3-2 by an Erik Pederson own goal.

Paul McDaid's wedding with Joanna on the same day as United relegated Hibs was cause for much celebration amongst the Glenrothes Arabs! Paul's sister Eileen, who had also become a regular over the years, also had a wedding that year ...and we've hardly seen either of them on the bus since!!

1998-1999

Tommy McLean eventually took the team back down the table to where he had found them, and an embarrassing defeat by Ross County in the League Cup (19/8/98) where even the sheep outside the ground were laughing at us as we set off home!! Eventually McLean had to go, and was replaced by the prodigal son, Paul Sturrock, and things started to look brighter.

One of his first signings was Billy Dodds, who brought new enthusiasm from the Glenrothes Arabs, a favourite from the moment he scored his hat-trick at McDiarmid Park. Highlights in the League were a clean sweep against Aberdeen, winning 1-0, 3-0, 3-0 and 4-0, and a Kjell Olofsson’s goal at Ibrox for a 1-0 win with 10 men.

Another good Scottish Cup run saw us travel to away games against Queens Park (Airdrie), Clydebank and Ayr United where Sieb Dijkstra saved a last minute Andy Walker penalty, each round going to a replay at Tannadice. Yet again, United failed against Celtic in the Semi-Final at Ibrox, loosing 2-0. many of us were still hurting from the League Cup Final defeat the season before and, being 2-0 down just after half time, decided to head to the Stadium bar to cheer ourselves up – only to be forcibly removed by the police to make way for the Tims!!

1999 - 2000

After a good start to the season with a 2-1 win against Celtic at Tannadice and sitting 3rd by December, Billy Dodds' departure to Ibrox ripped the heart out of the team and left a lot of us heart broken.

As the season continued with poor performance after poor performance, many stopped going as our numbers fell to a record low. A struggle back to 2-2 after being 2-0 down against Alloa Athletic in the Scottish Cup and, even though United only lost 1-0, the League Cup semi final embarrassment against Aberdeen at Dens were enough for some of us.

Andy, who had run the bus for the past 6 years, and was on the committee of the Federation at the time, had had enough and decided to chuck it all in and spend quality time with his family! Lawrence "Doddy" Lindsay took control and kept the club running through a very difficult time for United fans.

2000 - 2001

The only highlight of a dismal first half of the season was Spoons' and Jane's wedding at the Dean Park Hotel, Kirkcaldy, with the Glenrothes Arabs coming along. Apart from that - "You can stick the year 2000 up you’re a£$e!" Paul Sturrock, who had also never gotten over the loss of Dodds, called it a day two games in and Alex Smith, a close friend of McLean’s, came in. A lot of bad signings were made at this time and things were looking grim.

After the protests outside Tannadice after a 4-0 drubbing against the Jam Tarts, Jim McLean had his infamous "don't you offer me that again" interview with BBC Reporter John Barnes hich signalled the end of his reign. Finally forced to leave the job as chairman at Tannadice, a few old faces of the Glenrothes Arabs came back into the fold. Alex Smith kicked out all the dodgy foreigners and brought in a few good Scottish players: Charlie Miller, Derek Lilley and Jim Lauchlan giving the team a much needed backbone.

A good run in the Scottish Cup lifted United’s season, with a trip to Montrose, a win at Motherwell and a Davie Hannah goal at Tannadice to see off Rangers, took us to yet another semi-final and yet another defeat to Celtic. But this time United put up more of a fight and were unlucky to go down 3-1.

After a great run in the League, which saw us beat Rangers at Ibrox 2-0, United scraped off the bottom of the table and a fantastic fight back at McDiarmid park ensured United their Premier League status. What a party we had that day in the glorious sunshine at Perth! Lilley, Oh Derek Lilley, da da, da, da, da da da, da da!

2001 - 2002

This season kicked off with Kevin & Jackie's wedding, a thoroughly United wedding, with Kev's family mostly Arabs and the mainstay of the Glenrothes Arabs all there too!
Season finished with Stevie T's and Maria's wedding, again with the Glenrothes Arabs invited!

Home games in the Scottish Cup saw United play Forres Mechanics, Hamilton Accies and Ayr United, until a replay against Ayr at Somerset Park, where United fell to an embarrassing 2-0 defeat.

2002 - 2003

Doddy's wedding to Suzie was next, with Doddy not only requesting the Glenrothes Arabs to come along - but to bring the flag as well! Fantastic photo opportunity!

After many failed attempts, Eddie Thompson finally got his hands on United and after a poor start to the season, Alex Smith was relieved of his duties. Thompson seemed to know what he was doing but failed to get the man he wanted in charge, Ian McCall. Hegarty took over but things didn't really change from the team Alex Smith was struggling with. A good run in the League Cup, where Spoons’ car took us to see united’s first win over Livingston, was a lonely highlight, with United again going down to Celtic in the semi-final 3-0.

Though it was sad to see legends Hegarty, Malpas and Holt leave United the way they did, things needed changing and Thompson finally got his man. Considering the lack of results, finishing second bottom and going through 3 different managers, the introduction of Ian McCall has brought new hope to the Glenrothes Arabs, and even Andy has made a return…