Labour of love to Dundee FC scores top UK man cave prize for Scot

A football fan who spent six months building a garden cabin as a shrine to his beloved club has been crowned the winner of the UK's top man cave.

Dundee FC fan Ryan Patersons garden cabin has won games room of the year. Picture: SWNS

Ryan Paterson created the games room as a tribute to Dundee FC, with memorabilia and the club crest adorning the walls. The joiner, from Dundee, spent his Sundays off building the wooden cabin to house his hoard of Dundee FC memorabilia.

The father-of-two spent £5,000 making his hideaway complete with a pool table, sofas, dart board and a projector screen for watching the football. Ryan also created a fully stocked bar, aptly called Derry Bar, named after the stand within Dens Park – Dundee’s home ground.

The football fan’s sanctuary scooped the Games Room Of The Year crown after beating competition from hundreds of other entries around the UK.

Ryan said he was proud of his success after six months of hard work to turn “an idea” into the award-winning room.

He said: “It was an idea I had as I had a lot of Dundee FC memorabilia that I’d like to store somewhere that I could showcase.

“I’m a joiner by trade, so I designed it all myself and then built the space myself as well.”

Some of the memorabilia in the games room includes an issue of the Sporting Post – a former local newspaper – from the day Dundee won the league in 1962.

Ryan’s father’s matchday programme from the Scottish League Cup Final in 1973 – the last time Dundee FC won a trophy, against Celtic at Hampden Park – is also in the cabin.

The Games Room competition, run by Home Leisure Direct, saw entrants from all over the UK competing to win a £3,000 top prize.

Ryan plans to enjoy his prize money with his family, but has eyes on recovering the pool table with a dark blue baize in further tribute to Dundee FC. He is the second Scotland-based winner of the competition.