STARS from the past turned out in force last Sunday to reminisce over one of the most dramatic seasons in Athletic’s history.

Supporters and former players packed out the Carnegie Conference Centre to celebrate ‘Paton’s Premier Pars’ and just over a quarter of a century since a triumph that remains revered by those who were there to witness it.

The Dunfermline Athletic Former Players Association brought back members of the club’s 1995/96 First Division title-winning squad for their ‘Sportsman’s Brunch with Bert and Dick’, which saw the team’s manager, Bert Paton, and assistant, Dick Campbell, take to the stage as guests of honour.

Hosted by Pars fan, and Radio Forth’s, Steven Mill, the event – for which the Press was media sponsor – took those in attendance on a nostalgic trip down memory lane, with plenty of laughs and stories thrown in along the way.

Having taken over from Jocky Scott as the club’s new management team in 1993, Paton – who starred for the Pars in its golden 1960s period, winning the Scottish Cup in 1968 – and Campbell, the current Arbroath boss who also played for the club, missed out on a Premier League place by a point in each of their first two seasons in charge.

The second of those also saw them lose the first-ever Premier Division play-off with Aberdeen but they guided the team to the championship in their third campaign, in the most difficult of circumstances.

Stars such as Stewart Petrie – who scored the winning goal in a crucial, penultimate-day win at title rivals Dundee United – Marc Millar, who scored the winning penalty on the final day against Airdrieonians, Ivo Den Bieman, Andy Tod, Ian Westwater, Allan Moore, Hamish French, Derek Fleming, David Bingham and Jackie McNamara – who left for Celtic in October of that season – were among those in attendance, while others like Colin Miller, Andy Smith and Steven Ferguson sent video messages having been unable to attend.

Several spoke of feeling overwhelmed by being reunited with team-mates they had not seen for long periods, while there was emotion as skipper Norrie McCathie – who passed away midway through the season – was remembered, as were Neale Cooper, Dave McParland, Joe Nelson and commercial manager Audrey Bastianelli.

The event was also filmed by Pars TV.