Footie fan turns garden cabin into the ultimate man cave with games room and shrine to his team
Ryan Paterson created the games room as a tribute to his beloved team Dundee with memorabilia and the club crest adorning the walls
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 best man cave.
Ryan Paterson created the games room as a tribute to Dundee - with memorabilia and the club crest adorning the walls.
Joiner Ryan, from Dundee, spent his Sunday's off building the wooden cabin to house his hoard of Dundee memorabilia.
The dad's hideaway comes 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 is 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 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.
"It took about 6 months from start to finish, although I was only working on it one day a week - a Sunday.
"I had Dundee games on a Saturday so only had a Sunday to do it."
Some of the memorabilia in the games room includes an issue of the Sporting Post - a former local newspaper - from the day that 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's the second Scotland based winner of the competition with last year's winner, Graeme Strachan, hailing from Aberdeen.
Graeme clinched the top spot with his lovingly created loft conversion, which was a tribute to his beloved Aberdeen FC.
Andy Beresford, MD of Home Leisure Direct, the UK's leading supplier of specialist games room equipment, which hosted the competition said: "Yet again the Games Room of the Year competition has seen some absolutely fantastic efforts rolling in.
"One of the perks of the job is getting to see the levels of creativity and dedication that people stretch to in order to perfect their games room setup.
"Ryan has really gone to town in displaying his love for the Dees and he's a very worthy winner.
"Scotland is starting to display some serious heritage in the competition, in the past we've had finalists hailing from as far afield as Orkney, and now we've had two Scottish winners on the bounce.
"And it seems having the backing of fellow supporters with a sports team themed entry can work wonders when it comes to the public vote."
While not making the initial shortlist, Ryan made it into the mix as an 11th finalist via wildcard entry thanks to the popularity of his entry on social media.
The Home Leisure Direct team flew up to Dundee on Thursday from their head office in Bristol to present Ryan with his prize.
Andy added: "Presenting the winner with their prize is the highlight of the competition for our team.
"It's a lovely feeling when we break the news to them and Ryan was absolutely chuffed.
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"We're already looking forward to next year's edition of the competition as, having reached its fourth year, it's now become a firmly established fixture in the Home Leisure Direct calendar.
"We'll be prepping for it in the New Year and so would urge those keen to get involved in 2019 to look for updates on our social channels."
Steve Keillor's The Cabin grabbed second spot which was largely made from recycled and reused materials.
Huge sports fan John Clements came in third with his creation of a games room for all his friends and family to enjoy - and somewhere big enough to put all his memorabilia.
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