Many of you will remember that we spoke to Daniel Smith before the Julian Speroni Testimonial. The interaction between the two sets of fans before, during and after the was fantastic. In an effort to continue the legacy, Danny has joined the writing team here at TEB.
Unfortunately, I was not able to get to the Julian Speroni Testimonial game in May as I was about to jet off to Greece for a well deserved holiday. I did however have the privilege of writing an article about the man himself and interacting with a lot of you through my Dundee fan group ‘Up Wi’ The Bonnets‘ on Twitter and Facebook.
In fact, the feedback from it and the interest before and after the game was enough for the guys here at TEB to ask me to write a weekly blog on everything that is happening at Dundee Football Club.
With it being pre-season at the moment, I thought I would leave chat about comings and goings as we prepare for next season and instead give you all a quick history lesson about our 122 year old club. To say it has been colourful is an understatement and I will try to it justice in this article.
Dundee were founded in 1893 and started playing their games at Carolina Port before moving to their spiritual home Dens Park in 1899. In the first sixteen years, Dundee came close to winning silverware on numerous occasions with three appearances in the Scottish Cup semi final (1894-95, 1897-98, 1902-03) and finishing runners up in the old Division One, again on separate occasions.
The club were beaten to the title in 1902-03 when we finished six points behind Hibernian, 1906-07 when Celtic won by seven points and then 1908-09 when Celtic again beat us to the title but this time by just a single point. However, success was just around the corner for the Dees when they put the previous season’s league disappointment behind them to win the Scottish Cup in 1909-10.
In actual fact it took three games for Dundee to win the cup after drawing with Clyde 2-2 then 0-0 before finally beating The Bully Wee 2-1 on 20th of April. This would be the first and so far only time Dundee has won the national trophy, something which has haunted the club for a while.
Even though the team made it to another Scottish Cup semi final the next season and then ended runners up in their second Scottish Cup Final, a 2-1 defeat to Celtic in 1924-25, the club would struggle to make an impact in the league and were relegated on the eve of World War II.
In 1947, Dundee manager George Anderson had taken the Dees back to the top division after winning the ‘B’ Division title. This would start off a period of success for the club. Season 1948-49 brought the Dees agonisingly close to winning the top league but a defeat away to Falkirk on the last game of the season meant Rangers leapfrogged them to win the title by one point, just as Celtic had done back in 1909.
This would only spur the club on and just a few years later, they would taste success with back to back League Cup wins and becoming the first club to do so.
Season 1951-52 proved to be a very successful one for Dundee as they managed back to back domestic cup finals. First up was the League Cup Final against Rangers with the Dark Blues winning the cup for the first time thanks to a 3-2 win. Next up was the Scottish Cup Final six months later against Motherwell. In front of an astonishing crowd of 136,274, The Steelmen ran out 4-0 winners to stop Dundee achieving the double that year.
It was back to Hampden for their third successive cup final in a year and a half and Dundee would put their Scottish Cup disappointment behind them by retaining the League Cup with a 2-0 win over Kilmarnock. This cup victory ensured Dundee would go down as the first Scottish team to win the League Cup back to back.
We fast forward to 1961-62 and arguably the greatest moment in the clubs history, winning the league title for the first and only time in its history. Four times the club had come close to winning the league but that year was to be Dundee’s year.
Just like in 1949, the game came down to the last day of the season with Dundee visiting St Johnstone knowing a win would do it for them. St Johnstone were themselves fighting for their lives to escape relegation. It was not to be the Saints day though as Dundee eventually clinched the title with a win that also relegated their opponents. This title success ensured that the players name would live on forever at Dens Park and they were imortalised in Dundee’s very own song ‘Up Wi The Bonnets’ which was sung by Hector Nicol.
Oh there’s Robertson, Penman and Alan Gilzean, With Cousins and Smith they’re the finest you’ve seen, A defence that is steady, heroic and sure, Liney, Hamilton, Cox, Seith and Wishart and Ure.
If Dundee thought that winning the league title was memorable, the next season would blow their minds. Playing in the European Cup for the first time, Dundee would make it all the way to the semi finals before bowing out after defeat to the mighty AC Milan.
The road to the semis saw them defeat FC Köln (8-5), Sporting CP (4-2) and RSC Anderlecht (6-2). All matches were played over two legs. Dundee were the unfashionable Scottish side but they had everyone paying attention to them after their 8-1 thrashing of Köln not only for the score line but because Köln were favourites for the cup that year.
More trips to Hampden followed but they would end in defeats yet again for Dundee in both cups. Rangers defeated Dundee in the 1964 Scottish Cup Final 3-1 then in the 1967-68 League Cup Final, Celtic would keep the cup in Glasgow after a thrilling 5-3 win.
It is also worth noting that the 1967-68 season saw Dundee reach another European semi final, this time in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Dundee made their way past AFC DWS (5-1), RFC Liegeois (7-1) and FC Zurich (2-0) before losing to Leeds United (2-1) over two legs who went on to win the cup that year.
The seventies is seen as a decade in which Dundee should of won more trophies than they did but unfortunately they kept running into Celtic in the semi finals of the Scottish Cup. In the 1970, 73, 74, 75 and 77 seasons Dundee defeated by the Bhoys but did manage to put one over them in the 1973 League Cup Final to win the cup for a third time.
The club would only play in the first round of the Uefa Cup the following season, being defeated by FC Twente (7-3). This decade was certainly all about what could have been when Dundee fans look back.
Relegation from the newly formed Scottish Premier League in 1975 meant that Dundee spent a few seasons in the second tier and upon winning the title in 1978-79, they were relegated straight back down again.
Much to the delight of the fans, Dundee were able to swiftly gain promotion after one season by finishing runners up and there they would stay for the reminder of the eighties. Also that season, Dundee would make it to the League Cup Final against fierce rivals Dundee United at Dens Park but there would be no home delight for the dark blue half of the city as United won 3-0. A few more years were spent going between the divisions and it was around this time in the nineties that Dundee ran into some money troubles.
The majority of the nineties were not so kind. Canadian businessman Ron Dixon took control of the club and almost put it out of business. He came in with big ideas and promises but failed to deliver. When they reached the League Cup Final in 1995, the then manager Jim Duffy said ‘making it to Hampden that year kept the club in business’.
Things looked bleak and in the First Division, which is renowned for being very difficult to get out of. The Marrs, Peter and Jimmy, took over the reins from Dixon in 1997 and as lifelong Dundee fans, the supporters were thrilled to have them in charge of the club.
The team won promotion straight away by romping the league in 1997-98 and straight away consolidated themselves as a Premier League club. Two new stands behind the goals were built against the race of time to fall within the league stadium criteria and the club had just finished in their highest league position in a quarter of a century.
However, it was all change when the Marrs decided that the then Dundee legend and manager, Jocky Scott was not the man to take the club forward. Enter the new management team of brothers Ivano Bonetti as manager and his sibling Dario Bonetti as assistant for the start of the 2000-01 season. The next couple of seasons would be a whirlwind for Dundee fans which almost destroyed the club which would take years to recover.
An influx of foreign players saw Dundee dazzled but some skilful players such as Fabian Caballero, Juan Sara, Giorgi Nemsadze, Temuri Ketsbia and Argentinian legend Claudio Caniggia. Yes, Claudio Caniggia. Madness.
There were some truly great players to put on a Dundee shirt in this era for the club but for every great player, we were treated to a Ravanelli and Craig Burley who were past their best and all on a pretty good wage. In addition there were numerous players from all over the world would sign for the Dees who were nowhere near the standard needed.
The Bonetti’s would only last for two seasons and failure to sell on any players for any real money and attendances not reaching the anticipated levels would eventually force the club into financial meltdown once again. The club made it to their first Scottish Cup Final in almost forty years only to be defeated by Rangers 1-0 but there was European competition for the first time in thirty years.
Despite the cup run and making it to Europe, the club would plunge into administration with debts reporting to be close to £20 million. They were very dark days which saw players and personnel lose their jobs and made the fans think they were going to see their club die.
Numerous fundraising events were put on throughout the city to help raise funds as the city rallied to help save its oldest club which raised half a million in just a few months. The club thankfully exited administration in 2004 but were still carrying a reported £13 million of debt. Relegation on the last day of the season in 2005 did not help matters and even more cut backs were inevitable.
Every cloud has a silver lining right? It happened for the fans when after some financial reconstruction the club announced to being debt free in 2006 but unfortunately for the team on the park, it would not help in gaining promotion. The team struggled to finish in the the single promotion spot that was available at the time in the First Division.
The fans saw yet another false dawn for the club in 2009. Aberdeen business man Callum Melville came to the club as a director and pumped a reported £1.5 million of his money in the hope of making it back to the big time. It all ended in tears after losing out to Inverness Caledonian Thistle for the title.
The club gave the shocking news that in just a seven year space, it would enter administration for the second time with debts of around £2 million a quarter of which was an unpaid tax bill. The news horrified fans but what came next left everyone connected with the club reeling.
The Scottish Football League deemed it fair punishment to deduct the club twenty five points which left them propping up the division on minus eleven points. If ever a response was needed on the pitch the time was now and what happened next lives on in the memory of every Dundee fan.
On the pitch, the team went on a equal a club record of twenty three game unbeaten run and managed a sixth place finish. With no-one to help the club except the fans, they all rallied round once again and raised the cash that would help them exit administration.
In my opinion, this period of administration looked more like killing the club than the one before but determination from the players on the pitch, people in Dens and the fans on the outside meant we still had a club to support.
The club’s supporters’ trust, Dundee FC Supporters’ Society Ltd, took over as the majority shareholder and then in 2012, the club would be invited to fill the vacant slot left by Glasgow Rangers after they were liquidated and asked to apply for membership to join the then Third Division.
This situation, however grim for the fallen Glasgow giants, helped Dundee settle any remaining debts they had been paying off since the second administration by receiving unexpected money for playing in the Scottish Premier League. It also ended a seven year stay in the second tier. Unfortunately the club only had a few weeks to prepare and after building a team to challenge for the First Division, they were relegated from the top flight.
The summer of 2013-14 proved to be an eventful one and to this day could be one of the most important periods in the clubs history. A Texas-based group called Football Partners Scotland (FPS) signaled their intent by buying into the club. This saga dragged on for a month or two but on 12th of August at an supporters Annual General Meeting, the members voted in their numbers to approve the investment from the Americans.
The promise of building the youth academy and a five year plan had all been heard before by the fans so it was safe to say that some were not too keen. Even the people who voted the investment in wanted to a close eye on the progress. It was not surprising that many were suspicious but they need not have worried.
The club started the 2013-14 season in shaky form and soon found their selves behind leaders Hamilton. Eventually, Dundee picked up and managed to surpass them to reach the top but by the turn of the year, a series of bad results ended with the club parting ways with manager John Brown.
A few names were touted for the job but it was eventually offered to up and coming manager Paul Hartley to try and guide the Dees over the finish line to the title and he did just that. By the last game of the season, Dundee needed just a win against Dumbarton to guarantee the title and promotion.
Many fans even thought a draw would have been good enough as we had a better goal difference over Hamilton by eight goals who had Morton. The events that followed were ones that you would think you find in Roy of the Rovers stories.
Dundee took a 2-0 lead in with them at half time while Hamilton were 5-1 up. Dumbarton pulled a goal back from the penalty spot then news started to filter through of Hamilton running riot. By the time we heard Hamilton were leading 10-2, many a Dundee fan was chomping away at their nails as they started to fear the worst.
Then came the moment that almost made the whole of Dens Park, which was filled to capacity, fall as silent as a morgue. It was the last minute and the ball was floated into the box and the Dumbarton player headed in down into the bottom left hand corner.
The header had goal written all over it and just before I was able to burst out crying, Kyle Letheren produced an absolutely outstanding save to tip it round the post. A collective sigh of relief echoed round the old ground. Minutes later it turned to roars of delight as Dundee had won the Championship and the stands emptied as the fans ran onto the pitch to congratulate their heroes.
In our first season back in the Premiership, it proved a very successful one. The club achieved a top six finish and also ended the ten year wait for a derby win. Dundee had played some good football but also showed signs of true grit and determination by grinding out results even when we were not playing well. A host of players from around the country were also signed for the development and youth team as FPS kept their promise to invest in this area.
This coming season is one that is much hotly anticipated by the fans. Hartley has brought in young hungry players and there is talk of challenging for Europe and targeting cup success.
I have been around this type of talk before and even though there is every chance we can do it, I will be keeping my feet firmly on the ground and hoping for another top six finish.
Well there you have it, what started out as a brief history of Dundee turned out to be not so brief. I have experienced more downs than ups while following my team but you know what? I would not change it for the world.
