There is nothing worse than booking a holiday and then realising that you are due to jet out the week when the last three games of the season are due to be played.
Fortunately for me, I never missed much.
This week’s article will be a bit short and definitely not sweet.
My viewing of the last three games has been reduced to the couple of minutes highlights that the BBC supply us with each week and the ever reliable match reports on the official fiscal from James Christie who tells it like he sees it.
So first up was a home match against third from bottom Hamilton Accies at Dens Park. After the euphoria from just a few days earlier when we defeated Dundee United to inflict the final nail in their coffin and relegate them, we followed this up with a 1-0 defeat against a team that has struggled all season. This result did mean a lot to the visiting club as it meant they were safe from slipping into the play offs and would be playing in the Premiership next season. This was our second defeat against the Accies in just under a month with the first one costing us a top six place and this one putting a dent in our hopes of finishing seventh.
Having mentioned that Hamilton’s victory guaranteed them safety for another year; well our next game involved the club that their win resigned to the play offs, Kilmarnock.
I read the match report and judging by that information and the highlights, we should have won this game by a few good goals. We dominated the proceedings, created plenty of chances and played some neat football but just could not kill off the game and conceded a very soft goal. It was basically the story of our season that we can play good, silky football but we cannot put the game to bed when we are on top. We would pay for this because Caley leapfrogged us in the league with a win against Hamilton and with our final game of the season against them, only a win would do for us to finish in seventh.
We got absolutely thumped 4-0.
There is nothing worse when it is the last day of your holiday and as you are waiting on the coach to pick you up, all you are seeing is the goals rain down against your team in the notifications box. The curse of the Highlands struck once again!
It was a disappointing end to the season for the club but as the injuries piled up for us, it was always going to affect the team. Still, I did think we could at least come away with a minimum of four points from our remaining home games and if we produced a result at Inverness then that would have been a bonus.
What is annoying is the difference in prize money between finishing in seventh and eighth is about £50,000 which up here in Scotland is the sum of money that can bring in a player or two. I have no idea how this will hamper the manager as he looks to add another three players to the squad but for all we know, it could have been the difference in going after a more highly rated player or even a transfer fee.
Check out the fully completed Speroni Legacy article that kicked off our Mon The Dee feature.
In other Dundee news, there is the possibility that we could potentially see two or maybe three players leave this summer. I do use the word potentially loosely as the club and manager have stated that they do not need to sell nor to do they want to.
Greg Stewart still has a year to run on his contract but it is looking like he will not sign an extension so the club MAY decide to cash in on him. They have offered to make him the best paid player at the club but if he rejects that and a half decent offer comes in, I fear it will be the end of his Dundee career. Unless it is silly money, I would love to see him stay another year. I think he is worth more to us over the season than the £400,000 figure that has been suggested. To put it bluntly, I would rather lose him for nothing as he will be more valuable to keep over the season than to sell for a pittance of his true worth.
Kane Hemmings is another player that will be attracting interest after his scoring exploits this year. There were rumours that he had a £250,000 release clause in his contract but the club have laughed off this story. I am fairly confident that he will not go anywhere this summer as he has previously stated that he wants to stay.
Paul McGinn will be one player that will move on in my eyes. I would be very surprised if he signs a new deal and it has been reported and rumoured that Hibs have offered him a contract.
Well, that is that then for this season. It has been an absolute pleasure to have been given the opportunity to write for TEB and I’m extremely grateful to the editors that asked me to contribute to this site. I’m also thankful for all the feedback I’ve got from the Dundee and Palace fans and even from the odd supporters from random teams. It’s not often people enjoy me blethering on! Hopefully everyone will be as kind when I return for my weekly reports next season!
I will be back next week though for an ‘End of Season Review’ but before that happens there is the small matter of cheering on The Eagles in their FA Cup Final against Manchester United this weekend. I’m positive that there will be a few more of us up here that will be watching in the hope you win the cup.
MON THE EAGLES!
