Dundee F.C.
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| Full name | Dundee Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Dee The Dark Blues |
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| Founded | 1893 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Dens Park Dundee (Capacity 11,856) |
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| Chairman |  Bob Brannan |
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| Manager | Alex Rae |
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| League | Scottish First Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | Scottish First Division, 2nd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dundee Football Club, founded in 1893, are a football team based in the city of Dundee, Scotland. They are nicknamed The Dee or The Dark Blues and play their home matches at Dens Park. Their home shirt colour is dark blue.
Dundee FC currently play in the Scottish First Division, having been relegated from the Scottish Premier League in 2005. The team is currently managed by Alex Rae, who played for the club but recently retired from professional football. Rae was appointed on 24 May 2006, following the sacking of Alan Kernaghan. For the past three seasons they have failed to gain promotion back to the top tier as they finished 7th in 2005-2006, 3rd in 2006-2007 and will finish the 2007-2008 campaign in 2nd place. In the 2005-2006 Dundee managed to reach the Scottish Cup semi-final but were beaten 3-0 by Gretna, then a Scottish Second Division side.
Unusually for a city of its size, Dundee supports two senior professional football teams, Dundee FC and Dundee United. Their grounds are within a few hundred yards of each other and are the two closest professional football grounds in the British Isles. The two teams are fierce rivals, although Dundee's relegation and the subsequent lack of competitive games between the two have diminished the rivalry.
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[edit] History
Formed in 1893, Dundee Football Club was formed by an amalgamation of two city teams, Our Boys and East End. The club played their first Scottish league match on 12 August 1893 drawing 3-3 with Rangers. Dundee moved to their current stadium, Dens Park, in 1899.
The club were relatively unsuccessful in their early days until the Scottish Cup win of 1910. The first decade after the war saw Dundee come close to a league title in 1949, win two League Cups, reach a Scottish Cup final in 1952, and they also paid a Scottish record fee of £15,000 for Billy Steel. At this time Dundee's home attendances averaged more than 20,000.
In 1959 Dundee had a shock 1-0 defeat to Highland League side Fraserburgh in the Scottish Cup. This is widely regarded Dundee's most embarrassing defeat in their history.
Dundee won the league title of Scotland's top division, then called the First Division, in the 1961/62 season. Under the guidance of manager Bob Shankly, brother of Bill Shankly, and with players such as Alan Gilzean, Gordon Smith and Alex Hamilton they won the league championship in 1962 with a win against St Johnstone, which inturn relegated St Johnstone to the then Scottish Second Division. The following season the club reached the semi-final of the European Cup beating 1. FC Köln,Sporting Clube de Portugal and R.S.C. Anderlecht, before losing to AC Milan. Dundee also reached the Fairs Cup semi final in 1968, losing to Leeds United.
Success since their golden era in the early 1960s has been scarce with a League Cup win in 1973-1974. Dundee. The Hampden win by one goal to nil, scored by Gordon Wallace, was against Celtic when Dundee were captained by the former Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell. Gemmell shortly after went on to manage Dundee for a brief spell. Although starved of success as far as the winning of trophies as concerned Dundee had some excellent players over the next few years including John Brown, Cammy Fraser, Jim Duffy, Tosh Mackinlay, Eric Sinclair and local boy Bobby Glennie who went on to skipper his home team on many occasions Under the guidance of John McCormack and then Jocky Scott, clinched the Scottish First Division title in 1998 with a 1-1 draw against Raith Rovers, ending a four year spell in the Scottish First Division by gaining promotion to the Premier Division. In 2000 the club made perhaps their biggest ever signing when they brought in Argentine international Claudio Caniggia, who later signed for Rangers. Caniggia was only one of many foreign signings in the Dundee side in the early 2000s, which also included former Newcastle player Temuri Ketsbaia. The signing of such high-profile players along with many others led Dundee to a Scottish Cup final and two top-six finishes (although it is worth noting that Jocky Scott, with considerably less money to spend, led the team to their highest placed finish in the Scottish Premier League - namely 5th.) This was achieved under the managership of Ivano Bonneti. However as the Marrs brothers chased an impossible dream, the attendances at Dundee F.C were still short of their neighbours and Dundee FC's spending significantly out-weighed their income . Dundee FC were soon forced into administration. This is hardly surprising due to their unsustainable spending.
[edit] Scottish Cup runners-up 2002/03
Before Dundee went into financial trouble they enjoyed a good run in the Scottish Cup. In the third round Dundee knocked out Glasgow side Partick Thistle 2-0 away from home. The fourth round saw Dundee knock out Aberdeen 2-0 at Dens Park. Dundee continued their march towards Hampden Park with a 1-1 draw away and a 4-1 AET victory over Falkirk at Dens booked their place in the semi-finals playing Inverness CT at Hampden Park. The only goal of the game was by Giorgi Nemsadze. This secured a 1-0 victory and a place in the final against Glasgow Rangers. Former Dee Barry Smith hit the post early on but Lorenzo Amoruso scored a header from a free kick which should never have been awarded to bring Dundee's cup run to an end.
[edit] Financial trouble
In 2003, due to financial mismanagement under owners Peter & James Marr, resulting in a £23 m debt, they were forced to go into administration with many players such as Fabian Caballero and Georgian captain Giorgi Nemsadze leaving the club in 2005. Despite this huge debt, Dundee FC survived by selling their stadium in 2003. The club's finances now look much better with the club focusing on its youth policy. In mid-2006, it was announced that financial restructuring would see the club become debt-free.
In early 2007 Peter & James Marr severed all ties with Dundee, stepping down as Chairman, when their company P&J Taverns was forced into administration. Bob Brannan and Dave MacKinnon took the Marrs' place.
[edit] Current first team squad
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- For recent transfers, see List of Scottish football transfers 2008-09.
[edit] Technical staff
- Alex Rae — Player/Manager
- David Farrell - Assistant Manager
- Gordon Wallace — Youth Coach
- Paul Ritchie — Youth Coach
[edit] Noted players
- For a list of Dundee players with articles, see Category:Dundee F.C. players.
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[edit] Managers
This is a partial list of managers, from 1928 only.
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[edit] Records
- Highest attendance: 136,495 fans attended the 1952 Scottish Cup final between Dundee and Motherwell. This is also a record for a club match in Scotland not featuring either of the Old Firm.[1]
- Highest home attendance: 43,024 vs Rangers, February 7, 1953, Scottish Cup 2nd Round[2]
- Highest average home attendance: 24,532, 1948-49 (15 games)[3]
- Biggest league win: 10-2 vs. Queen of the South F.C. 1962. vs. Alloa Athletic F.C. 1947 vs. Dunfermline Athletic F.C. 1947
- Biggest league loss: 11-0 vs. Celtic F.C. 1895
- Most capped player: Alex Hamilton, 24 Scotland
- Most league appearances: Bill Marsh, 386, 1924-1937 & Barry Smith, 400, 1995-2006
- Most league goals: Alan Gilzean, 113
- Most goals in a season: Alan Gilzean, 52, 1963-64
- Highest transfer fee paid: £600,000, Fabián Caballero from Club Sol de América
- Highest transfer fee received: £1.2 m, Robert Douglas to Celtic
[edit] Competitions
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- Semi-finalists (1): 1962-63
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- Semi-finalists (1): 1967-68
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- Winners (1): 1946-47
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- Winners (1): 2006
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Site
- Online Store
- Dee4Life Trust
- Satellite Photo of Dens Park and Tannadice
- Vital Dundee
- Dundee Fans site
- Dundee BBC My Club page
