When a prominent journalist said that Dundee fans were in for a Rollercoaster season I didn’t know what he meant. I do now. I feel as if I’ve been on the Pepsi Max each Saturday for 9 months of thrills, spills and Dark Blue excitement that I would never have swapped for any other colours in the whole wide world. There will, of course, be those not of the Dark Blue persuasion who will fail to see what all the hypes about, why all the excitement over a team who finished mid table and lost more games than they won. Only a Dundee supporter can understand why we are filled with such hope and why I say the season past will live with us forever, like a fairy tale come true.
When you’ve spent a part of your life seeing your team relegated, then rise again, only to be doomed to the lower vaults once more, it’s pretty hard to swallow. Then, suddenly, after a succession of failed club owners and chairmen with little ambition, along come the Marrs’ and the Bonettis’ and our world is turned topsy turvy. Suddenly we’re back among the top 6 in Scotland and the feel good factor returns with a “wha’s like us” approach to life that surely augurs well for the future.
This is no more than a brave attempt to give a rundown on our past, Season, something I know cannot be done. How do you describe seeing The Bird in full flight, the artistry of Giorgi, the scintillating tricks of Beto, the rapier thrusts of Juan Sara. Players of this ilk and all the others as well, write on our hearts and emotions in a language that hasn’t been deciphered yet, and there are no words to truly describe genius. Forgive me my failings, I can only do my best, and no report on any team can truly contain the emotions felt at seeing these players turn out in the Dark Blue. Sadly, the match reports are all too brief.
My first viewing of this new team was at Starks Park on a wet, cold August night, when we beat Raith 2-1 in a friendly. I remember young Andy, who pushes me in my wheelchair to the games staring at me, a daft auld 50 year old, as he saw me put my scarf out the car window. “Dave, it’s a friendly against Raith Rovers.”
“Yes”, I replied, “but I have a funny feeling our time has come, the light’s returning and this is the beginning of something big.” I just felt it in my bones. Could it be true? Was the sleeping giant awakening? What I saw on display that night did nothing to dispel my suspicions. This team played a kind of game foreign to us, who were more used to the traditional big men at the back and a hefty punt up the park to clear any danger. I knew that night we were in for a treat beyond our wildest imaginings. I also knew there would be disappointments, but that they would be overshadowed by the skills on display.
Then there was a friendly in Grimsby, a 2-2 draw and those who were there raved about the new look Dundee side. Giorgi and Sara scored wonder goals and the feeling was that even if the results won’t always go our way, this team were sure to give us excitement we had never dreamed about for many years. Then it was on to league business with Motherwell and Dunfermline our first two opponents.
And what a start we made. When Pat Billio gave us the lead against the Well with a thunderous drive into the bottom right hand corner the fans are enthralled. Even a sending off for Ivano didn’t stop Dundee that first Saturday and a late mazy run and superb toe poke by Artero gave us a 2-0 win. Then came Dunfermline and a loud Dundee support saw their team take the lead straight from kick off. When Nemsadze picked out Artero with a sublime pass the latter’s low cross into the box is put into his own net by Skinner. Two second half penalties by Caballero and Sara seal the 3-0 victory and we are top of the league after week 2 of the season. This was the game in which we saw our first glimpse of the Sara “Jesus Loves You” t-shirt, and how the fans loved it. New heroes were emerging fast and we were quickly falling in love with the football on display.
Then came our most crushing defeat to bring us back down to earth with a bang. We crash 5-1 to Hibs at Easter Road and Caballero is sent off after giving his side the lead with a great goal early on. Hibs proved too strong for a Dundee side still getting to know each other and a late sending off for Billio as well didn’t help matters. Cab’s ordering off for elbowing Jack seemed a bit unfair as the Hibs man had chased him from the half way line, snapping at his heels and eventually scything him down. But that’s football, and Dundee’s imports were learning the hard way that bad refereeing by the part timers of Scotland was the rule rather than the exception.
Worse is to follow against St Mirren at Love Street the following week. We go down 2-1. Sara is scythed down in the box but instead of awarding a penalty the Dees striker is booked for diving. St Mirren took the lead, then Dundee equalised from the penalty spot, Sara converting. McGarry scored the winner with 7 minutes left and we have now lost 2 games in a row. The early results had given us hope that we were to put in a real challenge at the top, now we realised it would take our players some time to adjust to the Scottish game.
But we turn on a good performance against Hearts at Dens, taking the lead through a fabulous Caballero turn and strike that leaves Niemi helpless in Goal. With the points in the bag Ivano himself makes a fatal blunder in the dying minutes losing possession then bringing down Juanjo who scored from the resultant penalty kick to give Hearts an undeserved draw.
Then it’s Rangers at Dens and in front of a 10,400 crowd we draw 1-1 though many felt Rob Douglas could have done more with McCann’s curling shot that floated inside his right hand post. Juan Sara, however, takes full advantage of a slip up by Amoruso, the darling of the Dundee support, to race on and slip the ball home for a merited draw.
A rather fortunate 0-0 draw at Perth gains us an away point, though the play wasn’t fluent enough to merit a victory, and Saints miss easy chances in the second half that could have buried us. Three draws in a row, when would we win again?
But this is followed up on the 20th September with a performance that left the fans of Dundee DEE-lighted. After a goalless first half we take the game by the scruff of the neck and turn on a breathtaking performance that saw us beat Dundee United by 3-0, all the goals coming from Juan Sara.
After early scares when United hit woodwork twice, we begin to settle and the signs are all there that we are in for an exciting second half. When Caballero ran at the United defence and unleashed a great shot which Combe can only block Juan Sara is on the spot to sidefoot the ball home to the delight of all Dees fans. The joy is tinged with sadness at the cruel tackle that saw Caballero stretchered off and would deprive us of the wee man’s goalscoring talents for most of the season remaining. De Vos was ordered off for his part in the crime, whilst McDonald of the Arabs escapes Scot free. Wonder why we’ve heard so little of the guy since? But the loss of their star man did little to dispel the Dundee aggression and skill and when Giorgi Nemsadze tied the United defence in knots before sending the most delightful of crosses Juan nodded perfectly into the corner of the net. An almost identical move sees the same two players involved and Juan nods home a great hat trick and reveals his t-shirt message for the third time in half an hour. Winning a Derby match is seen by most fans as, the most important of their Season and this one was won in convincing style by a team playing majestic football that the Arabs simply couldn’t prevent by any fair means. Long before the end the small United support had dwindled to the size of a group of adolescents outside a chip shop and they left behind their scarves, tammies and whatever else, thrown on the trackside in disgust.
Deprived of our new found scoring hero Caballero we travel to Parkhead next but go down to a second half header from Petrov that Shaun McSkimming admitted to me next day he should have prevented. But the Celtic fans are full of praise for the play of this new look Dundee, and not for the last time that season. This is followed by a 0-0 draw against Killie at Dens and we begin to think Lady Luck had robbed us of all hope by taking away our Cabellero. Whilst he undergoes an op on his knee, we wonder who, if any, among our squad can take on the mantle of greatness Fab Cab had shown us in a brief period of time. We have two weeks before our next match against Aberdeen on October 15th and all eyes are on Ivano to see if he can come up with the answers. He does in Godlike fashion.
Read Part Two and how a guy with fading blonde hair and unimaginable skills answered our prayers. The day an ageing world superstar came to Dens was a day we would never forget.