The Crazy, Crazy World Of Dundee Football Club

[JoeCovenant]

Two Scottish football clubs facing each other in a league game in America sounds too crazy to be true.

But reveal one of those involved is Dundee and suddenly people start to wonder there might just be something in it. Because, for the best part of 30 years now, the words crazy and Dundee have, at times, gone hand in hand.

And, just sometimes at the end of the day, crazy has ultimately been replace by true.

Going as far back as the 1980s when long-time owners the Gellatly family sold to local businessman Angus Cook, there have been frequent examples of the Dark Blues getting involved in what seemed hair-brained schemes.

Cook, himself, hit the front and back page headlines when he audaciously announced plans to buy Dundee United.

At the time, Dundee spent almost as much time in Division One as they did the Premier League, while United remained a force both in Scottish and European football.

Perhaps, not surprisingly in the end, he was unable to pull that plan off, but it did not stop some of his successors in the boardroom from coming up with equally bold ideas.

In the early 90s, Canadian chairman Ron Dixon announced his intention to challenge the Old Firm for supremacy on the park.

Off it he produced lavish plans to build a new super stand on the south side of Dens Park that would include an ice rink, office accommodation and a large car park.

None of it happened.

Then, after a period of austerity, the millennium saw co-owners Peter and Jimmy Marr launch a lavish project to bring international stars to the team.

And for a time they did. When the Tele broke the news Argentine World Cup star Claudio Caniggia was heading for Dens in October 2000, few in the game believed it.

Within a week, though, Diego Maradona’s best mate was signed and would go on to become a cult figure with the fans.

Other big signings, like Georgian skipper Georgi Nemsadze, had already been made and, towards the end of what was to prove a financial disaster, Italian superstar Fabrizio Ravanelli came on board.

There was even a genuine attempt to sign Dutch World Cup star Edgar Davids, though in the end he declined to come.

Since that whole episode ended with huge debts and the first period of administration, times at Dens have been a touch more sedate.

Well, by Dundee standards at least.

The fans have had to save the club again and, for a while, even owned it.

Now American millionaire Tim Keyes is in charge and, as well as investing heavily in the first-team squad, he is looking far afield to raise Dundee’s profile. So perhaps we should not be surprised at this latest development.

And remember, this is the Dark Blues, so never say never.

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