Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
How hair-raising risked wrath of
WHEN a footballer chooses to emulate Paul Gascoigne there are often two options – on-field brilliance or offfield problems.
For former Dundee striker Eddie Annand and his team-mate Darren Magee, theirs almost got them sent home by legendary Dens management team Jocky Scott and Jimmy Bone.
Annand spent three-and-a-bit seasons at Dens Park after being signed by John McCormack for £70,000 from Clyde.
That proved an astute bit of business as the frontman scored the goal that secured promotion from the First Division, before finishing as the club’s top scorer the following season.
They finished fifth in the topflight under Scott – the club’s highest league standing since 1974 when Scott himself was a player at Dens.
This was back in the late 90s with Gascoigne in full flow at Rangers.
And Annand had promised to do a Gazza if he topped the goalscorer charts come the end of the campaign.
“I finished top scorer and I said I’d dye my hair blonde like Gazza,” Annand recalls in an exclusive chat with Tele Sport.
“My best mate Darren Magee, who sadly passed away a few years ago, got it done as well.
“We turned up for a pre-season game looking like Gazza and Jocky was not happy.
“Jimmy Bone came at us: ‘Are you two taking the p***?’ They were for sending us home. They were good times thinking back.”
Annand was a man for a memorable goal in dark blue, not least the looping header at Raith Rovers that sent Dundee back to the top flight.
In the Premier League, he netted a brace at Aberdeen and repeated that feat in a win at Hearts, lobbing Gilles Rousset at Tynecastle.
He speaks with real fondness of working under Jocky Scott before the Bonetti revolution loomed into view.
Exciting times were ahead but others fell by the wayside, with Annand among them, joining Ayr United in the summer of 2000.
The club have never again reached the heights of a fifthplace finish and Annand thinks the chance was missed to build on Scott’s side.
“The club didn’t know the good thing they had then, they’ve done that a lot and chopped and changed,” the former striker added.
“The Bonettis came in and a lot of good players were frozen out, told to go and train with the reserves.
“I think our team could have kicked on under Jocky but the club wanted to change and bring in the Bonettis. It was exciting for the fans but looking back it wasn’t