The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Charlie Adam recalls day he met Argentinian hero on a Dundee street
Caniggia is coming back to city – and boyhood fan Adam wouldn’t miss it for the world...
Former Rangers, Liverpool and Scotland midfielder Charlie Adam will be returning home to Dundee to attend An Audience With Claudio Caniggia at the Whitehall Theatre on November 29.
As a football-mad youngster growing up on Tayside, Charlie – currently with Stoke City – idolised the Argentina star and was thrilled when he signed for Dundee in October 2000.
He was even more excited when he got to meet Diego Maradona’s sparring partner, even if it was in unusual circumstances.
“I was growing up in Fintry and playing with my mates one day; I think I was about 14 at the time,” he said. “We were kicking a ball around the streets and we saw this man walking around on his own.
‘We got closer and closer to him but he spoke no English whatsoever. I don’t even know how he ended up there but he was in the street so I ran to my auntie’s house to grab a piece of paper and got his autograph.
“I still have it now. It’s in my mum’s house, which is where all my memorabilia is; I still collect stuff now. It was surreal because he played for Dundee and because of everything that had been going on there.
“Looking back, I think he was just out walking around and got lost. I don’t know if he was living in Broughty Ferry at the time but that was that.
“Did I help him? No, he disappeared. We just left him – I was too busy running around and enjoying myself but he must have got home fine.
“Would you want to walk around Fintry? Not in the dark, no. It was quite a rough area, as we well know.
“There are rougher places he could have been, mind you, and I was privileged to have the background I had there. It brought me up and made me the person and the player I am now. I loved being there.
“It was amazing to meet him, though, and then seeing him sign for Rangers when I was there was incredible. He didn’t remember me and he still didn’t speak English then.
“Listen, he was a wonderful talent and seeing how he applied himself when he was 34 or 35 was terrific for me. He was still as good as anybody at the club. He looked after himself and was a top player.”
Caniggia’s arrival at Dens Park was part of an exhilarating, if short-lived, period when Dundee were spending big money to attract stars from all over the
He was just out walking around and got lost, I think. CHARLIE ADAM
planet. “I think the money had a lot to do with it,” Adam admitted.
“Caniggia was on a big salary, I heard. The Bonettis were here at the time and I think club owner Peter Marr was putting the money in. It was wonderful we had a player like that.
“At that time, we had Giorgi Nemsadze, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Zurab Khizanishvili, Fabian Caballero, Carranza, Jonay Hernandez and even Nacho Novo.
“Dundee fans were living the dream. We got to the Scottish Cup final and probably should have beaten Rangers that day.
“It just went wrong and, unfortunately, the club paid for that (by descending into administration later that year) but it was amazing the players we brought in. Those were good times.”
Adam, who played for a Rangers Select in Kris Boyd’s testimonial game at Kilmarnock on Saturday, also revealed that he is open to returning to Scotland in 2019.
Currently out of favour with new Stoke manager Gary Rowett, the 32-year-old will be out of contract in the summer and hopes to leave the Midlands club in January.
“A loan is something I would look at,” he said. “I will discuss it when it’s closer to the time but I want to play and Scotland is, hopefully, an option.”