The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Falconer looks forward to catching up with Dens strike partner Caniggia
Former Dark Blues striker to be reunited with legendary Argentina forward
Willie Falconer thought his time at Dundee was up when Ivano Bonetti was appointed as manager in 2000 and started compiling his own foreign legion.
He had been the club’s top scorer the previous season but the arrival of Juan Sara, Fabian Caballero and, most notably, Claudio Caniggia saw the Scot initially fall down the pecking order.
Falconer, though, chose to hang around and fight for his place, and ended up forging a productive striking partnership with Caniggia during the Argentinian’s solitary season at Dens Park.
The World Cup star had already made an instant impact in his first few matches for Dundee – scoring in his away debut at Pittodrie and then his first home appearance against Motherwell – by the time he and Falconer were first paired together in Caniggia’s fourth game.
That finished in a 2-1 loss to Hibernian, but they made amends a week later, Falconer memorably teeing up Caniggia for Dundee’s first goal in a 2-0 derby win over United at Tannadice.
The duo will be reunited for the first time in more than 15 years tomorrow evening when Caniggia returns to Scotland to meet with Dundee fans at a Q&A, and Falconer is looking forward to seeing his old strike partner once again.
He said: “I don’t think I’ve seen Claudio since he was at Rangers so it will be great to catch up with him and meet some Dundee fans too.
“I played with some really good players throughout my career but Claudio ranks right at the top. I was at Aberdeen in the 1980s with the likes of Willie Miller, Alex McLeish, Gordon Strachan and the rest.
“Later in my career at Celtic I played alongside Paul McStay, Pierre van Hooijdonk and John Collins. Plus there were a few decent players at Watford, Middlesbrough and Sheffield United during my time in England.
“But Claudio was a special talent. It took us by surprise how fast and good he was at that age, and how enthusiastic he was to keep playing and training despite where he’d been previously in his career. He had kept himself in shape too. So I’d have him at the top of my list.”
Falconer and Caniggia were both coming towards the end of their careers when they teamed up at Dens, and the Scot thinks that was an important factor in their relationship.
He added: “I think the reason I got on so well with Claudio was that we were both so experienced. I was 34 and he was 33 – and we’d both been about and played at a decent level.
“Obviously he had experienced a level far greater than I ever did, but I’d played in the English Premiership and for Aberdeen and Celtic. We had a mutual respect for each other as older pros.”
Falconer remembers Caniggia’s arrival as being “surreal” but that nothing really surprised the players at Dundee during that era.
He recalled: “The Bonettis were in charge at that time so nobody had heard anything about Claudio coming, not even a wee whisper. He just turned up at the training ground one day. As players we were in the dark as much as anyone.
“In some ways it was a bit surreal but, being honest, nothing really surprised us at that time when the Bonettis were in charge. It seemed like anything could happen and quite often did.
“But Claudio coming in to Dundee was like a breath of fresh air, just having someone of that stature. Even at 33 he was still as keen as mustard about training and playing in games. He was a really fit lad as well and ended up making a real impact. When something like that happens it lifts everybody at the club.”