Dundee’s rough time with Celtic at Dens stretches to 13,000 days!
History is certainly not on their side as the Dees look to beat the champions at home tomorrow afternoon for the first time since September 1988
It is the pub quiz question that might stump even those claiming to have encyclopaedic knowledge of Celtic. Who was their goalkeeper when the Parkhead side last suffered a competitive defeat by Dundee at Dens Park?
Ignorance is forgivable. It’s possible that Alan Rough's entire Celtic career might have passed many people by. It lasted a total of just seven games, with his league debut coming in a 1-0 defeat by Dundee on Tayside on 24 September 1988.
Dens Park, the Kilmac stadium or the Scot Foam stadium at Dens Park. Call it what you will, come tomorrow, when Celtic are due back at Dens for a vital league game, it will be a satisfyingly round number of 13,000dayssincetheparkhead visitors last lost at the ground. Or, if you prefer, 34 league and cup trips ago.
Next season is meant to be Dundee’s last season at Dens before moving to a new stadium on the outskirts of the city. Although that still seems some way off – planning permission has yet to be granted – there might not be too many opportunities left to rectify this record after tomorrow afternoon, with Brendan Rodgers’ side’s visit coinciding with the 62nd anniversary of Dundee’s sole Scottish league championship win in 1962.
Celtic’s own ambitions of retaining this title could hinge on collecting all three points from Dens Park. There will be little surprise if they succeed. The last time the teams met Celtic scored six first-half goals in a 7-1 win, although that was at Parkhead, where Dundee have at least won this century (in 2001).
Dundee have not taken so muchasapointathomeagainst Celticsince2016.theyhavesuffered eight successive defeats since that 0-0 draw during Paul Hartley’s time in charge, scoring just three times.
The current Celtic manager was just 15 when Celtic last lost there. The Seoul Olympics were in full swing and Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister, had just delivered her 'Bruges speech', where she set out her opposition to the EEC transitioning into a federal power that would take powers away from its members – it’s said to have laid the path for Brexit.
In football, Celtic were still licking their wounds following a 5-1 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox. It partly explained why Rough was wearing the gloves at Dens as reigning champions Celtic sought to ignite a season that was already beginning to fray badly.
They had lost three of their opening five league games. One of them was their worst
Old Firm defeat for 28 years, with goalkeeper Ian Andrews enduring a nightmare that is still referenced today. If a goalkeeper has looked particularly culpable in a defeat, he’s often said to have had ‘an Ian Andrews’.
The Englishman lasted just two more matches – a 2-1 win over Hamilton Accies and a 3-1 defeat by Aberdeen.
Manager Billy Mcneill might have made the switch sooner but Rough was still recovering from a broken cheekbone. He was finally ready for the trip to Dundee having signed for Celtic as cover in the summer after Pat Bonner injured his back playing in the European Championships for the Republic of Ireland.
Mcneill’s SOS message was sent to Florida, where Rough, now 36, had headed after leaving Hibs to sign for Orlando Lions. Speaking this week, the former Scotland goalkeeper concedes he might still be there now if Bonner had not needed an operation. Rough's plans to retire to America had to be re-thought.
Not only was he being offered the chance to play for Celtic in the twilight of his distinguished career, it was also the opportunity to play in the European Cup for the first time, which he did – against Hungarian side Honved.
After making his Celtic debut against Ayr United in the Skol Cup, it was another month before Rough made his league bow at Dens. He was one of two big personnel changes made by Mcneill, who also dropped Mick Mccarthy for Lex Baillie. Dundee, meanwhile, were now under the charge of the lovably eccentric Dave Smith. They had started the season even less dynamically than Celtic and were still in search of their first win after five league games, one of which was a 3-0 home hammering by Dundee United.
Tommy Coyne, who had won the Golden Boot the previous season by scoring 33 goals, was still looking to get off the mark. Although Coyne had grown up in Govan – he lived on Broomloan Road, in the shadow of Ibrox – he was a Celtic supporter who had travelled to games with his father on the Govan Brighton Celtic supporters’ club bus.
“We used to go on the bus to places like Dundee on the old road, through Auchterarder, places like that,” he told The Scotsman in 2015. “I remember watching Jocky Scott, who signed me [for Dundee], in the ‘70s when Dundee had a great team,andi’dbeintheawayend.”
He might have been there when Celtic suffered a resounding defeat in April 1980, going down 5-1 to relegation-bound Dundee to giftwrap Aberdeen's first Premier
Seoul Olympics were in full swing and Margaret Thatcher had just delivered her ‘Bruges speech’
Division title under Alex Ferguson. Dundee's later troubles against Celtic were certainly not anticipated by another big win in 1987, when they scored four second-half goals to beat Davie Hay's visitors 4-1.
But long, winless runs can develop almost unnoticed, becoming as much to do with psychology as performance. Nevertheless, the current Dundee side might be as well-equipped as any to halt the extraordinary sequence as they chase a fifth-spot finish in the league. They held Celtic's title rivals Rangers to a goalless drawatdensintheirlastouting.
There was certainly something in the air on Wednesday night as Everton defeated Liverpool at Goodison to end a run of 12 winless home games against their rivals stretching back to 2010. With time running out and the wrecking ball set to swing at Goodison in just over 12 months’ time, it was one of their last chances to gain a derby victory at the Grand Old Lady.
Might there be something in the air at Dens Park tomorrow? Like Goodison, the old ground is on, it seems, borrowed time. Its much-criticised pitch has certainly seen better days.
One of them was a crisp Autumn afternoon in 1988. Steve Campbell funnelled the ball up the line to Keith Wright midway through the first half. Wright left Baillie for dead with a neat dummy and turn before crossing for Coyne, who converted with his left thigh at the near post. Rough was stranded.
It’s fair to say that Coyne's first-ever goal against his childhood team – he was wearing the hoops by the end of the season following a £500,000 move – has since accumulated considerable extra significance.