News From Dens Park........................

Kenny Miller has left the club by mutual consent, Kenny joined Dundee last August and scored 8 goals in 35 appearances.

Jesse Curran has left the club, and will return to Australia, where he will continue his football. Jesse played 53 games for the club , and scored two goals.

Scott Robertson has joined Dundee as the club’s Head of Professional Programme. In the role, Scott will be in charge of the Under 18 squad and help with the pathway from the Academy to the First Team. Scott played for the club over a 100 times and came through the youth ranks at Dens.

Dave Mackay has today been appointed as First Team Coach and Head of Opposition Analysis. Dave is a player who came through the youth ranks at Dundee and played over 100 times including in the 2003 Scottish Cup Final and European fixtures. 

Shaun Byrne 

Dundee have signed Shaun Byrne from Livingston for an undisclosed fee. Midfielder Shaun signs for the club after a successful period with Livingston. In his first season he helped them to the League One title and followed that up with promotion to the Premiership through the Play Offs in 2017/18.

Last season in the Premiership he impressed in his 32 appearances in the top flight. Prior to Livingston, Shaun played over 100 times for Dunfermline having progressed through the East End Park’s youth academy. 

He signs for the club on a three year deal with an option of a further year and will wear squad number 8.

Jordan Marshall

Jordan Marshall has signed for Dundee on a two year deal. 22 year old Jordan joins after spending the last four seasons with Queen of the South in the SPFL Championship. 

He started his career in the Carlisle United Academy and moved to the Dumfries side in 2015.The left back went on to play over 130 times with Queens. 

Jordan McGhee

Dundee have signed Jordan McGhee. Defender Jordan signed after leaving Falkirk where he was club captain. He broke into the Heart of Midlothian first team in 2013 when he was just 16 and went on to play over 70 times for the Tynecastle club. 

Jordan spend time on loan at Middlesboro, then in 2017 he joined Falkirk and played 79 times for the bairns.  Jordan has signed a two year deal with the club and will wear number 3 in the 2019/20 season.

Dundee FC Pre-Season Games :

29th June – Brechin City, Glebe Park, 1pm. 

2nd July – Nottingham Forest, Pinatar Arena, 6.30pm (Local Time). 

5th July – Scunthorpe United, Spain, Closed Door. 

9th July – Blackpool, Kilmac Stadium at Dens Park, 7.45pm.

Jimmy Johnstone ..................

Someone at work did not believe that Jimmy Johnstone played for Dundee in the mid late 1970's. I knew that he had a brief spell at Dundee when Tommy Gemmell was Manager.

Jimmy only played one full game against Airdrie at Dens opening game of 1977-78 season. The following week he was substituted later at Tynecastle, and himself a sub in the third league game against Stirling Albion. 

Jimmy was at dens for two months but failed to settle at the club, he left by mutual agreement.

Declan McDaid Signs For The Dee..............

Declan McDaid

Dundee have signed Declan McDaid on a two year deal. The winger played last season at Ayr United. Declan started at Morton at youth level, then onto Partick Thistle, then onto Ayr United where he played 88 games, and 13 goals for the Somerset side. 

Declan can play on both wings which will help Dundee for the coming season. I'm very happy with this signing, hopefully more will follow in the next two weeks.

News From Dens......................

Dundee will head to a training camp in Spain, they will play a game on the 2nd of July, more details will be released by the club.

Cammy Kerr

CammyKerr has signed a new two year deal with the club, Cammy had offers from other clubs, but he wanted to stay at Dens. A good bit of business and hopefully he will get back to his best after a up and down time last season.

Dundee will play Brechin City (Away) on the 29th of June, the game kicks off at 1pm

Dundee will play the following games in the Betfred Cup:

Sat 13th July- Raith Rovers v Dundee 3pm
Wed 17th July- Cove Rangers v Dundee  7:45pm
Sat 20th July- Dundee v Peterhead 3pm
Sun 28th July- Dundee v Inverness Caley Th 3pm (Live on BT Sport)

New Manager James McPake

James McPake has been named new manager of Dundee Football Club, Jimmy Nicholl has been brought in as his No 2.I'm happy enough with the appointment and now the hard work starts for James and his background staff. 

It will be a tough season for the club next season, as we need to build a side capable of winning games. Not always playing great football, sometimes you need just to grind out results. We also need to make Dens Park a fortress for the coming season.

Dinner Photos...........

Nathan Ralph

James McPake

Alan Rough

Keith Wright and Steven Tweed

Brian Irvine

Gordan Wallace

Matt Lockwood

Bobby Geddes

Iain Ferguson

Fellow  Top Dee Willie

Player of the Year

I enjoyed the player of the year dinner last Sunday, it was good to meet up with fellow members of the Andy Penman Fife Dark Blues and other fellow Dees.

It was a successful night for Nathan Ralph at the annual DSA Player of the Year awards on Sunday evening as he picked up both the Player’s Player of the Year award and the Andrew De Vries Player of the Year.

The De Vries trophy is voted for by the clubs supporters and is the official club Player of the Year award. Nathan picked up all but one of the awards from the individual supporters club.

Callum Moore was presented with the Isobel Sneddon Young Player of the Year award. Captain for the Reserve team this season, Callum broke into the first team and made his debut for the club in the 2-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle in January. 

Goal of the season was awarded to Scott Wright for his stunning free kick which gave the club victory over Livingston earlier this year. It was also good to see a few ex players who all talked of their time at Dens Park. 

St Mirren Photos..........

Dundee 2, St Mirren 3, Dens Park, Ladbrokes Premiership, 18-May-19

Following Jim McIntyre leaving the club last week it was James McPake who has taken over for the last game of the season. He made two changes to the side which won at Livingston, Jack Hamilton came back into goals, and 16 year old Finn Robertson made his debut.

Dundee started well and took the lead after a neat move and quick pass from Paul McGowan and the on rushing Cammy Kerr smashed the ball home to silence the big St Mirren support. 

St Mirren attacked Dundee well but failed to get any real efforts on goal apart when Hamilton made a fine save to deny McAllister. Dundee were down to 10 men after 20 minutes when Darren O'Dea lost control and he fouled Lyons it was deemed a red card offence. It was Darren's last game for Dundee and as a full time player.

Dundee got to half time 1-0 up but it looked like St Mirren had settled and it would be a tough second half for the dark blues.

St Mirren made a change at half-time with Cody Cooke coming on which looked like they were going to give it a real go in this second 45 minutes. They levelled early in the second half when a neat cross to the back post was headed home by Cooke. It looked like Hamilton could have done better but the ball slipped in at the post and bar. 

Soon after and Hamilton saved well when it looked a certain goal, but it was just delayed for 5 minutes or so . Again slack play from the defence and Cooke fired the ball home to the delight of the away fans.

Dundee made changes 3 in total, but as thinks have went against us for most of the season Kusunga went down injured and could not carry on. Dundee were now down to 9 men.

Dundee levelled the game when great play from defence saw Robson break clear , and his superb pass was finished by Scott Wright for a superb Dundee goal. But 2 minutes later Cooke completed his hat-trick when he shot home from 16 yards which Hamilton  could not stop. 

St Mirren saw the game out and they will now play United in the final to see if they can stay in the Premiership. They look to me a much better side now that last year. 

For us Dundee fans it has been a long hard season and my Sons Andrew and Alexander have not too much to shout about. It was Alexander's 4th Birthday today and he was at the game today. 

Dundee: Hamilton, Kusunga, Ryan McGowan, O’Dea, Kerr (c), Robson, Robertson (Mulligan 70), Ralph, Paul McGowan, Nelson (Curran 55), Miller (Wright 64. Unused Subs: Dieng , Meekings, Anderson, Cameron. 

Att: 5,595

Ref: Andrew Dallas

Livi Photos ..............

Livingston 0, Dundee 1, Ladbrokes Premiership, 11-May-19

Last away game was at Livingston and after last week's result, this was a meaning less game. I decided to go as it was already planned to meet up with Mike Taylor who was down from Shetland for his Birthday weekend. Mike was joined by his Son and Daughter Andrew and Amy, and Dean. So we all enjoyed a few beers, food and the game. We had some more beers after the game with some other fellow Dees.

To the game and it was pretty end of season fare, the game was settle early on when Kenny Miller did well to get clear and a clever finish gave Dundee the lead. 

During the 90 minutes Dundee were rarely troubled and ran out comfy winners. Not much else to say but it was good to finally end the losing run which is the worse I have known in my 39 years following Dundee. 

Dundee: Dieng, Kusunga, Ryan McGowan, O’Dea, Kerr, Robson, Woods(c), Ralph, Paul McGowan (Wright 43), Nelson (Jesse Curran 84), Miller (O’Sullivan 57). Unused Subs: Hamilton, Horsfield, Anderson, Moore.

Att:1,374

Ref: Alan Newlands

Hamilton Photos..............

Dundee 1, Hamilton Accies 1, Dens Park, Ladbrokes Premiership, 04-May-19

Dundee were today relegated to the SPFL Championship with a 1-0 defeat to Hamilton at Dens. Manager Jim McIntyre made three changes with Darren O'Dea, James Horsfield and John O'Sullivan replaced Nathan Ralph, who is injured, and Jesse Curran and Craig Curran who were on the bench.

Both teams struggled early on as the game did not have the feel of a crunch game for both sides. The Accies were happy to slow the game down and waste time. Dundee did have a couple of efforts on goal when Cammy Kerr's shot flew just over the bar. 

The second half was much the same but Hamilton looked more likely to score and Seny Dieng kept Dundee in the game with a couple of good saves. With 7 minutes to go they got a penalty which looked a bit soft but a silly challenge from McGowan. Tony Andreu made no mistake to give Accies the lead. They finished the game well, with little fight from Dundee. 

So back to the Championship for the club, they have been awful all season apart from a few games which sadly gave us fans some false hope. But they were never able to follow with a few results in a row. 

The last time we went down there were tears ect, but not this time we deserved to go down. It's the worst season I have seen in my time watching the club. At the moment the club seems to be a utter shambles. A lot of work needs to be done behind the scenes for next season to be successful.

I just hope the board make the right decisions and it will be a difficult league to get out of. 

Dundee: Dieng, Kusunga (Craig Curran at half time), Ryan McGowan, O’Dea, Horsfield, Kerr, Robson, Woods, O’Sullivan (Jesse Curran 77), Wright, Nelson (Miller 66). Unused Subs: Hamilton, Hadenius, Moore.

Att: 4,662

Ref: Nick Walsh

Motherwell Photos.....

Motherwell 4, Dundee 3, Fir Park, Ladbrokes Premiership, 27-April-19

Dundee made four changes for the game at Fir Park, Genseric Kusunga, Martin Woods, Jesse Curran and Andrew Nelson came in for Darren O’Dea, Paul McGowan, John O’Sullivan and Kenny Miller, who were all on the bench. 

Dundee started well and they took the lead on 11 minutes Cammy Kerr was blocked going into the box and the Referee pointed to the spot. Up stepped Martin Woods to give Dundee a vital lead.

Motherwell levelled within a couple of minutes Turnbull was allowed to run with out a challenge and his shot was wickedly defected off Kusunga and it ended in  the net.

Dundee kept playing football and they took the lead again on 22 minutes a flowing move and the ball fell nicely for Ethan Robson and after a quick turn he curled in a beauty for a great goal. But as before Motherwell levelled again this time slack defending and Scott was able to hook the ball home.

The game settled down a bit and both team played nice football. It was all square at the break and it was good to see Dundee score twice as goals has been very hard to come by lately.

Second half and Dundee started well again and should have taken the lead to Robson's shot was turned onto the post with the goal gaping. 

Motherwell took the lead when Ariyibi the ball fell nicely in the box and he finished well, But this time Dundee hit back to make it 3-3, a Woods corner was headed home by Nathan Ralph with a superb header. 

Soon after Motherwell were down to 10 men when McHugh was sent off, Dundee went close again but Kusunga's glancing header hit the inside of the post and came out.

As the game looked to finished in a draw Motherwell grabbed a injury time winner David Turnbull hit the bar with a shot, but he regained his composure to score from the rebound to give the Fir park Club all three points.

With Hamilton and St Mirren both taking a point it was a soar one to take. I would have liked Dundee putting on another striker and taking a defender off.

Dundee: Dieng, Kerr, Ryan McGowan, Kusunga, Ralph (Horsfield 75), Jesse Curran, Robson, Woods(c) (Moore 81), Wright, Craig Curran, Nelson (Miller 75). Unused Subs: Parish, O’Dea, O’Sullivan, Paul McGowan.

Ref: Kevin Clancy

Att: 3,662

Perth Photos....