The day Claudio Caniggia,El Pajaro, “The Bird” signed for Dundee, will never be forgotten by those who lived through it. This was surely the icing on the cake in a season that had saw us start so promisingly then appear to lose our way. For me, the Caniggia saga sums up all that is good and bad about being a football fan. The ecstasy at his signing, the sheer magic, the pride and the overwhelming joy felt by all of the Dark Blue persuasion, could only be viewed in stark comparison with the utter feeling of devastation I felt on the day he left. But in between we were privileged to watch a master footballer in action. Some will say we didn’t win as many games with the Bird as we should have, they have their points, and they are entitled to them. But this is my story, they can write their own, and this is my viewpoints.
“Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.” Better to have witnessed this genius in action, even for a short time, than never to have seen him in the great Dark Blue. I, for one, have never saw a more entertaining, gifted, modest, hard working player EVER, play for my beloved Dundee. The results, somehow, become irrelevant, when I think back. To see him play was to instantly fall in love with all that is beautiful about the game of football. The day a world superstar came to Dens will go down as one of the highlights of my near 40 years of supporting Dundee.
And we mustn’t forget the other signing we made at about the same time. Beto Carranza, capped 9 times for Argentina, also signed on the dotted line, and though he was often under the shadow of his great countryman this wee man, too, would go on to excite and thrill us with his tricks, the amazing turns, the feints, the dummies, the dribbling skills and the often wonder class pass that created an opening. Two Argentine Internationals in a week, what could be more perfect.
Suddenly the sadness, the disappointment, all seemed to fritter away, Caballero would be back eventually and what a partnership this pairing would make. On a cold, sunny day on 15th October, busloads and cars made the journey north to see his debut. Dundee F.C. have had many crazy days in their history, but none can surely match this time for gaiety and colour at matches. Suddenly fans were unashamedly sporting blonde wigs and waving Argentine and Italian flags. This was halcyon days for a team so long under the shadow of relegation and lower league doom. When Ivano Bonetti gives us the lead with the most delightful of chips in the first half, the fans are in 7th heaven. Then came Claudio’s debut to the roars of the crowd, replacing the injured Steven Milne just on the stroke of half time. Carranza came on in the second half, but the moment we had all waited for came in injury time when Nemsadze picked out Caniggia who scored with the outside of his right foot to the great joy of the following support. Then came an emotional send off for Rab Douglas, and big Rab’s bow to the crowd and the rapturous applause he received could not be matched anywhere else. Here was a man on his way to Celtic, yet every fan to a man, woman and child rose to wish him well. What a day, what an hour and a half. The chips in Stonehaven on the way home tasted oh, so DEE-licious.
But, Dundee wouldn’t be Dundee if they didn’t raise our hopes to the heavens, only to plummet us back down again a week later. We lose two early goals to Motherwell, two badly defended headers and although a Caniggia wonder chip gives us a fighting chance we miss too many gilt edged chances and a poor result is our just reward.
On October 29th we travel to Dunfermline and with hopes high, we look for a good result to boost our league position, but it is not to be. We rely too much on the lone hopes of Claudio, still not fully fit, and like in so many games, the others in the team seem mesmerised by the great man’s presence and chose to give him the ball when others should have been involved so much more. A late Dunfermline goal by giant striker Moss gives them the points.
Live on Sky TV we then take on Hibs at Dens Park and though we go down 2-1 and don’t play all that badly the main talking point was the shocking refereeing by Douglas McDonald. Paul Fenwick of Hibs commits 14 fouls but isn’t even spoken to. Our whole team commited only 13 fouls, one less than Fenwick, yet we receive 3 bookings. They commit 25 fouls and don’t get one. When Tweed, Rocatti and Billio get in a real schoolboy type tangle in defence, gifting Hibs their opener through O’Neil, things look black, though Steven Tweed gains some revenge with a neat header from a Nemsadze free kick. But though we miss some good chances, Zitelli of Hibs scores the winner with an amazing overhead kick, and our one last chance, a good effort by Sara is tipped over the bar by Colgan. On 11th November we make the short trip to Tannadice to try to get a result after 3 defeats in a row. 4 in a row would be disastrous, especially to lose to our neighbours, and a lot of Dundee fans are a bit worried. But although we were losing by the odd goal our football had still been good and there’s an old saying in football, “the cream always rises to the top”. We went with pride intact but wondering what would happen if we lost.
(See Part 3 for the Tannadice derby which includes a gem from Caniggia and a memorable chip from Nemsadze. Who will ever forget the latter?)