Celtic out to avoid 77-year first after previous Dundee whitewash made it all the way to America

Celtic’s stuttering title defence owes much to the City of Discovery

The temptation to succumb to the Gambler’s Fallacy is very strong when predicting the outcome of the clash between Dundee and Celtic on Sunday afternoon.

This is the belief that if something has happened unusually regularly in the recent past, it cannot happen again. After being defeated three times in the city already this season, it seems barely credible that Martin O’Neill’s side could fail again.

Of course, it was not O’Neill’s side on the first of these visits. Brendan Rodgers was still in charge for the 2-0 defeat in September, Celtic’s first loss at Dens Park since 1988. It seems like another age ago when Rodgers made that memorable comparison, likening trying to make Celtic competitive at the highest level to being handed the keys to a Honda Civic and being asked to drive it like a Ferrari. It was only six months ago. What's happened to Celtic in the meantime could fill a book.

Celtic were beaten 2-0 at Dens Park in October. | SNS Group

By the time the Parkhead side returned to Dundee—to the other side of the road this time— Wilfried Nancy, Rodgers’ successor, was already fighting to save his job. He too made a memorable statement while standing in a cold concourse behind the Eddie Thompson Stand. It was close to 11pm. Celtic had let a 1-0 half-time lead slip, losing 2-1.

Pressed on whether his lack of knowledge about Scottish football was proving hard to overcome, Nancy replied: “I know Scottish football….I was close to signing for Carlisle when I was a player. I know exactly where I am.”

Having lost the League Cup final against St Mirren days earlier, there already seemed no way back. So it proved. Although Nancy stumbled on for a few games, winning consecutively against Aberdeen and Livingston, defeats at Motherwell and then against Rangers proved fatal.

Given Celtic have now lost eight times in the league, it’s hard to believe the defeat to Dundee in October, following a protest involving balls being thrown into the penalty area at the away end, was the first.

A fourth defeat in Dundee this season in this relatively short space of time would be another major low. As it stands it’s already three defeats. Although O’Neill avoided a trip to the city in his first spell in interim charge, he suffered like Rodgers and Nancy last month on a pitch that could stand as a metaphor for the state of relations between Celtic fans and the club's board: threadbare.

Many travelling supporters confronted club officials at the final whistle after the 2-0 defeat that means O’Neill’s side are in the last chance saloon on Sunday when it comes to retaining their title. The aggregate score currently stands at: A single street in Dundee 6 Celtic 1.

Emmanuel Agyei puts Dundee United 2-0 up on Celtic at Tannadice last month. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group

Celtic have not endured such anguish in the City of Discovery since they were beaten in both Tannadice trips in 1988-89. As now, they were reigning champions. They also lost at Dens Park in the same season, with Tommy Coyne scoring the winner past Alan Rough. Dundee then fell under a spell where whatever they did, however close they came, they just could not get the better of the visitors from Parkhead at Dens. A 3-3 draw last season underlined this. Celtic equalised in stoppage time from the penalty spot.

Goals from Clark Robertson and an own goal from Cameron Carter-Vickers finally ended the hex in October. Dundee haven’t managed back-to-back home league wins over Celtic since 1958, although these victories spanned two seasons. One must go back to 1948-49 for the last time Celtic were whitewashed in Dundee. Admittedly, they were required to visit only twice. One trip was a first round Scottish Cup loss to then second tier United.

“A Cup giant was slain at Dundee,” was the headline on the front page of the Sunday Mail. Later in the season Celtic returned to the city on league duty in a match that took place on a Monday night because Scotland had played England at Wembley on the Saturday, securing a famous 3-1 win.

“No invasion by Celtic fans,” noted the Dundee Evening Telegraph on the evening of the game on 11 April 1949. The Spring holiday action at Dens brought only “a sprinkling of Celtic fans to the city”. There was, though, some novelty in the fact the action was being filmed by a visitor from America “to give sportsmen there an idea of some of the moves on the field and to help young footballers”.

Dundee won 3-2 thanks to a brace from Syd Gerrie to supplant Rangers at the top of the league. As the United States gets set to host another World Cup this summer along with Mexico and Canada, it’s amusing to think the development of the game in that country could owe something to a windy afternoon at Dens Park 77 years ago, almost to the day.

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