Dundee travel to Glasgow on Wednesday to take on Celtic in the rearranged Ladbrokes Premiership match and so we take a look at a player who played for both clubs, midfielder Steve Murray.
Murray was born in Dumbarton on October 9th 1944 and started his football career with local side St Particks before joining Bob Shankly’s Dundee in 1963.
Shankly gave him his debut on March 18th 1964 in front of just 802 fans in a 3-1 defeat to Airdrieonians playing alongside the likes of Bobby Cox, Bobby Seith and Alan Cousin.
His second appearance saw him make his home debut in a 5-2 win against Partick Thistle the week before the Scottish Cup Final. He didn’t make the XI to play against Rangers at Hampden but played in three of the six Summer Cup ties and the following season became a first team regular starting 27 times.
Murray scored his first goal for the club at home to Kilmarnock in October and the following month was on target again when he scored the second in a 2-0 win over Celtic at Parkhead.
Four days after that win in Glasgow, Murray headed Dundee into an early goal against Real Zaragoza in the European Cup Winners Cup at Dens only for the Spaniards to reply with a lightening quick double midway through the first half.
Two minutes from time Doug Houston grabbed a first leg equaliser but in the return in Zaragoza, in which Murray played, Real won 2-1 to go through 4-3 on aggregate despite Hugh Robertson putting Dundee in front early on.
The following year, with Bobby Ancell now in charge at Dens, Murray struck up an excellent midfield partnership with Charlie Cooke, often switching places and made 41 appearances, the second most of any Dundee player behind Jim Easton.
Season 1966/67 saw Murray make the most Dark Blue appearances of 39 and it ended in European qualification despite finishing sixth as the rules of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup dictated that only one club from a city could enter. Third placed Clyde therefore had to miss out with Rangers qualifying in second and Dundee made the most of their unexpected opportunity by going all the way to the semi-final.
Murray played in all eight ties against DWS Amsterdam, Royal Leige, FC Zurich and Leeds United who ended the Dark Blues dream with 2-1 aggregate win in the last four.
That season also saw Dundee reach the League Cup Final and Murray lined up against Celtic at Hampden in October after featuring in all nine ties en route, scoring the winner in the quarter-final 1st leg 1-0 win over East Fife at Bayview.
In one of the best finals ever seen at the National Stadium, Dundee went down 5-3 to the reigning European champions in front of 66,000 with around 10,000 Dundee fans in the crowd with the energetic Murray being one of Dundee’s best performers.
The following season Dundee reached the League Cup semi-final again where they lost to Bob Shankly’s Hibs and Murray played in eight of the nine ties. By then John Prentice had replaced Bobby Ancell in charge and he appointed Steve Murray as captain; the youngest Dundee skipper to that point.
Murray continued to be influential in the Dundee midfield and by March 1970 the Dark Blues had reached the Scottish Cup semi-final where they met Celtic. There was a shock for The Dees who had travelled to Hampden however when they discovered their skipper had failed a late fitness test.
Dundee went on to lose 2-1 but there was more bad news within hours of the final whistle when Murray, who had signed a new two year deal the previous summer was sold to Aberdeen for a Dons club record fee of £50,000.
Murray would spend the next three years in the Granite City but would miss their 1970 Scottish Cup Final win having been cup tied with The Dee. He won his solitary cap for Scotland in a 1-0 European Championship qualifying win against Belgium at Pittodrie and would be appointed captain of The Dons when Martin Buchan left for Manchester United
In May 1973 Murray signed for Celtic for another £50,000 fee and made his debut that month against Leeds United in Jackie Charlton’s testimonial.
Bobby Murdoch’s departure to Middlesbrough in September paved the way for Murray to take over Bobby’s role in the centre of Celtic’s midfield. It was said that Jock Stein wanted a more mobile midfield for the modern game of the 1970’s and Steve blended in superbly with his midfield associates Davie Hay, Tommy Callaghan and, occasionally, Kenny Dalglish or Pat McCluskey.
Steve made a great impression with the Celtic supporters with great displays at Ibrox in the two victories over Rangers in August and September of 1973. He made it a hat trick of wins against Rangers in December when Celtic won the League Cup semi final at Hampden by 3-1 but lost the final ten days later to his old side Dundee, who took the cup back to Tayside thanks to Gordon Wallace’s winner.
In March 1974 Celtic reached the quarter final of the European Cup against the Swiss champions Basle and with game finely balanced at 5-5 on aggregate, Murray sent a clever header looping high over the despairing goalkeeper in the 8th minute of extra time to win the tie..
In April 1974 Steve won his first and only league title as Celtic clinched their ninth successive League championship at Brockville in a 1-1 draw and one week later he scored the crucial second goal in the 1974 Scottish Cup final against Dundee United in Celtic’s fine 3-0 success.
Murray shocked Scottish Football when he declined the opportunity to play with Scotland, which was a surprise considering Scotland’s participation in the 1974 World Cup finals was approaching. However, he cited family reasons for not going as he was travelling regularly with Celtic and also had banking exams to contend with at the time.
Steve started the 1974/75 season in fine fashion and scored against Rangers at Hampden in August when Celtic won the Drybrough Cup on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Steve also scored in the shoot out and was now Celtic’s regular penalty taker.
He scored the only goal in the League Cup semi final against Airdrie in October and in the final scored Celtic’s sixth as they demolished Hibs 6-3. Steve now had a League Cup winners medal after losing finals with both Dundee and Celtic and added a Scottish Cup winners medal when Celtic beat Airdrie in the final in Billy McNeil’s last game
Steve had problems with a toe injury throughout 1975 and in the summer it was announced that he would retire as the damage was too severe to carry on.
After retiring, Murray joined Dundee United in 1979 as a scout but after having acupuncture treatment was able to resume his playing career and made three league appearances which included appearing as a substitute in the Scottish League Cup Final against Aberdeen at Hampden but was dropped for the replay at Dens.
In 1980, Murray began his managerial career with Forfar Athletic, but resigned one training session and three days later. He returned to management two years later with Montrose but left to pursue a career in banking
He then returned to former club Dundee United as assistant manager in July 1989 but had a fall-out with then manager Jim McLean who Murray had played alongside in the 1967 League Cup Final. Murray left before the end of the year later winning a “substantial sum” in a court action.
Nowadays Murray enjoys painting and has assisted with the coaching at the Dundee Academy along side his son Tony. Steve was commissioned by Celtic to do some paintings for the 50th anniversary of their European Cup triumph in Lisbon and had done a painting of Gordon Wallace’s 1973 League Cup winner, when Steve was on the opposing side, which hangs in John Nelms’ office at Dens Park.
Honours with Dundee:
Scottish League Cup runners-up: 1967/68
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-finals: 1967/68
Appearances, Goals:
League: 179, 18 goals
Scottish Cup: 10
League Cup: 38, 2 goals
Europe: 10, 1 goal
Other: 3
Totals: 240, 21 goals
