Played for Dundee and Partick Thistle – Jim Duffy

Dundee travel to the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill on Saturday to take on Partick Thistle in the Ladbrokes Premiership and so we take a look a local Maryhill boy who played for both clubs, Jim Duffy.

Duffy has been a tremendous servant to Dundee Football Club in his various roles as player, coach, assistant manager and manager in his four spells at Dens Park.

When he returned to Dundee to start his second stint in the manager’s chair in July 2002 he claimed that it felt like he was returning home and said; “Sometimes you have a place that continuously draws you back and you don’t know why. For me that seems to be Dens Park and I am delighted to return to what must be my spiritual home.”

Jim first joined Dundee in 1985 when the then manager Archie Knox secured something of a coup by signing the Scottish Players’ Player of the Year from Greenock Morton.

He was a tremendous centre-half for Dundee and a rock in a Dark Blue jersey and a solid, albeit ‘thin on top’ inspiration not just to the fans but to all around him. Only the wealth of talent in the Scottish defence at the time prevented him from gaining any full international caps but he did earn one at Under-21 level when he captained Scotland against Eire as an over age player. Surely if he was still playing nowadays, he would not only be an automatic choice but also the captain and the mainstay of the team.

Jim’s playing career was of course cruelly curtailed when a knee injury forced him to give up the game in 1987 and a testimonial match against a Premier League Select in December seemed to be a final farewell to a Dundee hero.

But in 1990, against all the odds, after a spell managing Falkirk, Jim returned to a Dark Blue jersey and immediately it was like he had never been away. “If only he had returned earlier, we would not”, as the then manager Gordon Wallace lamented, “have been relegated.”

After returning to his native Maryhill at the end of the season, to turn out over 70 times for Partick Thistle, Jim returned to Dens for a third time as Simon Stainrod’s playing / assistant before taking on the big job himself as player / manager in 1993. In his first spell as manager Jim led Dundee to the League Cup Final and then to the semi the following season (after knocking out United at Tannadice), which was tremendous feat for a First Division side.

His second spell at the helm saw him lead Dundee to the their first Scottish Cup Final since the days of Bob Shankly, capture a top six place and qualify for Europe for the first time in 29 years.

In both spells Jim fought against financial constraints to lead Dundee to Hampden and literally helped keep them afloat. During his first tenure, Duff dipped into his own pocket at times to help pay the players wages and had the ridiculous situation of having a chairman, who came back from his native Canada for the Coca-Cola Cup Final, demanding that one of his best players be sold before The Dee went to the National Stadium. Jim persuaded Ron Dixon to keep hold of Morten Weighorst until the day after the big game and got the club double the money from Celtic and Dundee legend Barry Smith as part of the deal to boot!

Before the 1995 semi-final against Airdrieonians, Jim was told that Dundee simply had to reach the League Cup Final to survive and must have been under tremendous pressure. Eight years later Jim was again under severe pressure as Dundee were again in the financial mire, lurching into Administration and he quickly became the heart and soul of the club. He must have wondered which spirit lured him to Dens Park for a fourth time.

He carried the flag superbly against impossible odds and in the media he portrayed and projected the club immensely well and showed tremendous loyalty to The Dee as the vultures circled to try and lure Duff away, including old club Partick Thistle. He took it upon himself to personally inform the staff who were released and there is no doubt that the first Administration would have been a lot, lot worse without James Duffy.

Jim Duffy was a tremendous player for Dundee and played 238 times (plus one substitute appearance) scoring two goals, both of which were penalties. He also scored the winning goal in a penalty shoot-out away to Caledonian Thistle in the B&Q Cup in 1994, after which he shook the hand of every Dundee fan present, apologising for a poor display – it was the measure of the man. He was also therefore a fantastic leader who is the only man to in the last 37 years to take Dundee to a major cup final and did it twice.

Duffy also reared some great young players for the club, including current manager Neil McCann as well as Jim Hamilton, Iain Anderson and Gavin Rae, some of whom were sold to simply allow the club to survive.

Duffy is currently plying his managerial trade at his first club Greenock Morton and is doing a great job, having won League One and promotion back to the second tier in 2015 before leading them into the Championship play offs last year. He was nominated for PFA Manager of the Year and won the Ladbrokes Championship Manager of the Year ahead of the title winning Hibernian manager Neil Lennon.

History therefore will be very, very kind to Jim Duffy and he deserves recognition as one of the all-time great figures in the club’s history and he was inducted into Dundee FC Hall of Fame in 2010 with a Legends Award.

Honours at Dundee:

Dundee FC Hall of Fame: 2010 Legends Award

(As Player)

Scotland Under-21 caps: 1

(As Player / Manager)

Coca-Cola League Cup runners-up: 1995/96

B&Q Challenge Cup runners-up: 1994/95

(As Manager)

Tennent’s Scottish Cup runners-up: 2003

Appearanes, Goals:

League: 199, 2 goals

Scottish Cup: 17

League Cup: 14 + 1 sub

SFL Challenge Cup: 8

Totals: 239, 2 goals

Managerial Record With Dundee

P W D L F A Pts

League: 214 69 61 84 275 293 260

Scottish Cup: 16 7 3 6 22 18

League Cup: 19 10 2 7 41 17

Europe: 4 2 0 2 7 3

SFL Challenge Cup: 12 8 1 3 28 16

Totals: 265 96 67 102 373 347