Alex Kinninmonth 1941-2024
Everyone at Dundee Football Club was saddened to learn of the death of former player Alex Kinninmonth, who passed away last weekend aged 82. Kinninmonth spent almost a decade at Dens, making 167 appearances in the golden era of the Sixties and early Seventies, scoring against Cologne in the UEFA Cup and playing in the 1968 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-final.
Born in Methil in September 1941, Alex started his football career with juvenile side St Andrews Swifts before being spotted by Dundee scout Ally Gallagher playing for Blairgowrie Juniors. His Dundee debut came a month after the 1964 Scottish Cup Final against Rangers in the final game of the season as the Dark Blues defeated St Johnstone 5-1 at Dens in the Summer Cup
At the start of the following season the midfielder made his first appearance of the campaign at home to Falkirk in the League Cup and scored the first of his 25 goals for the club in a 4-1 win.
This was a Dundee squad full of legends and Scottish title winners such as Cox, Hamilton, Seith, Penman, Cousin, and Gilzean and after making his league debut four days later at Morton, had to wait a couple of years before really establishing himself in the team.
Season 1967/68 was a momentous one for the club as they reached the Scottish League Cup Final and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-final and Alex was an important member of the squad. Despite missing out on a cup final place, Alex featured in the Fairs Cup matches against DWS Amsterdam and Royal Liege before and after the Hampden date en route to the last four.
In the semi-final Dundee drew Don Revie’s Leeds United and Alex started the 1-1 first-leg draw, in front of 24,000 at Dens. At Elland Road Alex dropped to the bench but an Eddie Gray winner denied The Dee a place in the final.
Three years later Alex and Dundee were back in Europe in the newly revamped UEFA Cup and after playing in both legs of the 5-2 aggregate win over AB Copenhagen, the Dark Blues were drawn against old European Cup foes Cologne. Like Dundee’s last trip to West Germany, the first leg was controversial when in the first half Duncan Lambie had a goal disallowed for pushing an opponent. After the break the controversy continued as Cologne took a lead when Rupp’s short corner was dummied by Flohe, only for Rupp to take an illegal second consecutive touch and set up Sheermann to score. Dundee got back on level terms when Alex equalised on 75 minutes, but Lohr got a winner for Cologne seven minutes from time.
Alex started the second leg two weeks later in one of the greatest nights in Dens Park’s illustrious history. Looking to overturn the first-leg deficit, John Duncan levelled the tie with a header in the 12th minute. However, after 59 minutes The Dee looked down and out when goals from Simmet and Flohe gave the West Germans a 4-2 aggregate lead. John Duncan pulled one back ten minutes later and the big striker completed his hat-trick with six minutes left to make it 4-4. This would be enough to send the West Germans through on the new away goals rule and so Dundee put the Cologne goal under intense pressure. First Jim Steele and then John Duncan had shots cleared off the line before Bobby Wilson crashed home the winner in the dying seconds for a 4-2 win on the night and a 5-4 win on aggregate which The People’s Journal described it as “the greatest game of the century at Dens Park”.
A quirk of fate drew The Dee with another former European Cup opponent when they drew AC Milan in the third round. Alex started in the San Siro, but a 3-0 defeat gave the Dark Blues an uphill battle and despite a heroic 2-0 win at Dens, Dundee couldn’t force an equaliser and bowed the competition having given the Italian giants a wee scare.
In between the Cologne and Milan ties Alex scored his last goal for the club in a famous 3-2 win over Rangers at Ibrox. It would turn out to be Alex’s last season for Dundee as in February he made his last appearance in a 3-0 Scottish Cup 3rd-round win at home to Queen of the South.
The fourth round saw Alex as an unused substitute against Celtic and it was against Celtic that he was involved in a crazy incident at Dens in September 1966. Almost 28,000 fans were there to watch the Dark Blues take on the reigning champions and with the game perfectly balanced at 1-1, a linesman advised the referee that he was ill and would have to leave the stadium.
This was long before the days when a fourth official was on duty, so with no obvious replacement readily available, the referee decided he would ask Dundee substitute Alex Kinninmonth to run the line.
Alex told The Sunday Post in 2016: “Before I knew what was happening, I had the flag in my hand. Celtic manager Jock Stein wasn’t too pleased at first and raised an objection, but he then seemed to quickly change his mind and agreed that I should do the job.”
“I ran across the pitch to take up my position and Bertie Auld shouted: ‘Remember there are two teams on the park’. I just replied: ‘Are there?’”
Bertie shouldn’t have been too worried as Alex explained: “The referee told me just to watch the line and flag if the ball went out. He said he would take care of the rest, including offside decisions. My only previous experience of refereeing came when I helped with running youth clubs but, like most players, it wasn’t a big problem to take over. It was very unusual, though, and I always remember that afternoon.”
Alex’s stint as an official didn’t last for long – the main reason being that he was needed on the field. Bobby Wilson got injured and Alex was called back to the dugout by the manager Bobby Ancell so that he could appear on the field in his more usual role as a player.
He was briefly replaced as linesman by a mystery man in a lounge suit before Grade Two referee Bob Dearie appeared and completed the game. It was quite an afternoon for the Dundee substitute and Alex nearly made it an extra special one when he had a shot cleared off the line in the final minute.
At Dens Park however he will be remembered as an agile midfielder with a keen sense of the game and unwavering determination. His ability to read the game, combined with a physical prowess and technical skills made him popular with the Dundee support who were disappointed to see him move to Dunfermline Athletic in 1972.
After four years at East End Park where he won promotion with The Pars in 1973, Alex moved to Forfar Athletic before going on to manage Raith Rovers back in his native Fife.
Alex was married to his wife Ella and had three children Sandy, Steven and Kay and the thoughts of everyone at Dundee Football Club are with Alex’s family and friends at this sad time.
Dundee FC Appearances, Goals:
League: 110 + 19 subs, 17 Goals
Scottish Cup: 8 + 2 subs, 4 goals
League Cup: 17 + 2, 3 goals
Europe: 6 + 1 sub, 1 goal
Texaco Cup 1
Summer Cup: 1
Totals: 167, 25 goals
