This week Dundee entertain Celtic in the rearranged Premiership ficture and so we take a look at Morten Wieghorst who played for both clubs, scored the winner in a Dundee derby, played in a major cup final with Dundee and won the Premier Division with Celtic.
Wieghorst was also a hero for his country Denmark and while a player from a Scottish First Division side winning an international tournament with a top five FIFA ranked side may seem unlikely that is exactly what Dundee’s Morten Wieghorst twenty-one years ago. In 1995 the Danes won the King Fahd Cup which was known by that name before FIFA took over and renamed the tournament the Confederations Cup in 1997 and played between the continental champions in the summer, it was won by reigning European champions Denmark with Morten Weighorst featuring as first half substitute in the 2-0 final win over Argentina.
Wieghorst had made his debut for the Danish national team in August 1994 when he came on as a half time substitute and scored the winning goal in a 2-1 friendly win over Finland. Four months later he was called up to go to Saudi Arabia for the King Fahd Cup and came off the bench in the first group game against the hosts to score the deciding goal in a 2-0 win after playing a one-two with Rangers’ Brian Laudrup.
Wieghorst was born in Glostrup in Denmark on February 25th 1971 and he started his professional career with Lyngby Boldklub with whom he won the 1990 Danish Cup and 1992 Superliga title. Not long after that league success Morten was on his way to Scotland when Dundee chairman Ron Dixon financed the club record fee of £225,000 himself and the 6ft 3in midfielder was an instant hit when he scored a fabulous goal on his debut in Perth.
Wieghorst was a popular player at Dens and quickly became hugely influential in the Dark Blue midfield with his craft, guile and surging runs. He also had an eye for goal and proved that on his Dundee debut away to St Johnstone on December 2nd 1992. Dundee had lost an early goal before keeper Paul Mathers was sent off but after Steve Pittman equalised, the 6ft 3in Dane announced his entrance to the Scottish game when he ghosted past three players on the edge of the box before sending a low shot past the Saints keeper.
It was a wonderful goal but with diminutive striker Duncan Campbell between the sticks, Dundee went 4-2 behind before a late fight back saw the match thriller finish 4-4, giving Morten a debut to remember.
Wieghorst was a key man as Dundee retained their Premier Division status in their first season back in the top flight. In their second season however a combination of a bad start, a mistimed managerial change and the sale of key players contributed to Dundee finishing bottom despite some impressive performances from the Danish Under-21 internationalist.
Dundee were installed as favourites to secure an immediate return to the Premier League and come November they were top of the league and in the B&Q Challenge Cup Final where Morten played in the 3-2 extra time defeat to Airdrie at McDiarmid Park.
The following moth Dundee endured a dip in form and it was no coincidence that it came when Morten was away playing in the Confederations Cup. Missing four matches in Dundee’s promotion push, vital points were dropped with a 2-2 draw in Perth and a 1-0 loss at home to bogey team Airdrie and they were to prove costly.
At the end of the season Dundee missed out on the First Division title by just one point and the play-off on goal difference and on the last day of the season at Stranraer, Dundee needed a 7-0 win to at least reach the play-ff with Aberdeen but could only manage five with Morten scoring twice and then hitting the post late on.
The highlight of Morten’s time at Dens was undoubtedly the run to the Coca-Cola Cup Final eleven months after the Confederation Cup Final. In the first round Wieghorst netted Dundee’s first in a 6-0 romp over East Stirlingshire and was on the score sheet again in the next round when The Dee dispatched Premier Division Kilmarnock 3-1 at Dens.
In the quarter-final Dundee were drawn against another top tier side when Hearts came out of the hat after Dundee and it was a game in which Wieghorst was to be the hero and fondly remembered.
In an incredible night Dundee were ahead 2-0 and 3-2 before Hearts hit back to take the tie into extra-time and in the 94th minute Wieghorst brilliantly shimmied past a couple of defenders before firing a dipping, swerving shot into the roof of the Hearts’ net.
The Jambos equalised again however and the tie went to penalties and when Hearts’ keeper Henry Smith missed from twelve yards, Morten stepped up to to strike the decisive kick to send The Dee through 5-4 on penalties and spark a mini pitch invasion.
The lanky Dane had only played after passing a late fitness test but it would be his finest performance in a dark blue shirt in one of the most enthralling games ever seen at Dens. It was another memorable goal from Wieghorst and his manager Jim Duffy paid tribute to his man of the match performance when he told the press, “Morten was superb and his goal was nothing short of magnificent.”
Wieghorst was again superb in the semi-final when a 2-1 win over Airdrie at McDiarmid Park sent Dundee to their first major final in fifteen years and the week before the Hampden date with Aberdeen, Dundee were due to play Dundee United in a league match at Tannadice.
United had been relegated at the end of the previous campaign and were Dundee’s main rivals for promotion but by half-time were in dreamland with a 2-0 lead. Wieghorst was again pulling the strings and had been involved in both goals and three minutes into the second half was on the score sheet himself when he headed home a corner to make it 3-0. United however fought back to make it 3-2 but a nervy Dundee held on for a win meaning Morten had scored the winner in a derby in what would turn out to be his last league game for the club.
A week later he played his final game in a disappointing 2-0 defeat to The Dons in the League Cup Final and in the days that followed he was off to Celtic for a then club record fee received of £500,000 plus Barry Smith (who was valued at £100,000) as chairman Ron Dixon wanted to recoup his money.
Dixon had returned from his native Canada for the cup final but had demanded Morten was sold to finance some personal business but Jim Duffy persuaded his chairman to allow his star man to play at Hampden before moving to Celtic Park.
Wieghorst won the Premier Division with Celtic in 1998 and played for Denmark in the World Cup in France that summer but in 2000 he tragically developed a rare illness called Guillan-Barne syndrome which affects brain nerve endings. He did however bravely battle back to full health to play again for Celtic and Denmark and in 2002 he moved back to his homeland to sign for Brondby and was named Danish Player of the Year in 2003.
In 2005 he joined FC Nordsjælland and took over as manager a year later and in 2010 showed he still had affection for The Dee by offering to recommend players from Denmark to Dundee manager Gordon Chisholm whom he met when Nordsjælland drew Chisholm’s Queen of the South in the UEFA Cup in 2008.
Wieghorst won the Danish Cup with Nordsjælland in 2010, the club’s first ever trophy and won it again the following year and in 2011 he was appointed as the Danish Under-21 manager.
In February 2013 he teamed up with former international team mate Micheal Laundrup to become assistant manger of Swansea City and a month later the pair led the Welsh side to their first ever trophy in the League Cup Final win over Bradford.
He left The Swans a year later and in May 2014 became manager of Aarhus Gymnastikforening (AGF or AGF Aarhus) and led them to promotion back to the Danish top flight.
Wieghorst was a popular player at Dens and was one of the best players to wear the Dark Blues in the Nineties and is remembered for a number of memorable goals none more so than that stunning Coca-Cola Cup strike against Dens.
Honours at Dundee:
Coca-Cola Scottish League Cup runners-up: 1995/96
B&Q Scottish League Challenge Cup runners-up: 1994/95
Denmark international caps: 5
Appearances, Goals:
League: 86 + 3 subs, 11 goals
Scottish Cup: 7, 1 goal
League Cup: 8, 3 goals
Challenge Cup: 4 + 1 sub, 2 goals
Totals: 109, 17 goals
