As Dundee take on Kilmarnock at Dens this weekend, we take a look at Kenny Cameron who played for both clubs and who scored one of the best goals ever scored at the National Stadium.
When picking out the greatest goals scored in the history of Dundee Football Club there can be few better than the goal scored by Kenny Cameron in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden in 1964. Within a minute of Rangers taking the lead in front of 120,982 spectators, Dundee went straight up the park and scored a terrific goal when Cameron volleyed past Billy Ritchie in the Ibrox men’s net.
Cameron had actually kicked off the 1964 Final but it was his strike in the 71st minute that has gone down in the annals of history as one of the best goals the National Stadium has ever seen.
When Jimmy Millar put Rangers ahead in the 70th minute, it took Dundee only 60 seconds to restore parity when they equalised straight from kick off. Cameron himself took the restart and played it forward to Alan Cousin who passed it back to Alec Stuart who took two touches before launching it forward into the Rangers half.
Rangers captain John Greig went forward to meet the long ball about 35 yards out but he completely misjudged it and headed it backwards high into the air into his own box where Dundee’s number 9 Kenny Cameron was lurking.
As the ball dropped over his shoulder, Kenny took a touch with his right foot and before the ball could hit the deck, he spun and hit a superb volley with his left which flew high over the Rangers keeper and into the top right hand corner of the net.
It was simply a stunning goal which was too quick for the British Pathé News cameras which missed it but it was caught by Scottish Television’s coverage and almost made their commentator Arthur Montford speechless. Montford stops in mid sentence and says, “and it’s a goal! Cameron scores for Dundee! What a goal, what a final, what a match! Two goals in 45 seconds!”
Ultimately it wasn’t enough as two goals in the last 90 seconds from Millar and Henderson were enough to take the cup back to Govan but Kenny’s goal lives long in the memory. In an online millennium poll in 2000 it was voted the third best goal ever scored at Hampden behind Davie Cooper’s free kick against Aberdeen in the 1987 Skol Cup Final and Kenny Dalgleish’s goal against Spain in a World Cup qualifier in 1984 which equaled Dennis Law’s scoring record for Scotland.
But there was so much more to Kenny Cameron’s Dundee career than his cup final goal as he scored 71 goals in 118 appearances over five years.
Born in the city on July 2nd 1943, Cameron joined the Dark Blues from Blairgowrie and made his debut for the current Scottish League champions in a League Cup sectional tie against Dundee United in August 1962. It was the best of matches to pull on a dark blue shirt for the first time as Dundee ran out 2-1 winners but with a team full of stars who would reach the European Cup semi-final that season, the 19 year old was restricted to just five more appearances that campaign.
His chances of ousting the likes of Gilzean, Cousin and Penman from the striking berths were slim but Kenny showed his potential with three goals in three league starts, getting his first goal for the club when he netted the winner in a 2-1 victory over Partick Thistle at Dens, three days after his team mates had beaten Anderlecht 2-1 in the European Cup quarter-final second leg.
Season 1963/64 saw Cameron establish himself in the side, scoring 22 goals in 28 starts but he was third top scorer behind Andy Penman who scored 30 and Alan Gilzean who netted a club record 52 goals.
That season culminated in Kenny scoring in the Scottish Cup Final but despite that defeat Dundee had qualified for the European Cup Winners’ Cup with Rangers also winning the Scottish League title. After a bye in the first round, Dundee met Real Zaragoza in the second and Kenny played in the second leg in the Spain where The Dee lost 2-1 to go out 4-3 on aggregate.
Throughout his career at Dens Park Cameron faced stiff competition for a starting place and after another two seasons which produced 28 goals in 68 appearances, he decided to try his luck elsewhere and signed for Kilmarnock for £10,000 in the summer of 1967.
Before he left Kenny scored some memorable goals including a brace in a 2-0 win over Celtic, a double in a 9-2 win over St Mirren and a single in a 9-1 win over East Fife and he became Dundee’s first ever substitute when he replaced Alex Bryce on the first day of the season after 30 minutes in a League Cup derby at Tannadice on August 16th 1966.
More notably against Dundee United however, he got a double in a 3-1 League Cup win at Tannadice in September 1965, the winner in a 1-0 victory in October and the first in a 4-1 win at Dens 12 months later and in total scored six goals against The Arabs.
It is slightly ironic therefore that Kenny would go on to make a name for himself further down Sandeman Street when he signed for Dundee United after only a year in Ayrshire and he holds the distinction of being the first United player to be the leading League scorer in the top division as well as scoring 63 times in his six years at Tannadice.
Cameron left United in 1974 to join Montrose whom he later managed but returned to Tannadice in 1981 and gave 15 years service as first coach and then chief scout before leaving to take charge of Junior side Dundee St Joseph’s.
In 1997 St Joseph’s owners Peter and Jimmy Marr took over at Dens Park and one of their first acts was to bring their successful manager with them and appoint Cameron, who had been highly regarded as an SFA staff coach at Largs as Head of Youth Development.
Kenny remained at Dens until the club went into administration in November 2003 where he was the victim of the cost cutting guillotine and was among 25 Dundee employees who sadly lost their jobs.
Kenny’s son Dougie also spent three years at Dens between 2002 and 2005 but it was his Dad’s strike in the Scottish Cup Final 40 years before that Kenny would forever be remembered for at Dens and considering the enormity of the occasion and the special nature of the goal, it is without doubt one of the greatest goals ever scored by Dundee FC, if not the greatest.
Honours at Dundee:
Scottish Cup runners-up: 1964
Appearances, Goals:
League: 75 + 4 subs, 48 goals
Scottish Cup: 11, 8 goals
League Cup: 15 + 1 sub, 9 goals
Europe 1
Other: 11, 6 goals
Totals: 118, 71 goals
