Dundee host Partick Thistle on Saturday so we take a look at a player who played for both clubs, Gordon Chisholm.
Chisholm’s five year playing career at Dens Park saw him become only the second captain in the club’s history to win two trophies with The Dee. After Alfie Boyd skippered Dundee to back-to-back League Cups in the early Fifties, Gordon Chisholm became the only other captain to lead Dundee to two trophies when he had the honour of lifting the B&Q Centenary Cup in November 1990 and then the Scottish League First Division trophy the following season in 1992.
Gordon Chisholm was born in Glasgow on April 8th 1960 and started his professional career with Sunderland where he made 235 appearances in seven years. In his final season with the Black Cats, Chisholm played in the League Cup Final against Norwich City in March 1985 at Wembley but unfortunately for Gordon he deflected Asa Hartford’s shot into his own net to give The Canaries a 1-0 win and the trophy.
Chisholm moved back to Scotland later that year when he joined Hibernian for a £60,000 fee and he scored a goal on his Hibs debut in a League Cup semi-final win against Rangers. This meant Chisholm achieved the unique feat of playing in the League Cup Finals north and south of the border in the same calendar year but unfortunately for Gordon he was on the losing side again when the Easter Road side went down 3-0 to Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen at Hampden.
In September 1987 Dundee captain Jim Duffy looked to have ended his playing career when he suffered cartilage and severed cruciate ligament damage and manager Jocky Scott signed Hibs’ skipper Gordon Chisholm to replace the influential defender. The 27 year old Chisholm was on freedom of contract and the clubs later agreed a fee of £72,500 which was partly offset by the sale of Ross Jack to Dunfermline for £15,000 and Derek McWilliams to Falkirk for £5,000.
Chisholm made his debut for The Dee on September 26th in a 2-0 away win at Motherwell and his introduction helped him tighten a defence which had shipped 11 goals in its previous four games. By December Dundee lay fifth with only three defeats in 17 games since his arrival while at the other end of the park the goals were flowing with back-to-back high scoring away wins at Falkirk (6-0) and Morton (7-1).
This run included a 3-1 win over Dundee United at Tannadice which gave Chisholm his first victory over The Arabs and he would feature in a further two derby wins and two draws, in one of which he scored in a 1-1 draw at Dens on December 30th 1989.
Midway through his debut season however Chisholm damaged a disc in his back causing him to miss the rest of the season and could only watch in anguish as Dundee lost a Scottish Cup quarter-final to United and throw away a seven-point lead over their neighbours who clinched the final European spot.
Chisholm was back in time for the start of the 1988/89 season and he started the campaign with his first goal for Dundee in a 1-1 draw with Aberdeen at Dens on the opening day. Chisholm goal scoring for Dundee was very respectable for a centre-half and in total he scored 16 goals in 175 appearances.
Despite the composure he brought to the Dundee defence, The Dee were relegated in Chisholm’s third season which saw him paired up at the back with Jim Duffy who had made a remarkable recovery from his injury. The formidable centre-half pairing played together for the last seven games (including a 2-1 hurricane inspired win at Tannadice), where Dundee lost just twice but it wasn’t enough to save Dundee from plummeting into the First Division.
Relegation into the second tier saw Dundee enter a new competition for teams outside the Premier Division to celebrate the Scottish League centenary and Chisholm would play in three of the four ties on the way to winning the trophy.
After receiving a bye in the first round, Chisholm missed the second round 5-3 win over Alloa at Recreation Park but played from the quarter-final onwards.
Known as the B&Q Centenary Cup, Chisholm led Dundee out for the final against Ayr United at Fir Park in November and after a 3-2 extra-time win, lifted the one-off glassware trophy which resides in the Dens Park trophy cabinet today.
Installed as favourites to bounce straight back up Dundee could only finish third but the following season Chisholm captained Dundee to the First Division title which they won by a solitary point from Partick Thistle. Chisholm scored five goals in 37 seven appearances on the road to promotion and on the last day of the season lifted his second piece of silverware as Dundee captain when he was presented with the First Division trophy.
Midway through the title winning year Dundee replaced manager Iain Munro with Simon Stainrod and in pre-season looked well placed for the vacant post of assistant manager. However the job went to Jim Duffy who was enticed back from Partick Thistle and Chisholm instead went in the opposite direction where he was soon appointed to the coaching staff.
Chisholm hung up his boots after his first year at Firhill and embarked on a coaching career that would take him to Clydebank, Ross County, Airdrie, Falkirk and Dundee United before he took on the top job at Tannadice in March 2005 following the sacking of Ian McCall.
After leaving United Chisholm again joined up with McCall, this time at Queen of the South and when McCall left to join Partick Thistle in the summer of 2007, Chisholm was appointed as manager at Palmerston.
He led The Doonhamers to the 2008 Scottish Cup Final and into Europe for the first time in Queens’ history but in March 2010 returned to Dens Park to take over from Jocky Scott who had been sacked with Dundee top of the First Division. In doing so he became the first man to manage both city clubs and he brought with him Billy Dodds as his assistant manager with whom he had played with at Dens and scored a hat-trick in that Centenary Cup triumph.
Chisholm and Dodds unfortunately couldn’t get Dundee over the promotion line at the end of the season and in October 2010 lost his job when Dundee went into administration for a second time. Before he left he signed Gary Irvine, Matt Lockwood, Rhys Weston, Nicky Riley and Stephen O’Donnell who would all become Dee-Fiant heroes as Dundee overcame the 25 point penalty from the Scottish League and went on a club record 23 game unbeaten run in the League for which Chisholm was the manager for game one.
Honours at Dundee:
Scottish League First Division winners: 1991/92
B&Q Scottish League Centenary Cup winners: 1990
Dundee FC Appearances, Goals:
League: 153 + 2 subs, 15 goals
Scottish Cup: 9
League Cup: 6 + 1 sub, 1 goal
SFL Challenge Cup: 4
Totals: 175, 16 goals
