Dundee host Heart of Midlothian this Tuesday and so we take a look at a player who played for both clubs, goalkeeper Thomson Allan who was inducted into the DFC Hall of Fame in 2017 with a Legends Award after being chosen by the fans in a public vote.
Dundee have had a fine tradition of good goalkeepers over the years and Thomson Allan certainly fits into that category, winning the Scottish League Cup in 1973 and going to the World Cup in West Germany with Scotland the following year. He was confidence personified and inspired his team mates with his immaculate handling and wonderful ability to cut out cross balls and is one of the best keepers to have worn the number one shirt for Dundee.
Thomson Sandlands Allan was born on October 5th 1946 in Longridge, West Lothian and after enjoying a youth career at Edina Hibs, was signed by Hibernian in 1963. At Easter Road, Allan would go on to become a League Cup runner-up in 1968/69 after defeating Dundee in the semis but with just 70 league appearances under his belt for the Edinburgh side, he was disappointed to be freed in the summer of 1972.
Fortunately for Allan, Dundee were on the lookout for a keeper as regular number one Ally Donaldson was in dispute with the club and manager John Prentice signed him on a free transfer as a more experienced option to youngster Mike Hewitt.
Being surplus to requirements in the Capital only made Thomson’s resolve to succeed all the greater and he went on to enjoy the best spell of his career with the Dark Blues.
He made his debut in the first game of the 1972/73 season in an 8-2 League Cup win away to East Stirlingshire and in all played 226 games for Dundee and kept a clean sheet on 52 occasions.
His finest moment in a Dundee shirt came on December 15th 1973 when Allan was part of the Dark Blue side which won the League Cup at Hampden with a 1-0 win over Celtic and it was sweet revenge for Thomson who had been on the losing side to Celtic five years previously.
In the 12 match League Cup run, Allan kept a clean sheet in seven of them including clean sheets in the quarters, semi and final. He also played in the two Scottish Cup semi-finals in consecutive years against Celtic and in two European campaigns but the League Cup win was the highlight of his eight years at Dens.
At this time Thomson was turning in brilliant performances on a weekly basis and he was rewarded with a place in the 1974 Scotland World Cup squad. He was one of three custodians in the 22 alongside David Harvey of Leeds and Kilmarnock’s Jim Stewart and he was given the number 12 squad number. Despite not playing in any of Scotland’s three matches in West Germany, Thomson was rewarded with two caps in the build up matches, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2-1 defeat to the hosts in Frankfurt and against Norway in Oslo where the Scots won 2-1.
In 1977 Allan’s team mate Tommy Gemmell took over the hot seat at Dens and when the team’s form took a dip, the former Lisbon Lion brought Ally Donaldson back from Falkirk to replace Allan.
At the end of the season Thomson walked out on Dundee and went on loan to Meadowbank Thistle before his former international boss Willie Ormond took Allan to Tynecastle in February 1979 for ÂŁ10,000. At Hearts he made 24 appearances before moving to Falkirk and then East Stirlingshire and then retiring in 1982.
The consistent, reliable and agile keeper is fondly remembered by Dundee supporters who were lucky enough to see him and he came out with the most number of votes in a fans’ favourite goalkeeper online poll on Dundee’s official site in 2009. The fans then followed that up by voting him into the club’s Hall of Fame last year, one of two goalkeepers to be inducted on the night taking the total of No. 1s in the Hall of Fame to eight!
Honours at Dundee:
Scottish League Cup winner: 1973/74
Scotland full caps: 2
Appearances
League: 159
Scottish Cup: 16
League Cup: 41
Europe: 4
Other: 6
Total: 226
