Craig Brown - The Game of My Life. Craig Brown
hate to have to say which of the two men was the better manager because, after all, they both had so many fine attributes. Suffice it to say that they were both good at their jobs. I prepared myself for a return to Ibrox and was determined that I would have another go at proving that I was worth a try in the first team.
As it turned out, I never did get to say goodbye to all my new friends at Dundee. Just before I was due to return to Ibrox, Bob Shankly made a final attempt to sign me on a regular basis – and this time Rangers agreed.
We called Bob Shankly ‘The Wily Old Fox’ – and with considerable justification. He used all his astute managerial skills to get me to Dundee for as small a fee as possible. Early on during my loan spell I had played well in a reserve game against Willie Henderson but, when Rangers were due to play us again in a second-eleven match at Dens Park towards the end of the season, our boss came to me and said, with a knowing look, ‘Henderson can have a better game tonight, son!’
I had started that season as a reserve with the club that had finished as champions of Scotland, and now I had become a reserve with the club that had finished below the halfway line in the table. Certainly on paper it did not look to be the best thing that could have happened to me, but nevertheless I could not help feeling that there were going to be better days ahead. Bob Shankly really knew his business, and he was more than enthusiastic. It seemed to me that Dundee were experiencing the dawning of a very exciting time in the club’s history.
My family were all very encouraging, as they always were, but ultimately the decision was mine. I was not being forced to join Dundee and I didn’t have to go there if I didn’t really want to, but at the time it seemed to be the right move to make and so I signed the necessary forms. In the end I was right to make the move when I did, but I have to admit that, when I said goodbye to Glasgow Rangers, I was not really filled with regret.
I FELT THAT there was a much better opportunity for me at Dundee to play a part in a team that I considered to be destined for much greater things. I was delighted to sign for Dundee because I felt that here was a club that was going places. There was such a strong squad at Ibrox that I felt sure my chances would have become more and more limited as time went on. I had been very impressed with the drive and ambition of Bob Shankly, and I knew that he was not the man to settle for second best in anything. I wanted to be there when he guided the Dark Blues to success.
The excitement began almost as soon as we reported for pre-season training. A tour had been arranged for us in Iceland – a country that I had only read about and been fascinated by, never considering that I would actually be seeing it for real one day.
On the tour we played against the Reykjavik side and also against the Iceland national team, and I felt that I was settling in quite well. There had been a few changes to the playing staff as Adamson, Horsburgh, Jardine and May were released, but the biggest surprise for the Dundee fans was when Doug Cowie was placed on the transfer list. Doug, then 34, had been at Dundee for sixteen years and had become one of the club’s all-time greats, having been capped for Scotland twenty times. He had rarely turned in a bad performance, either for club or country. I think he was very disappointed at being placed on the transfer list, because he felt that he still had a lot to offer Dundee. As it happened, he was not idle for long because Morton quickly signed him as player-coach.
Coming into the club was another veteran player – and I hope he doesn’t mind me calling him that – Gordon Smith. Twice before, Dundee had tried to sign him and now it was a case of third time lucky. There was no doubting his talent. He had played eighteen times for Scotland and had won the Scottish Championship with both Hearts and Hibs. Some of the Dundee fans were surprised at the signing, however, because Gordon was 37 – and therefore older than Doug Cowie, who was being transferred. They need not have worried, as it happened. There was never any need to doubt a Shankly signing, whether it was Bill or Bob that was involved.
I wanted to be considered as a first-team choice but Dundee had a pretty settled side, despite all the comings and goings. The team sheet was almost always the same during the opening games of the season, and I remember it well – Liney, Hamilton, Cox, Seith, Ure, Wishart, Smith, Penman, Cousin, Gilzean and Robertson. No doubt you will remember some of those famous names. I wasn’t at all sure how I was going to get my big chance, but I still felt a lot closer to it than I had at Rangers, so I was not worrying unduly.
There was a mixed start to the season because Dundee fell early in the Scottish League Cup competition, but put together a few good opening League results – including a 4–1 win at home to our local rivals, Dundee United. Kilmarnock and Rangers led the table after a couple of games but we were soon up with them. Alan Gilzean had been the club’s top scorer the previous season with 32 League and Cup goals, and he just continued where he had left off. In the centre of our defence was the mighty Ian Ure – so there were giants of the game in both of the most important positions in the team.
I was continuing to play in the reserves but I was already in the reckoning for the first team. It was an amazing season, really, because in addition to those eleven players I have already mentioned, the club used only four others. If that was the first eleven, then I was hanging in at No. 12.
We were scoring plenty of goals – five against Kilmarnock, four against Motherwell – and Bob Shankly was enjoying himself. He was a very similar character to his brother Bill and rarely missed an opportunity to tell the world how wonderful his players were. It was all going very well for the club, but not quite so well for me because I had yet to play for the first team in a competitive game. Had substitutes been allowed in those days I reckon I would have created a record for the greatest number of appearances as a sub, because I was always with the squad both home and away.
At long last I got my chance when our skipper, Bobby Cox, was injured. I was not at all happy about his injury because I was a club man and wanted us to be at our strongest at all times, but I can’t deny that I was excited when I was told that I would be playing. My only problem was that I would be out of position at left back. It was something that I was asked to do a number of times and it did prove to be a successful switch for me, even though I was more at home in the left half position.
The newspapers were very kind to me. I played in the return away game at Kilmarnock where we drew 1–1 One writer, Jimmy Stevenson, introduced his match report with the headline ‘Stand-in Sets An Example’. Another writer said of Dundee: ‘They got a point because of the rugged defence of Ian Ure and the speed and tackling of young Craig Brown, a big hit in his first top team game.
I was thrilled to read such things about myself and, if I look at those press cuttings now, I still get pleasure when I read about ‘young’ Craig Brown. There were other descriptions of me as ‘the crew-cut Craig Brown’. Yes, I had a crew cut in those days, and I was young and, yes, we are talking about the same Craig Brown. It’s not the years – it’s the mileage!
Those were thrilling days at Dens Park. A 5–1 win over Rangers had demonstrated to everyone that Dundee meant business and, as the season wore on, it became more evident that our position at the top of the table was no mere flash in the pan. Even when we lost Alan Gilzean with a broken jaw, the goals continued to flow.
Alan was a big element of that early success. He was a tremendous goalscorer, a typical bustling centre-forward who was excellent with his head as well as his feet. He had all the courage that you expect from a top goalscorer whom every defender in the country was determined to stop. Even when he broke his jaw, he was not out for long.
Things were a little different in those days. Games were played in conditions that would have meant very definite postponements today. If there was snow on the ground, as long as the lines were visible and the snow didn’t come up over your ankles, the game would still be on. I remember ‘Gillie’ once wearing sandshoes on a frozen pitch and scoring two goals while everyone else struggled to keep on his feet.
I