Goalkeeper; Born May 5, 1936; Died July 21, 2006.
GOALKEEPER Bert Slater died on Friday, while playing a round of golf. He was 70.
Slater conformed to the popular notion of a goalie - chunky in appearance, swift and agile in action - and the adjectives used to describe him were dependable and brave. Dependable, the Dundee player certainly was and his courage was tested to the full by a game against Cologne in the European Cup in 1962.
It was a bad mix from the start: German resentment of Dundee caused almost as much trouble as the blatant obstruction by the Germans and the fierce, incisive tackling of Dundee. It was as if two sets of men from differing planets had appeared. The Cologne players opted out of the razorsharp tackling and threatened that they would have their revenge in the return European Cup match in Germany. The result was that, after half an hour's play, Dundee were a man and two goals down. Closechallenging in the return match, at Cologne, left Slater incapacitated and led from the field. There, he resisted all attempts to remove him by ambulance, returned to play outside right for a quarter of an hour and then insisted that he be allowed to assume his normal position on the grounds that the best endeavours of Andy Penman still did not make him a satisfactory full back.
Every man in that Dundee side gave of his utmost and although, Cologne closed the gap to two goals, they did not seriously threaten Dundee's further progress. Dundee moved on to play Antwerp, then a major European side, and defeated them 4-1.
Slater started his career at Falkirk, where he was signed as a 17-year-old by Bob Shankly. He transferred to Liverpool where he played in the Bill Shankly side that won the Second Division title in 1961-62 and was eventually transferred to Dundee and back to Bob. Bert was then 28 and his transfer fee was GBP2500. Both managers were about to begin distinguished leaderships of clubs: Liverpool and Dundee and both were looking for the same thing in their players - intelligence mixed with drive. Slater was a fine keeper. When he came back to Scotland, he took part in one of the finest Scottish Cup clashes of the century, when Dundee, against Rangers, served up a 1964 Scottish Cup final, which, for elegance and style, has rarely been equalled. After Dundee, Slater played forWatford, where he coached and became assistant manager. He returned to Scotland, becoming a coach at Hibs and scout for Dundee.He
is survived by his wife, Jean, two daughters and a son.
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