His own feats were the stuff of legend and ballad and Hamish McAlpine is not yet ready to concede that the current Dundee United squad is doomed to make the wrong sort of history as they face the prospect of relegation at the home of their city rivals next week.
Such a flamboyant figure in the Tannadice club’s goal in the seventies and eighties that local songsmith Michael Marra immortalised him in his song ‘Hamish the Goalie’ he conveyed an upbeat image throughout his playing days and it is no different now.
Instead of joining in the gloom that has afflicted many of their supporters since the post-split fixtures were announced and relegation at Dens became a possibility, the man who enjoys his role as club ambassador at home matches these days reckons “it would be a hell of a nice place to start a revival.”
In saying so he can draw upon many happy memories of making the shortest trip in the domestic game.
“It’s going back a long time but we did have a great run at Dens Park,” he recalled.
That is something of an understatement since his United side won their first national trophy at Dens in a League Cup final replay against Aberdeen in 1979; successfully defended the trophy the next year in what remains the only meeting of the city’s clubs in a major cup final after their rivals won the toss to host the game; then enjoyed what McAlpine reckoned was the most special day of all when they won a derby day finale there to clinch their only league title when they needed to beat Dundee to pip both Celtic and Aberdeen by a point.
“The first League Cup win was exciting because it was the first trophy we had won but when you look back on it winning the league there was the biggest success because you’ve won it for being the most consistent team over a whole league campaign,” McAlpine noted.
During that period United also set records for the longest unbeaten run in Dundee derbies - 13 in all between 1979 and ’83 - and a run of eight successive wins on their opponents’ home ground between 1980 and ’84.
As he said, however, that was many years ago and he does not think modern players can be expected to take any sort of inspiration from what was achieved long before they were born.
“It’s just one of those things that happens,” he said of that record.
“It doesn’t really make any difference when you’re a player. People sometimes talk about hoodoos or it can be a happy hunting ground, but these things didn’t particularly bother us.
“Fans tend to think more in terms of what happened last year or is going to in the next game. They’re the ones that suffer the backlash of any euphoria from the other team. For players you can’t look back. You have to put the last one out of your minds whatever happens.”
In short he knows it will not be superstition that dictates his club’s fate and he moves away from what might be considered the right ambassadorial message as he echoes the views of current manager Mixu Paatelainen in questioning the attitude of some of the current squad towards the task of putting together the run of wins required to pull off a footballing miracle.
“It’s a long shot but where there’s hope you’ve got to keep battling and you’d like to think the players are more than willing to put their bodies on the line, but it does look as if some of them aren’t prepared to sweat blood,” said McAlpine.
“Maybe that’s just the modern player. They look as if they are happy enough being there, but if not they’ll pick something else up.”
As to the modern supporter, the evidence of the last derby is that Paatelainen in particular can expect to be mercilessly taunted, but while he knows United will be fair game on the night McAlpine believes the majority of Dundee supporters will not relish their departure in the grander scheme of things.
“Even when you were playing in these matches you were a part of it all and the banter was good but across the city, with the exception of a small minority that are quite vociferous, I am sure that 80 per cent of the fans would miss the derby,” he said.
“I know the (Dundee) directors will definitely feel that way because it is one of the few times you can be sure of getting a full house or close to it.
“But we’re not down yet.”
