Dundee holds special place for Rangers and Scotland hero - but Hearts fans will shudder at his links
Defender recalls being involved in biggest-ever Dundee v Hearts clash
Having been asked for his Scottish Cup memories while with Dundee, it's understandable if Colin Hendry looks a bit stumped.
Just one final and four semi-finals are the extent of the Dens Park side’s achievements worth mentioning in the competition over the course of the last half century. One of those last four appearances came shortly after Hendry joined the club as a fresh-faced youngster from Keith. Just 18 at the time, he was not in the squad as Dundee went down 2-0 to Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen in 1984 at Tynecastle.
The Dens Parkers are at this stadium on Friday for a quarter-final tie against Hearts as they target a first semi-final berth since 2006.
Despite the shortage of Scottish Cup experiences with Dundee – he was a winner in the tournament after he returned to Scotland to join Rangers – Hendry is as game as he always was on the pitch. He explains he has plenty else to feel grateful for when it comes to his first senior club. Hendry met his late wife Denise, the mother of his four children, in Dundee shortly after arriving.
That alone justifies the move south from Banffshire to sign for Donald Mackay’s side. The same manager, by this time at Blackburn Rovers, lured him even further south to kickstart a career that would see Hendry captaining Scotland against Brazil at the opening match of a World Cup.
“Dundee's a special place in my career,” he recalls. “It wasn't always easy. A lot of players, probably better players than me, fell by the wayside, because they couldn't handle the rigours of becoming a professional footballer.”
He might not have many Scottish Cup memories with Dundee to share but it’s often forgotten that he played in arguably the biggest-ever game between the Dens Park side and Hearts.
On the final day of the 1985-86 league season, Hearts came to Dens on the back of a 31-match unbeaten run knowing they just had to draw to lift the Premier Division title. Enter a moustachioed substitute called Albert Kidd, who was pestering manager Archie Knox to let him on “as I always play well against Hearts”. The rest is history. Kidd scored twice in the last eight minutes while Celtic were doing what they needed to do by stacking up goals against St Mirren.
Hendry’s new partner, Sarah, is from Edinburgh. “She's a Hibby, but I've met a lot of her friends and they're Hearts fans,” he says. “If I ever bring up that infamous day, they go, 'Did you really play that game?' I say, 'Yeah, I played alongside Jim Duffy.”
Like Hearts, Dundee had injuries that day. Like Hearts, they were desperate to secure something of worth. A European place in their case, with Rangers at home to Motherwell. If the Ibrox side dropped points and Dundee won, the teams would have swapped places.
In the end, both Hearts and Dundee were left bereft, although even Knox admitted afterwards that Hearts’ despair was on a different level. “Wee Albert comes off the bench and scores the brace,” remembers Hendry. “Of course, Celtic had to beat St Mirren at Love Street. Frank McAvennie still can't believe I played in the game. I did my part, I did my bit.”
He might have played a pivotal part. Many Hearts fans are still complaining today about the penalty they feel ought to have been awarded for a challenge by Hendry on Sandy Clark early in the match.
Such perceived rashness is perhaps why Dundee were still swithering about whether to play Hendry at centre-half or up front. In the end, they gave up deliberating and sold someone who was essentially still a project player to Blackburn Rovers the following season. Mackay arrived for signing talks during a reserve match against Rangers. Hendry was promptly subbed and had agreed to head to England by the time the game had finished.
“I went to England as a free spirit,” he says. “As a striker-cum-centre-half, centre-half-cum-striker. Not a care in the world.”
He was signed to replace injured centre-half Glen Keeley but made his mark three weeks later wearing the No 9 jersey when scoring the winner in the Full Members' Cup final at Wembley against Charlton Athletic. That alone merited him a place in the Blackburn history books. He returned to a very different club after two-and-a-half seasons with Manchester City. Blackburn, fortified by owner Jack Walker's millions, won the Premiership title under Kenny Dalglish in 1995. By this time content to stay in his defensive lane, Hendry was well on the way to earning his Braveheart tag as a fearless competitor.
Even now, on the cusp of turning 60, he cannot resist a game, turning up at last weekend’s charity match for Alzheimer Scotland between a Scotland XI and the Rest of the World at the Falkirk stadium.
Controversially, he was representing the Rest of the World. Dundee manager Tony Docherty was in the Scottish side and stepped up to take a penalty with the chance to make it 2-0.
Hendry whispered naughtily in his ear: “You miss the pen, Dundee stay up or score and Dundee are relegated – which one do you take?”
Docherty scored for what it’s worth in the 2-2 draw. Maybe he made a secret alternative deal about Dundee winning the Scottish Cup, which they haven’t done since 1910.
As for Hendry, he had his own moment of reckoning from the spot with a shootout required to separate the teams. The prowess that once saw him score a winner at Wembley deserted him when he missed his side’s second penalty. He winces. “My partner said later, ‘You missed a penalty?’ I said, “Aye, do you really think I could score against Scotland?”
Colin Hendry was promoting Premier Sports’ live and exclusive coverage of Hearts v Dundee on Friday from 7.15pm on Premier Sports 1. Watch Premier Sports via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV, STV Player and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription, and on the Premier Sports’ streaming platform.
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