When ‘The Cat’ came to Tannadice - remembering Peter Bonetti’s spell at Dundee United

Peter Bonetti played seven times for Dundee United and only joined the club after boss Jim McLean had fallen out with regular keeper Hamish McAlpine. Picture: Getty

Over 700 games for Chelsea, only seven for Dundee United. But there is still enormous affection for Peter Bonetti in Scotland, where he chose to make his home after buying a guest house on the Isle of Mull.

It’s a long way from Mexico and a game which is unfairly cited as defining his career, when he conceded three goals as a late replacement for Gordon Banks in the World Cup quarter-final clash with West Germany.

The flit to Mull was part of the reason the seven-times capped keeper, who has died at the age of 78, ended up at Dundee United. Although still hardly handy for a city on the east coast, his intention to move to the inner Hebrides, where he also worked as a postman, helped deliver the message that he was available to sign for another club following two spells at Chelsea totalling almost  20 years.

It was a chance Jim McLean could not afford to spurn after finding himself short of an experienced goalkeeper as the 1979-80 season drew near.

It is not surprising to learn that this scenario was largely down to his own cussedness. He suspended Hamish McAlpine without pay following a row over the positioning of defenders on a pre-season tour of Japan. The goalkeeper was ordered to get the next flight home. It meant he had 6,000 miles to ponder the potential end of his United career because of an argument over what amounted to a couple of yards.

“Wee Jim was saying, ‘I am the boss, I can say what I like’,” recalls McAlpine now. “And I was saying, ‘look I am in the middle of it, I want the defender to come here’. He said, ‘no you do what I tell you!’

“I basically said he can stick it. I should be telling people where to go if there are to be any adjustments.

“And that was it. I had to fly back early from Japan. I did stick to my guns. I would say the exact same thing today – if you are right in the heart of it then a problem is surely better fixed from there than 100 yards away.”

That was why Bonetti’s storied career would include an incongruous spell at Tannadice Park at the beginning of a historic season for the club. McLean and McAlpine did make up on the eve of the campaign, the manager claiming the keeper was now “prepared to play to instructions”. But Bonetti, known as “The Cat”, started off as No 1, making his debut in a 3-0 derby win over Dundee on the  opening day.

However, two successive defeats by Kilmarnock and Aberdeen, when the Evening Express noted “Bonetti will have wished he had been back in his guest house on the Isle of Mull serving high tea,” meant McAlpine was brought back in for the midweek League Cup clash with Airdrie, which United also lost.

Bonetti was back in for the return game against the same opponents that weekend, when he kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 win. But any hope he might now enjoy a sustained run in the side were ended when he suffered a hand injury while mowing the lawn at his guest house. McLean’s face on hearing that news would have been something to behold. McAlpine played in United’s 2-2 draw with Celtic the following day.

But after a 3-2 defeat by St Mirren, Bonetti returned – having said farewell to his adoring Chelsea fans at his testimonial against Manchester United in midweek. George Best had been set to guest for Chelsea but was refused permission by Fulham, who still held his registration. By the end of the year Best, too, would be playing in Scotland, having signed for Hibs.

More than 10,000 had attended his benefit game, so Bonetti was an estimated £20,000 better off by the time he took his place between the posts for the 2-1 win against Partick Thistle four days later. He made his sixth and penultimate appearance in the 3-0 League Cup win over Queen’s Park at Hampden, as United put themselves in a strong position to reach the last eight of a tournament they would go on to win against Aberdeen at Dens Park.

Bonetti was not involved in this joyous occasion – it was the club’s first major honour – although he had made two appearances in the competition. Not even someone with his reputation could survive what happened on 29 September, when Bonetti and United suffered at the hands of Morton’s Andy Ritchie. The mercurial Ritchie scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win at Cappielow. Despite later reports linking the veteran keeper with Aberdeen, it was the last outing in Bonetti’s long and distinguished career before he was persuaded to play a couple of games for Woking in 1986 when well into his 40s.

“I was golfing at Kirriemuir,” recalls McAlpine. “I came off at the last and someone says, ‘United have just been beaten 4-1 at Morton’. I said, ‘oh my god, I can’t believe that’. The next thing I had spoken to wee Jim and I was back in again.”

McAlpine kept his place until two games before the end of the season when young understudy Andy Graham was brought in. Bonetti had already left the club.

That was a source of sorrow for Eamonn Bannon, who had signed a few weeks before the League Cup win having followed Bonetti up the road from Chelsea. Bannon and Bonetti were at very much different stages of their careers – there were 16 years between them – but bonded at Stamford Bridge while attempting the Times crossword together on the bus to away matches.

“Peter was without doubt the most intelligent goalie I ever came across by a considerable margin,” says Bannon. “He and Ray Wilkins are genuinely two of the biggest gentlemen I met in football – and unfortunately they are both now no longer with us.”

Wilkins passed away two years ago last week following a heart attack at the age of only 61. Bonetti’s death came after a long illness. He had returned from Scotland to live in England with his second wife, Kay. A son, Nicholas, from his first marriage to Frances still lives on Mull.

“Peter was like a god down at Chelsea,” remembers Bannon. “It was a bit like when I joined Hearts in ’76, the old team of Jim Cruickshank, (Dave) Clunie, Jim Brown, (Alan) Anderson were all freed.

“At Chelsea it was similar in ’79. Peter Osgood was there, Ron Harris and Peter – they were hanging on to these guys who had such success in the early part of the decade. It happens at football clubs, there  is a reluctance to let your heroes go.”