Tam Courts’ admission that he wouldn’t be disappointed to see Dundee stay in the Premiership should resonate with all but the most tribal of Dundee United fans.
It’s completely right that supporters of both city sides rub it in to their neighbours big style when they beat them, or when someone else does.
That’s part of the rivalry of football.
However, there’s nothing to be gained and plenty to be lost when either club drops out of the top flight.
Last Saturday’s derby in front of a full Tannadice, which ended with a rumbustious comeback from the Dark Blues, was a terrific sporting contest with an atmosphere to match.
Dundee fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Dundee United 👀👊 pic.twitter.com/19U7EbybzR
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) April 9, 2022
No other visit by any other club provides the same intensity and sense of occasion as the two neighbours going head to head.
Pre-match pictures of mates hugging and bantering before going their separate ways for the 90 minutes of mayhem sums up the uniqueness of the day in Scottish football.
Two clubs where there is no political, religious, or social divide, who occupy grounds only a kick of a ball apart is an extraordinary aspect to the city of Dundee.
Some United fans of my acquaintance think that if the neighbours were not only down but also out, the Tannadice club having the city to itself would soon pick up the next generation of supporters.
I don’t.
Should that unthinkable ever happen I suspect it would be like a Third Lanark situation with Dundee fans being lost to the senior game completely.
The same would be true if United ever folded.
There’s hopefully no chance of those nuclear options ever happening but there would be no winners if such a nightmare came to pass.
Business and banter
The derby is good for both business and banter.
The previous meeting at Dens shows that Dundee have a core potential of around 7,000 or so, while United’s base is even bigger.
If both clubs ever managed to put together a long consistent run in the top half of the Premiership, I think the scope to increase the numbers even further would be realised.
Between the two teams there’s still a huge appetite for football in the city.
Craig Levein once said to me that he thought that outside of Glasgow, Dundee was a bigger football city than the others in Scotland.
I don’t disagree with his view.
Both clubs have proud histories and rich traditions and while it’s great fun to knock the other lot, the city will be a much poorer place if Dens is hosting Championship football next season.
The great glories for both outfits are in the past, further in the past in Dundee’s case, but United’s glory years are also stretching further away from the memory banks.
Football, though, is all about the memories.
And those are embellished with the passing years and handed down from generation to generation, imbuing in turn the passion for either the tangerine or the dark blue.
Dundee’s ambitions are for top flight survival, while United aim for European football.
Seeing both hopes come to fruition would be great news for football in the city.
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