After four spells as a player and then manager, Jim Duffy isn’t short of stories about madcap Dundee owners.
Duffy, 62, enjoyed cup finals and on-pitch successes aplenty when he was a Dark Blues defender.
His job as manager, however, was rarely an easy one thanks to some bizarre orders and requests from on high.
He once had to hide the Dens Park goalposts from owner Ron Dixon, killed in a car crash in Mexico in 2000.
Another occasion saw him tasked by Giovanni Di Stefano with convincing Dutch superstar Edgar Davids to leave Juventus for Dundee.
Quarter of a million bucks
Duffy also revealed he had one simple job under Canadian Dixon – and it had nothing to do with winning anything.
Speaking to the BBC’s ‘Sacked in the Morning’ podcast with Craig Levein and Amy Irons, Duffy recalled: “He gave me one remit – my only job as manager was not to win a football match, not to win promotion, not to win a cup or anything like that.
“It was to give him quarter of a million bucks every time he came into the country.
“That’s what he told me.
“He called it ‘bucks’ – he wanted $250,000 Canadian, which was about £125,000 at that time.
“’You give me quarter of a million bucks every time and you have the job for 10 years’ – that’s what he said.
“He would phone me in November to say he was coming in December. I would then look at the squad then, say, phone up Hearts and say Stephen Frail is available and negotiate whatever price.
“Get C$300,000 worth and he would take C$250,000 away, the other C$50,000 would stay at the club.
“He would do that time and time again.
“That was your role, to give Ron the money.”
‘Chairman, that’s the goals’
One of Dixon’s plans for the club involved installing a greyhound track around the pitch at Dens Park in the early ’90s.
But, according to Duffy, the goalposts were ruining the look of the place for the Canadian.
“Ron had no concept of football whatsoever,” Duffy added.
“He was an ice hockey man. He bought Dundee the football club but he had no idea. None.
“He put a dog track around Dens Park at the time and he came in one day and he said to me ‘Jim, get those items away.’
“I said ‘Chairman, that’s the goals.’
“He said ‘They’re making the track look bad.’
“I was going ‘It’s the goals, it’s a football club, we need the goals.’
“He went ‘Get rid of them. If they are still there when I get back from the meeting I’m throwing them in the skip.’
“So we had to lift the goals out and hide them behind the terracing until he went away and then we put them back in again.”
Vice-chairman vs Billy Dodds
Duffy also recalled a dressing-room bust up between striker Billy Dodds and then-director Malcolm Reid after a defeat to Dundee United.
Reid, known as ‘Molly’, served on the board at Dens Park from 1991 as a director and then as vice-chairman under owner Dixon.
“Malcolm came in, he was an absolute gem of a guy, but he came storming in and sat right next to the door,” Duffy said.
“The manager said something to Billy (Dodds) and Billy told him to f*** off.
“Malcolm was an ice hockey player so he was a tough guy, he stood up. Billy threw his bottle of water and Malcolm’s glasses ended up like Eric Morecambe! They were skew-whiff over his head.
“The next minute he’s went for Billy.
“I’m thinking – this isn’t even two players or a manager and a player, this is technically the chairman and a player!
“We were all laughing because Billy is feisty and a terrific player, I’ve known him a long time, but I wouldn’t say fighting is his strongest suit!”
Giovanni Di Stefano
The podcast concentrated on the relationship between manager and chairman or owner.
Duffy revealed former Dundee owners Peter and Jimmy Marr gifted him a pair of Muhammad Ali signed boxing gloves for getting the Dark Blues to the 2003 Scottish Cup Final.
This was his second spell as Dens Park boss between 2002 and 2005, with administration hitting the club in November 2003.
Prior to that high-profile lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano had been appointed to the board and into the club came Ravanelli and Craig Burley on big contracts.
Di Stefano was later described by a judge as “one of life’s great swindlers”.
“When I went in at first, it was Peter and Jimmy Marr,” Duffy said.
“Then I met Giovanni.
“He was talking about Saddam Hussein and various people like that so you are wondering, who is this person?
“He loved publicity and that’s why he takes all these high-profile cases, loves the notoriety and attention it got him.
“The first player he tried to get in was Paul Gascoigne but that didn’t materialise.
“Then the next one was Edgar Davids and it started to become ridiculous.
“He was playing at that time for Juventus.
“Giovanni came to me and said he’d spoken to Edgar and agreed a deal, all you have to do is convince him to come to Dundee. I didn’t believe this for a second.
“He was playing for Juventus and we’re playing Brechin City in the Forfarshire Cup next Tuesday!
“It was getting ridiculous.
‘Can we afford these players?’
“Press were all coming to talk to him and he was a celebrity, he loved that.
“He wanted a superstar player and eventually we did sign Fabrizio Ravanelli and Craig Burley.
“Sadly that took the club over the edge.
“I went to the accounts guy at the time and asked ‘can we afford these players?’
“He just went ‘no, we can’t’.
“Giovanni said he was paying it, it was his contribution to the club and he would take care of these players personally.
“You can’t see his bank details so as an employee you just have to say ‘ok’.
“They played a few games but I don’t think they got paid a penny, maybe one week’s wage.”
