By Curve Ball
October 9 2002

Curve Balls Weekly Opinion: If Only We Could Bottle It. This week Curve Ball Talks about the changes in the team. Since the sacking of Ivano Bonetti and the Appointment of Jim Duffy. How this has changed the spirit in the team and made them have some fight amongst themselves.

If only we could bottle it

The only spirit permitted inside Dens Park over the past couple of seasons has been the liqueur that they serve to the well-heeled punters and their guests in the lounges under the main stand – until the arrival of Jim Duffy that is. All of a sudden fighting spirit has been evident in abundance on the pitch and in the dugout as the Dark Blues have come back against the odds no less than 5 times in the last 6 home spl games. Pretty amazing? You’d better believe it. That’s not all though. Again over the past 2 seasons the Dee suffered from the most dreadful of dreadful football habits – concession of late goals. The number of points that were lost as a result of this would take a mathematician to count up. Most painful of all were the late goals conceded to United at Tannadice. I reckon we lost 3 there alone and it remains the main reason why they finished up ahead of us in the spl table. However, the Dee have not only cured themselves of this problem – they have adopted the habit and now use it regularly against the opposition.

So what has brought about this transformation? Well clearly the arrival of JD has got a great deal to do with it. Neil Jablonski spoke recently about the excitement among the young players when they heard that Jim Duffy had been appointed manager. ‘We knew that we would have a chance of getting into the first team.’ Under Ivano the younger players had felt that there was little opportunity for them to make a breakthrough and so the arrival of Duff has acted as a stimulus for them and put extra pressure on the first team squad to do well. What else? I think the return of Lee Wilkie to a high-level of performance plus the arrival of young Hutchinson from Fulham, has helped to tighten up the defence and give the rest of the team more confidence. They know that the back two have allowed only a goal a game up to now and that if they can score one then there is a good chance that the Dee will get something out of the game. The success of the Wilkie-Hutchinson combination is directly down to the coaching efforts of the manager and his staff.

Of course, we mustn’t forget that many players have been moved on since last May. This too serves as a kind of stimulus to the remaining players. It is true that the game has changed owing to the reduction in TV cash and the instability caused by the intransigence of the OF. It is also fair to say that nobody wants to be a casualty of cutbacks; nobody wants to have to go out and go through the arduous process of finding themselves a new club. Finally, it should also be remembered that the playing staff in the past 2 seasons tended to split into their various national groups when training was over. This did not enhance team spirit or produce a reciprocal feeling of empathy among the squad. In effect they were just a bunch of blokes trying to do their job but not over-exerting themselves in the process. Therefore the uncertain environment and the turnover in playing staff have both indirectly contributed to the new attitude at Dens.

More than any other reason though, I believe the reason for the new showing of fighting spirit is due to the transformation of the age level in the first team. Last season and the season before the average age of the Dee first team was over 25 years. This season it has fallen to just 21 years. An astonishing change. All of Duff’s signings have been very young players with the exception of Scott Brady, who at 25 years, is hardly over the hill. Signings like Novo (19), Lovell (21) and Hutchinson (20) have helped bring about the reduction. In addition, the introduction of young players like Mair and Mackay as mentioned above, has continued the process.

It seems clear then, even from this brief examination that the new fighting spirit on show at Dens is down to two main reasons. Firstly, the recent good showing of the central defence in conceding just one goal per game and, secondly, the reduction of the average age of the first team squad. JD clearly favours a youthful make-up to his squad with a special emphasis on good central defence on the pitch. In my view, both objectives have been achieved. All that remains is for him, Ray Farningham and Kenny Cameron to gradually coach these guys into performing at a high and consistent level. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Duff’s job is finished or anything like it. The next three games are as tough as they come and the Dee could lose all three. In fact they are probably the bookies favourites to lose all three. What I’m saying is that the new manger has come here with a plan, has made a good start in terms of results and has imbued a good spirit into his team. Whether he will continue to do well in terms of results depends upon lots of things, not least the opposition, but the creation of a fighting spirit within his young squad will undoubtedly help him towards this goal. And he’s tee-total!!