Dundee derby: 100 years of the most unique local rivalry around… but could this be the last ever league clash between the sides at Dens Park?

It remains to be seen how many times a group of players makes the shortest and most idiosyncratic away trip in football.

This afternoon Dundee United emerge from the front door of Tannadice Park and walk about 200 yards along the road to the home of their city rivals and neighbors for the latest installment of the Dundee derby.

The clock is ticking on how long Dens Park will play host to a match it first hosted in its current guise almost 100 years ago, when a crowd of 18,000 spectators witnessed a sloppy goalless draw between the teams.

It was the clubs first ever top-flight match, although they have previously faced each other in local competitions and friendlies when the Tannadice team was known as Dundee Hibs.

If that confrontation at Dens on November 21, 1925 was a largely forgettable affair, Dundee and Dundee United have since made up for it.

Their unique rivalry, heightened by their proximity to their grounds, has provided plenty of tension and drama throughout both clubs’ often turbulent histories.

Although Dens Park remains beloved by Dundee supporters, its days are numbered.

If Dundee City Council gives the go-ahead, with a planning application due to be considered later this month, Dundee will proceed with their long-stated bid to build a new 12,500-capacity stadium at Camperdown, in the north-west of the city. .

With the 2026/27 season expected to be the earliest feasible date for Dundee to make the switch, Dens Park has once again had a stay of execution.

Thanks to the Scottish Cup draw, at least one more derby match will take place at the old ground after today when United return for a fourth round tie later this month.

Whether another Premiership meeting of the clubs takes place in Dens will depend on whether they finish in the same half of the table when the split takes place in April.

If not, and in the event that any of them are relegated, this afternoon could be the last ever league derby to take place in front of the curiously designed Main Stand, designed by celebrated architect Archibald Leitch and opened in 1921.

United are in a rich run of form at the moment, which has them eyeing third place in the table, so Jim Goodwin’s side have already put aside any worries they might face in the drop zone.

However, Dundee are on slightly shakier ground and Tony Docherty will be looking for more consistency from his team in the second half of the season if they are to maintain a fight for their top-flight status.

Since first dropping out of frontline management after being a trusted and capable lieutenant to Derek McInnes at Aberdeen for so long, Docherty made a positive first impression as Dundee boss as he guided them to a sixth-place finish on their latest return to last season’s premier league.

Like United, they have yo-yoed between the first and second tier too often for their liking in the modern era. The Dark Blues have been a championship club for eleven of the past twenty seasons.

If Dundee’s American owners Tim Keyes and John Nelms are to realize their plans for the club’s long-term sustainability at Camperdown, they will need Docherty to bring stability to the pitch.

Alarm bells may have been ringing following a recent run of three consecutive league defeats, culminating in a sobering 3-0 home defeat to Ross County on Boxing Day, but Docherty’s injury-hit squad showed impressive grit and resilience to bounce back with a goal. valuable 2-1 win at St Mirren on Sunday to ease fears of an even more damaging collapse.

A derby at their home venue offers the opportunity to set a more positive story and gain momentum as 2025 gets underway.

The opening weekend of the Premiership campaign in August saw the teams play an enthralling match at Tannadice, with Dundee twice coming from behind in a 2-2 draw.

The loss of the influential Luke McCowan, scorer of their second equalizer of the day, to Celtic on the final day of the summer transfer window was a blow to Docherty and certainly contributed to a subsequent run of form that saw them lose six of their next eight. games.

Hopes of another top six finish could rest on the shoulders of top scorer Simon Murray, boyhood fan and former United striker, who took his tally for the season to 11 with a double in Sunday’s win at Paisley.

Murray is not the only player to have crossed the city line and will look to play a decisive role this afternoon.

Kevin Holt spent three years at Dundee from 2015 to 2018 before being released by the club. The big defender has been a standout player for United since Goodwin signed him from Partick Thistle at the start of last season.

Holt ensured United would walk into Dens Park with bounce when he scored their dramatic but deserved 94th-minute winner against Aberdeen at Tannadice on Sunday.

This is a derby match where bragging rights often come with extras. Fans of both clubs can easily remember victories over their rivals which meant that little bit more.

There is a special place in Dundee folklore for a 2-1 win at Tannadice in April 1962, with the legendary Alan Gilzean scoring twice as they came from behind, which proved crucial as they became Scottish champions for the first and only time .

For United, no derby will ever have a greater resonance than their 2-1 victory at Dens Park on the final day of the 1982-83 season, when goals from Ralph Milne and Eamonn Bannon saw them equal their neighbors in securing a first and solitary title victory. .

It was not the first time United had claimed major success at Dens Park, having won the League Cup final between the clubs, staged on the pitch two seasons earlier.

From more recent history, United fans were in dreamland exactly ten years ago when they witnessed a demolition New Year’s derby as Dundee were defeated 6-2 at Tannadice.

In terms of resulting results, however, that was dramatically surpassed by Dundee the following season, as their supporters gleefully enjoyed what they still call the relegation derby.

On a dramatic Monday night at Dens Park in May 2016, Dundee had the fate of their old rivals in their hands and showed no mercy as Craig Wighton’s 90th minute goal secured a 2-1 victory and sent United to ruin.

It was an occasion that showed that the stadium, for all its outdated shortcomings that prompted its current owners to move, retained the ability to provide a rare sense of atmosphere and occasion.

If and when the move to Camperdown is completed, a three-mile jaunt across town for the derby won’t be quite the same as the 200-yard walk United undertake today.

A century of history may be reaching its final chapter and those gathering at Dens Park today should savor the moment as they hope for another derby day classic.

Kick-off: 5:30 PM, Denspark. TV: LIVE Sky Sports main event. Referee: Steven McLean.