Dundee take on Dundee United in the final derby of the season on May Day and so we take a look at the only player to win major honours with both clubs, Iain Phillip.

Phillip was a real classy defender who turned out for Dundee 261 times in two spells over a ten year period which saw him pick up one of three League Cup winners medals that he won during his career.

Born in Broughty Ferry on Valentine’s Day 1951, the quiet, unassuming Grove Academy schoolboy who put pen to paper for Dundee in 1968 was considered to be one of the best signings ever made by manager John Prentice.

Iain Phillip was a Scottish schoolboy international by the time he signed at Dens and he made his debut for The Dee when he came on for Jocky Scott in a 2-1 League Cup defeat at Kilmarnock in August 1970.

He went on to play thirty-four times in his debut season as Dundee finished fifth, which gave The Dee their highest league finish since winning the Championship nine years earlier and they would go onto finish fifth again in the following three seasons; a position that to date has never been bettered.

During that time Iain was part of the side which beat such European giants as Cologne and A.C. Milan in the U.E.F.A. Cup and although not capped at full international level, he represented his country for the Scottish League against the English League in 1972 and played for the Scotland Under-23 side against a West German Olympic XI in the same year.

After having an outstanding match against the English League, Scotland manager Tommy Docherty offered Iain the chance to go on the Scotland tour of Brazil but he turned it down having just returned from Dundee’s tour of Australia and New Zealand, thus giving up the chance of winning a full cap.

International recognition did however bring Iain to the attention of Bert Head at Crystal Palace and later that year, the twenty-one years old left Dundee for a club record fee of £105,000 to join the London club.

It was not only the highest fee the Dark Blues had received at that time but it was also the second highest transfer fee received by a Scottish club to date, being trumped only by the £125,000 Aberdeen received from Manchester United for Martin Buchan.

Iain however couldn’t quite settle at Selhurst Park under the flamboyant Malcolm Allison and Davie White swooped to bring him back to Tayside for a cut price fee of £40,500 after just thirteen months in the capital.

It was a great move for both White and Phillip as within two months of his return, Iain became part of the side which shocked Scottish football in the 1973 League Cup Final by beating league champions and strong favourites Celtic 1-0 at Hampden. He played in both legs of the quarter-final against Clyde and the semi-final against Kilmarnock and in the Final, Iain was outstanding as he helped keep Kenny Dalglish quiet in the snow, sleet and driving rain.

The League Cup win was Iain’s only major honour at Dens as Dundee were unable to get past Celtic at the semi-final stage of the Scottish Cup where the sides met five times in the Seventies and Iain was part of two of those unsuccessful games.

He was however part of the Dundee side which won promotion back to the top tier after being relegated from the inaugural Premier Division in 1975/76. Dundee gained promotion by winning the Scottish First Division in 1978/79 and in that season, Iain scored one of his only three goals for the Club in a 1-1 draw at home to Montrose in August; the other coming in a 3-1 home win over Airdrieonians in April 1977 and in a 1-0 League Cup away to Clyde in Augist 1972.

It was midway through that season however that Iain left Dundee when he stepped back up to the Premier Division before his team mates by making the short walk down Tannadice Street for a fee of £25,000.

He had by then lost his place in the team as sweeper to Willie Watson and put in a transfer request feeling that he wasn’t the type of player manager Tommy Gemmell liked but found an admirer in Jim McLean across the road.

Iain was with Dundee United for just over five years where he won a further two League Cups, both at his former home of Dens Park, one of which was at his former employers’ expense and he was also part of the United side which won the Scottish League Premier Division in 1983.

After leaving Tannadice, Iain spent three years at Raith Rovers before bringing down the curtain on an eighteen year playing career with Arbroath in 1988.

Known as ‘Aggie’ for his liking of Agatha Christie novels, Iain Phillip was a strong, elegant centre-half who holds a unique place in the history of football in the City of Discovery as the only man to win major honours with both Dundee F.C. and Dundee United.

Honours at Dundee:
Scottish League Cup winners: 1973/74
Scottish League First Division winners: 1978/79
Scottish League cap: 1
Scotland Under-23 appearance: 1

Appearances, Goals:
League: 189 + 6 subs, 2 goals
Scottish Cup: 18
League Cup: 34 + 2 subs, 1 goal
Europe: 7
Other: 5
Totals: 261, 3 goals