Few would have imagined that when Barry Smith arrived at Dens in 1995 as part of the deal which saw Morton Wieghorst move to Celtic, that the club would be welcoming a man who would go on to be one of the finest captains in the clubs history.

Barry's time at Dens spanned over 11 years and as captain led the club to the 1st Division Championship, a Scottish Cup Final and the clubs return to Europe after a 27 year absence.

Born in Paisley, while at school he signed S-Form with Celtic, with whom he joined full time as soon as he left school. In his first year with the club he was handed a surprise debut when he featured in Celtic's 4-3 defeat to Falkirk.

After a further four years at Parkhead he made the decision to join Dundee.

He joined the club in December of 1995 and didn't miss many matches in his first few seasons at Dens. Barry was made captain of the club and it was his partnership in central defence with Brian Irvine that formed the rock in Dundee's championship winning defence. In October of 1997, Barry scored his first goal for the club in a 2-1 win over Stirling Albion.

Jocky Scott had taken over for his second spell in charge of Dundee midway through the promotion season and Jocky and Barry led the club into their first season in the SPL.

Dundee spent seven seasons in the SPL with Barry as captain, in the first year the side finished 5th and Jocky was to leave Dundee at the end of the next season. The next few seasons saw Barry as the Scottish heart in Ivano Bonetti's continental Dundee before Jim Duffy took over and led the club to the Scottish Cup Final. In the league, Barry netted only his second goal for the club in a 6-2 defeat to his old side Celtic.

In the Scottish Cup Final, against Rangers, Barry led the side out but the day was to end in disappointment as the Glasgow side ran out 1-0 winners.

Barry's third goal in Dark Blue came on day one of the 2003/04 season and that season he went on lead the club into the Uefa Cup matches against Vllaznia and Perugia. His fourth goal came in a vital win away to Partick Thistle when Barry found the top corner with a strike from outside the penalty area that no one who was in the away end that day will ever forget.

That season will always be remembered for the time that the club went into administration, with Barry being one of the playing staff that was kept on at the club. The next season Dundee were relegated meaning Barry's testimonial season would be spent in the 1st Division.

The season didn't go to plan and first Jim Duffy then Alan Kernaghan lost their jobs as manager and for the final two games Barry and team mate Bobby Mann took charge of the team. The final match of the season was to be Barry's 431st and last of his first spell with the club and under his and Bobby's guidance the team won 3-1 away to Queen of the South.

Barry was given the chance to move abroad for the first time in his career after leaving Dens and joined Valur in Iceland. During the mid season break Barry returned to Scotland, playing with both Partick Thistle in 2007 and Greenock Morton in 2008.

In late 2008, Barry was welcomed back to Dens as part of Jocky Scott's backroom staff. Taking charge of the under 19's he was given the chance to join Brechin on loan to continue playing.

Article by Tommy Young
Pictures courtesy and copyright David Young and DC Thomson


Written on 16/04/2009