# 1979–80 Dundee F.C. season

The 1979–80 season was the 78th season in which Dundee competed at a Scottish national level, playing in the Premier Division after getting promoted the previous season. Once again however, the club would find themselves relegated at the end of the season. Dundee would also compete in both the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup, where they would be eliminated by Hamilton Academical in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, and by Dundee United in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup. They would also compete in the Anglo-Scottish Cup, being eliminated by English side Sheffield United in the quarter-finals.

## Scottish Premier Division

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1 | 11 August | Dundee United | A | 0–3 | | 17,968 |
| 2 | 18 August | St Mirren | H | 4–1 | Redford (4) (pen.) | 8,350 |
| 3 | 25 August | Hibernian | A | 2–5 | Paterson (o.g.), Redford (pen.) | 7,344 |
| 4 | 8 September | Partick Thistle | H | 2–2 | Sinclair, Redford | 6,400 |
| 5 | 15 September | Greenock Morton | H | 4–3 | MacLaren, Sinclair, Murphy, Redford | 7,243 |
| 6 | 22 September | Rangers | A | 0–2 | | 23,000 |
| 7 | 29 September | Aberdeen | H | 0–4 | | 11,817 |
| 8 | 6 October | Kilmarnock | A | 1–3 | MacLaren | 5,500 |
| 9 | 13 October | Celtic | A | 0–3 | | 23,483 |
| 10 | 20 October | Dundee United | H | 1–0 | Sinclair | 16,305 |
| 11 | 27 October | St Mirren | A | 2–4 | McGeachie, Murphy | 6,000 |
| 12 | 3 November | Hibernian | H | 2–1 | Millar, Fletcher | 6,879 |
| 13 | 10 November | Partick Thistle | A | 3–2 | Millar, Pirie, Sinclair | 5,500 |
| 14 | 17 November | Greenock Morton | A | 0–2 | | 6,500 |
| 15 | 24 November | Rangers | H | 3–1 | Pirie, Sinclair, Shirra | 13,342 |
| 16 | 15 December | Kilmarnock | H | 3–1 | Mackie, Ferguson, Pirie | 6,016 |
| 17 | 22 December | Dundee United | A | 0–2 | | 15,431 |
| 18 | 5 January | Partick Thistle | H | 1–1 | Pirie | 6,788 |
| 19 | 12 January | Greenock Morton | H | 1–0 | Redford | 7,922 |
| 20 | 2 February | Aberdeen | H | 1–3 | Redford | 7,661 |
| 21 | 9 February | Kilmarnock | A | 1–1 | Fleming | 4,500 |
| 22 | 23 February | Celtic | A | 2–2 | Murphy, Aitken (o.g.) | 21,371 |
| 23 | 1 March | Dundee United | H | 1–1 | Shirra | 15,116 |
| 24 | 8 March | St Mirren | A | 1–2 | Sinclair | 6,000 |
| 25 | 12 March | Rangers | A | 0–1 | | 15,000 |
| 26 | 15 March | Hibernian | H | 3–0 | Corrigan, Shirra, Ferguson | 8,065 |
| 27 | 19 March | Aberdeen | A | 0–3 | | 7,000 |
| 28 | 25 March | Hibernian | A | 0–2 | | 5,018 |
| 29 | 29 March | Greenock Morton | H | 1–1 | MacLaren | 3,500 |
| 30 | 2 April | St Mirren | H | 1–3 | Ferguson | 6,031 |
| 31 | 5 April | Rangers | H | 1–4 | Sinclair | 12,948 |
| 32 | 9 April | Aberdeen | A | 1–2 | Fleming | 11,600 |
| 33 | 12 April | Partick Thistle | A | 0–3 | | 5,000 |
| 34 | 19 April | Celtic | H | 5–1 | Ferguson (2) (pen.), Fleming, Sinclair, Mackie | 14,633 |
| 35 | 26 April | Kilmarnock | A | 0–2 | | 4,600 |
| 36 | 30 April | Celtic | H | 0–2 | | 10,500 |

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 6 | Morton | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 51 | 46 | +5 | 36 | |
| 7 | Partick Thistle | 36 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 43 | 47 | −4 | 36 | |
| 8 | Kilmarnock | 36 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 36 | 52 | −16 | 33 | |
| 9 | Dundee (R) | 36 | 10 | 6 | 20 | 47 | 73 | −26 | 26 | Relegation to the 1980–81 Scottish First Division |
| 10 | Hibernian (R) | 36 | 6 | 6 | 24 | 29 | 67 | −38 | 18 | Relegation to the 1980–81 Scottish First Division |

## Scottish League Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1st round, 1st leg | 29 August | Cowdenbeath | A | 4–1 | Sinclair (2), Shirra, Redford (pen.) | 1,551 |
| 1st round, 2nd leg | 1 September | Cowdenbeath | H | 3–1 | Sinclair, Shirra (2) | 4,553 |
| Dundee win 7–2 on aggregate |||||||
| 2nd round, 1st leg | 26 September | Ayr United | H | 2–1 | Sinclair, Murphy | 5,133 |
| 2nd round, 2nd leg | 10 October | Ayr United | A | 1–0 | Redford | |
| Dundee win 3–1 on aggregate |||||||
| Quarter-finals, 1st leg | 31 October | Hamilton Academical | A | 1–3 | Sinclair | 3,871 |
| Quarter-finals, 2nd leg | 14 November | Hamilton Academical | H | 1–0 | Pirie | 5,696 |
| Hamilton Accies win 3–2 on aggregate |||||||

## Scottish Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 3rd round | 30 January | Dundee United | A | 1–5 | Pirie | 18,064 |

## Anglo-Scottish Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1st round, 1st leg | 6 August | Kilmarnock | H | 1–1 | Shirra | 3,832 |
| 1st round, 2nd leg | 8 August | Kilmarnock | A | 3–3 | Sinclair, Redford (2) (pen.) | 4,000 |
| Aggregate tied at 4–4, Dundee win on away goals |||||||
| Quarter-finals, 1st leg | 4 September | Sheffield United | A | 1–2 | Williamson | 7,596 |
| Quarter-finals, 2nd leg | 11 September | Sheffield United | H | 0–1 | | 6,866 |
| Sheffield Utd win 3–1 on aggregate |||||||

## Player statistics

Statistics provided by Dee Archive
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | First Division | First Division | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Anglo-Scottish Cup | Anglo-Scottish Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | DF | SCO | Les Barr | 39 | 0 | 26+3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Alex Caldwell | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Dennis Corrigan | 7 | 1 | 2+5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Gerry Davidson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Ally Donaldson | 46 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Iain Ferguson | 13 | 5 | 9+4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Ian Fleming | 16 | 3 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | John Fletcher | 24 | 1 | 12+4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Bobby Geddes | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Bobby Glennie | 46 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Stewart MacLaren | 35 | 3 | 27 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Peter Mackie | 23 | 2 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | George McGeachie | 36 | 1 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Alec McGhee | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Peter Millar | 33 | 2 | 26+2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jim Murphy | 42 | 4 | 28+3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5+1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Billy Pirie | 12 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Ian Redford | 22 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| | DF | SCO | Erich Schaedler | 30 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jim Shirra | 41 | 7 | 27+4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3+2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| | FW | SCO | Eric Sinclair | 46 | 14 | 35 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| | DF | RSA | Stuart Turnball | 18 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Willie Watson | 9 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Billy Williamson | 14 | 1 | 3+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |