# 1980–81 Dundee F.C. season

The 1980–81 season was the 79th season in which Dundee competed at a Scottish national level, playing in the First Division after being relegated the previous season. Dundee would finish in 2nd place, achieving immediate promotion back to the top tier. Dundee would also compete in both the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup, where they would be eliminated by Falkirk in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup, and made an impressive run to the final of the League Cup, before being defeated by inter-city rivals Dundee United.
Dundee would switch from Admiral to Umbro as their kit manufacturer, and would return to white shorts along with the famous diamond stripes.

## Scottish First Division

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1 | 9 August | Dunfermline Athletic | A | 0–1 | | 3,660 |
| 2 | 16 August | Ayr United | H | 0–0 | | 5,328 |
| 3 | 23 August | St Johnstone | A | 0–1 | | 4,197 |
| 4 | 6 September | Clydebank | A | 0–3 | | 1,296 |
| 5 | 9 September | Hibernian | H | 1–2 | Scrimgeour | 5,304 |
| 6 | 13 September | Berwick Rangers | H | 2–2 | Fraser, Shirra (pen.) | 3,782 |
| 7 | 17 September | Motherwell | A | 2–3 | Fraser, McGeachie | 2,300 |
| 8 | 20 September | Falkirk | H | 4–0 | Fletcher, Mackie, Sinclair (2) | 3,993 |
| 9 | 27 September | Stirling Albion | A | 1–1 | Shirra (pen.) | 1,557 |
| 10 | 4 October | Dumbarton | H | 3–1 | Sinclair, Fleming, Shirra | 3,553 |
| 11 | 11 October | Raith Rovers | A | 0–0 | | 3,255 |
| 12 | 14 October | Hamilton Academical | H | 2–0 | Fraser, Sinclair | 3,170 |
| 13 | 18 October | East Stirlingshire | H | 2–0 | Murphy, Sinclair | 3,771 |
| 14 | 25 October | Berwick Rangers | A | 1–0 | Sinclair | 1,080 |
| 15 | 1 November | Clydebank | H | 2–1 | Fraser, Stephen | 4,700 |
| 16 | 8 November | Motherwell | H | 2–1 | Ferguson (pen.), Shirra (pen.) | 5,112 |
| 17 | 15 November | Falkirk | A | 3–0 | McGeachie, Sinclair (2) | 3,500 |
| 18 | 22 November | Stirling Albion | H | 5–1 | Stephen (2), Sinclair, Mackie | 4,815 |
| 19 | 29 November | Dumbarton | A | 2–1 | Stephen (2) | 958 |
| 20 | 13 December | East Stirlingshire | A | 2–0 | Geddes, Murphy | 1,026 |
| 21 | 20 December | Hibernian | H | 1–0 | Sinclair | 7,454 |
| 22 | 27 December | Ayr United | A | 0–1 | | 4,026 |
| 23 | 1 January | St Johnstone | H | 2–2 | Stephen, Sinclair | 8,573 |
| 24 | 3 January | Hamilton Academical | A | 2–4 | Stephen, Geddes | 2,381 |
| 25 | 31 January | Ayr United | H | 2–4 | Scrimgeour, Sinclair | 4,724 |
| 26 | 7 February | Hibernian | A | 0–0 | | 4,989 |
| 27 | 21 February | Motherwell | A | 1–4 | Williamson | 2,072 |
| 28 | 11 March | Dumbarton | H | 2–1 | Scrimgeour, Sinclair | 2,812 |
| 29 | 14 March | Raith Rovers | H | 3–1 | Geddes (2), Scrimgeour | 6,315 |
| 30 | 18 March | Dunfermline Athletic | H | 2–0 | Geddes | 3,159 |
| 31 | 21 March | Hamilton Academical | A | 3–1 | Sinclair (2), Murphy | 1,492 |
| 32 | 24 March | Stirling Albion | A | 1–0 | Murphy | 752 |
| 33 | 28 March | Berwick Rangers | H | 0–0 | | 3,509 |
| 34 | 1 April | Raith Rovers | H | 2–1 | Sinclair, Fraser | 6,178 |
| 35 | 4 April | St Johnstone | H | 4–1 | Sinclair (2), Scrimgeour, Mackie | 8,586 |
| 36 | 11 April | Dunfermline Athletic | A | 1–1 | Mackie | 3,000 |
| 37 | 18 April | Clydebank | H | 1–0 | Geddes | 4,771 |
| 38 | 25 April | Falkirk | A | 2–1 | Murphy, Stephen | 4,500 |
| 39 | 2 May | East Stirlingshire | A | 1–0 | Sinclair | 5,762 |

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Hibernian (C, P) | 39 | 24 | 9 | 6 | 67 | 24 | +43 | 57 | Promotion to the Premier Division |
| 2 | Dundee (P) | 39 | 22 | 8 | 9 | 64 | 40 | +24 | 52 | Promotion to the Premier Division |
| 3 | St Johnstone | 39 | 21 | 10 | 8 | 64 | 44 | +20 | 52 | |
| 4 | Raith Rovers | 39 | 20 | 10 | 9 | 49 | 32 | +17 | 50 | |
| 5 | Motherwell | 39 | 19 | 11 | 9 | 65 | 51 | +14 | 49 | |

## Scottish League Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1st round, 1st leg | 26 August | Arbroath | H | 2–0 | Fletcher (2) | 3,745 |
| 1st round, 2nd leg | 30 August | Arbroath | A | 3–0 | MacLaren, Sinclair, Fletcher | 2,855 |
| Dundee win 5–0 on aggregate |||||||
| 2nd round, 1st leg | 3 September | Kilmarnock | H | 0–0 | | 4,388 |
| 2nd round, 2nd leg | 24 September | Kilmarnock | A | 0–0 | | 2,401 |
| Tied 0–0 on aggregate, Dundee win 5–4 on penalties |||||||
| Quarter-finals, 1st leg | 8 October | Aberdeen | H | 0–0 | | 10,308 |
| Quarter-finals, 2nd leg | 29 October | Aberdeen | A | 1–0 | Fraser | 14,925 |
| Dundee win 1–0 on aggregate |||||||
| Semi-finals, 1st leg | 5 November | Ayr United | A | 1–1 | Sinclair | 6,801 |
| Semi-finals, 2nd leg | 19 November | Ayr United | H | 3–2 | Williamson, Fraser, Sinclair | 9,438 |
| Dundee win 4–3 on aggregate |||||||
| Final | 6 December | Dundee United | H/N | 0–3 | | 24,446 |

## Scottish Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 3rd round | 24 January | Falkirk | A | 0–1 | | 4,486 |

## 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 |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | DF | SCO | Les Barr | 38 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5+3 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Alan Blair | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Dennis Corrigan | 3 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Gerry Davidson | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Iain Ferguson | 13 | 1 | 8+4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Ian Fleming | 12 | 1 | 7+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | John Fletcher | 12 | 4 | 6+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4+1 | 3 |
| | MF | SCO | Cammy Fraser | 38 | 7 | 31 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| | FW | SCO | Andy Geddes | 20 | 7 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Bobby Geddes | 30 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Bobby Glennie | 50 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Stewart MacLaren | 41 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| | MF | SCO | Peter Mackie | 45 | 5 | 26+9 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 7+2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | George McGeachie | 39 | 2 | 27+3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Stewart McKimmie | 18 | 0 | 16+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jim Murphy | 43 | 5 | 20+15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4+4 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Erich Schaedler | 43 | 0 | 32+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Jocky Scott | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Brian Scrimgeour | 24 | 5 | 18+4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jim Shirra | 29 | 4 | 15+5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6+3 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Eric Sinclair | 47 | 22 | 37 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| | FW | SCO | Ray Stephen | 27 | 8 | 19+4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Evan Williams | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Billy Williamson | 26 | 2 | 15+5 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |