# 1952–53 Dundee F.C. season

The 1952–53 season was the fifty-first season in which Dundee competed at a Scottish national level, playing in Division A, where the club would finish in 7th place.
Dundee would also compete in both the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup. Dundee would become the first Scottish team to win the League Cup in consecutive seasons, with a late Bobby Flavell double giving them a 2–0 win over Kilmarnock and winning them their third major honour. They would not see this success replicated in the Scottish Cup, losing at home against Rangers. The attendance for this game, 43,024, is an all-time attendance record at Dens Park.
At the beginning of the season, Dundee would try out a unique navy-and-white quartered home kit per the request of manager George Anderson, but proved highly unpopular with both players and fans. When Anderson took ill in September 1952 and his assistant Reg Smith took over coaching duties temporarily, the team agreed to switch back to their traditional navy shirt, with the addition of navy stripes on the shorts and red socks.

## Scottish Division A

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1 | 6 September | Motherwell | H | 0–0 | | 24,000 |
| 2 | 20 September | Aberdeen | H | 3–1 | Flavell, Burrell, Harris (o.g.) | 23,000 |
| 3 | 27 September | Clyde | A | 1–1 | Christie | 12,000 |
| 4 | 11 October | Raith Rovers | A | 1–1 | A. Henderson | 11,000 |
| 5 | 18 October | Heart of Midlothian | H | 2–1 | Cowie, A. Henderson | 21,000 |
| 6 | 1 November | East Fife | A | 2–3 | Flavell, Steel | 14,000 |
| 7 | 8 November | St Mirren | H | 0–0 | | 16,500 |
| 8 | 15 November | Hibernian | A | 0–3 | | 25,000 |
| 9 | 22 November | Third Lanark | A | 0–0 | | 6,000 |
| 10 | 29 November | Airdrieonians | H | 0–2 | | 13,000 |
| 11 | 6 December | Partick Thistle | H | 6–0 | Flavell (2), Stables, Steel (3) | 15,500 |
| 12 | 13 December | Celtic | A | 0–5 | | 25,000 |
| 13 | 20 December | Motherwell | A | 1–2 | Flavell | 9,000 |
| 14 | 27 December | Queen of the South | H | 0–0 | | 15,000 |
| 15 | 1 January | Aberdeen | A | 2–2 | Flavell (2) | 21,000 |
| 16 | 3 January | Clyde | H | 4–1 | Burrell (2), Flavell, Hill | 18,000 |
| 17 | 10 January | Falkirk | A | 1–2 | Flavell | 8,000 |
| 18 | 17 January | Raith Rovers | H | 2–3 | Steel, Boyd | 22,500 |
| 19 | 31 January | Heart of Midlothian | A | 1–1 | A. Henderson | 20,581 |
| 20 | 14 February | Rangers | H | 1–1 | Ziesing | 24,000 |
| 21 | 21 February | East Fife | H | 1–1 | Burrell | 23,000 |
| 22 | 28 February | St Mirren | A | 0–0 | | 14,000 |
| 23 | 7 March | Hibernian | H | 2–0 | Flavell, Steel | 30,000 |
| 24 | 14 March | Falkirk | H | 2–1 | Boyd, Steel | 15,000 |
| 25 | 18 March | Third Lanark | H | 3–0 | Boyd, Flavell, Toner | 6,500 |
| 26 | 21 March | Airdrieonians | A | 1–2 | Flavell | 6,000 |
| 27 | 28 March | Partick Thistle | A | 3–0 | A. Henderson, Steel, Flavell | 1,200 |
| 28 | 4 April | Celtic | H | 4–0 | Flavell, Toner, A. Henderson (2) | 28,000 |
| 29 | 18 April | Queen of the South | A | 0–1 | | 10,000 |
| 30 | 2 May | Rangers | A | 1–3 | Gallacher | 60,000 |

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts |
| 5 | Clyde | 30 | 13 | 4 | 13 | 78 | 78 | 1.000 | 30 |
| 6 | St Mirren | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 52 | 58 | 0.897 | 30 |
| 7 | Dundee | 30 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 44 | 37 | 1.189 | 29 |
| 8 | Celtic | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 51 | 54 | 0.944 | 29 |
| 9 | Partick Thistle | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 55 | 63 | 0.873 | 29 |

## Scottish League Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.

### Group 4

| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 1 | 9 August | Raith Rovers | H | 2–1 | Burrell, Christie | 20,000 |
| 2 | 13 August | Airdrieonians | A | 3–1 | Flavell (3) | 12,000 |
| 3 | 16 August | Clyde | H | 2–2 | Flavell, Steel | 21,000 |
| 4 | 23 August | Raith Rovers | A | 2–1 | Steel (2) | 17,000 |
| 5 | 27 August | Airdrieonians | H | 3–2 | Flavell (2), Toner | 19,000 |
| 6 | 30 August | Clyde | A | 3–3 | Christie, Boyd, Toner | 18,000 |

#### Group 4 table

| Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts |
| Dundee | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 10 | 1.500 | 10 |
| Clyde | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 1.000 | 5 |
| Raith Rovers | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 0.643 | 5 |
| Airdrieonians | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 1.000 | 4 |

### Knockout stage

| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| Quarter-finals, 1st leg | 13 September | Stirling Albion | A | 1–3 | Burrell | 8,000 |
| Quarter-finals, 2nd leg | 17 September | Stirling Albion | H | 5–0 | Flavell (2), Steel (2), Boyd | 24,000 |
| Dundee won 6–3 on aggregate |||||||
| Semi-finals | 4 October | Hibernian | N | 2–1 | Steel, Flavell | 44,200 |
| Final | 25 October | Kilmarnock | N | 2–0 | Flavell 82', 87' | 51,827 |

## Scottish Cup

Statistics provided by Dee Archive.
| Match Day | Date | Opponent | H/A | Score | Dundee Scorer(s) | Attendance |
| 2nd round | 7 February | Rangers | H | 0–2 | | 43,024 |

## Player statistics

Statistics provided by Dee Archive
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Division A | Division A | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | League Cup | League Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | MF | SCO | Alfie Boyd | 31 | 5 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| | GK | SCO | Bill Brown | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | NIR | Gerry Burrell | 20 | 6 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| | FW | SCO | George Christie | 24 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 |
| | DF | CAN | Jack Cowan | 36 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Doug Cowie | 39 | 1 | 29 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Bobby Flavell | 38 | 25 | 27 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 11 |
| | DF | SCO | Gerry Follon | 32 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Gordon Frew | 12 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Tommy Gallacher | 29 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Albert Henderson | 26 | 6 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Bobby Henderson | 32 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Robert Henderson | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | George Hill | 10 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Andy Irvine | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Jack Johnsen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Alan Massie | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | George Merchant | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Ian Stables | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Billy Steel | 33 | 14 | 22 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 6 |
| | FW | SCO | Jimmy Toner | 25 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| | FW | SCO | Bert Walker | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | RSA | Ken Ziesing | 33 | 1 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |