Albert Kidd (born 19 October 1961) is a Scottish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who now lives in Australia. He is best known in

Scottish football Association football ( sco, fitbaa, gd, ball-coise) is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scot ...

for scoring two

goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...

s for

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

against Hearts on the final day of the 1985–86 season to deny Hearts the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Career

Early career

Kidd began his senior career in 1976 at

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

side

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club ...

where he made 18 league appearances without scoring. A year later he moved up a division and joined

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

where he played for over two years. During that time Kidd scored 19 goals in 95 league appearances. In 1979, Kidd moved to

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

where he maintained a decent scoring rate of 18 goals in 53 league appearances. Motherwell failed to win promotion in either of Kidd's two seasons there.

Dundee

In the summer of 1981, Kidd moved to

, who had just gained promotion to the

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...

. Prior to the day of what transpired to be his final game for Dundee, Kidd had made 114 league appearances for Dundee, scoring a modest 10 times. He had made only 11 appearances that season, seven of which were as a substitute.

3 May 1986

Going into the final day of the 1985–86 season, Hearts were in a very strong position. They were two points clear of second-placed

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and had a

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

that was four goals better. With only two points available for a win in

at this time (

three points for a win Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and group tournaments, especially in association football, in which three points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points awarded to the losing team. If the game is ...

was not introduced until

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

), Hearts only needed to avoid defeat in the match at

Dens Park Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards ...

to win the championship. Hearts had not lost any match since 28 September 1985. It was also possible that Hearts could win the championship even if they lost the match, so long as Celtic did not overturn the goal difference advantage by winning heavily against St Mirren at

Love Street "Love Street" is a song performed by the American rock band the Doors. Sequenced as the second album track on '' Waiting for the Sun'', its lyrics were written by lead singer Jim Morrison and as with other songs, it was dedicated to his girlfrien ...

. Dundee had all to play for themselves. Dundee and Rangers were vying for fifth place in the league; with the team finishing fifth gaining the last 'European' spot and entry into the following season's UEFA Cup. Rangers were ahead of Dundee in the league going into the final fixture of the season, but a win for Dundee and defeat for Rangers would see the Dens Park side leap-frog Rangers in the league and qualify for Europe. At

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

, with the scoreline at Dens Park still 0–0, it was announced over the

public address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

system that Celtic were winning 4–0. Although Hearts were on course to win the point they needed to win the championship, the score at Love Street meant that Hearts had lost their goal difference advantage over Celtic. Hearts knew that they would have to avoid defeat in their match to win the championship. Midway through the second half, with the score at Dens Park still locked at 0–0, the Dundee

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Archie Knox brought on Kidd (a forward) as a substitute for left full-back

Tosh McKinlay Thomas Valley "Tosh" McKinlay (born 3 December 1964) is a Scottish former footballer. A fullback or wingback, he spent most of his career in Scotland playing for Dundee, Heart of Midlothian, Celtic and Kilmarnock. He also played for English club ...

in an effort to win the game. Dundee needed to win the game to stand a chance of qualifying for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

.Despite winning the game against Hearts, Dundee did not qualify for the

1986–87 UEFA Cup The 1986–87 UEFA Cup was the 16th season of the UEFA Cup, a football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for clubs affiliated to its member associations. The competition was won by IFK Göteborg of Sweden, ...

because Rangers also won their game and took the last qualifying position. In the 83rd minute, with Hearts less than 10 minutes away from winning their first championship since

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

, Kidd scored the opening goal with a close-range finish from a

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is taken ...

. Six minutes later, Kidd effectively ended Hearts' chances by scoring a second goal to make the final score a 2–0 win for Dundee. Remarkably, Kidd had not scored all season before scoring two goals in the last 10 minutes of the season. Celtic won their game 5–0 to win the championship on goal difference by three goals.

Later career

Kidd left Dundee to join

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

for the following season, 1986–87. In an ironic twist, Falkirk went to

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

in the penultimate game of the season needing a result to ensure their top-flight status, while Celtic needed to win to retain an outside chance of winning the championship. Kidd came on as a substitute as Falkirk won 2–1, effectively ending Celtic's championship challenge. The winning goal was scored by

Jimmy Gilmour Jimmy Gilmour (born 17 December 1961) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. Career Born in Bellshill, Gilmour played for Bargeddie Amateurs, Queen's Park, Partick Thistle, Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Stirling ...

. Kidd left Scottish football in 1987 to play for

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

NSL side

West Adelaide SC West Adelaide Soccer Club is an Australian soccer club currently playing in the South Australian State League 1. Traditionally named Hellas, the club was founded by members of the Greek community of Adelaide. West Adelaide became a founding memb ...

After football

Kidd has lived in Australia since emigrating there to play for

. Despite living far from Scotland, he is still fondly remembered by Celtic fans and particularly by fans of Hibs, who are Hearts' rivals in Edinburgh. This is despite the fact that Kidd never played for either Celtic or Hibs. There are

anecdote An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Occasionally humorous ...

s that Hibs effectively stopped playing during their match against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

on the same day, allowing United to score a winning goal in the meaningless match, due to the joyous reaction of the Hibs support to the news from Dens Park. Kidd himself has told an anecdote that

Billy Connolly Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, retired comedian, artist, writer, musician, and presenter. He is sometimes known, especially in his homeland, by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his ...

(a Celtic fan)Scottish comedian and Celtic fan, Billy Connolly, celebrates victory at Parkhead as Celtic win the Scottish Championship
Empics was

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

-struck when he accidentally met Kidd in an

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

hotel. As Connolly is famous around the

English-speaking world Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest languag ...

, Kidd instantly recognised him, but Connolly didn't initially recognise Kidd. As the pair went through some good-natured

small talk Small talk is an informal type of discourse that does not cover any functional topics of conversation or any transactions that need to be addressed. In essence, it is polite and standard conversation about unimportant things. The phenomenon ...

, Connolly eventually realised who he was talking to.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kidd, Albert 1961 births Arbroath F.C. players Association football forwards Brechin City F.C. players Carnoustie Panmure F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Expatriate soccer players in Australia Falkirk F.C. players Living people Motherwell F.C. players Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish footballers Footballers from Dundee West Adelaide SC players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia