The Tayside derby is a football rivalry based in

Tayside Tayside ( gd, Taobh Tatha) was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 15 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named for the River Tay. It was created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, following recom ...

. The matches are contested by the three professional clubs in the region:

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 ...

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 ...

and St Johnstone. A match between Dundee and Dundee United, whose grounds are in the same street, is referred to as a

Dundee derby The Dundee derby is a football match between Dundee and Dundee United. The clubs are based yards apart in the city of Dundee, the fourth-largest city in Scotland. History Dundee is the older of the two, having been founded in 1893, compare ...

. St Johnstone are based in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, 20 miles from

. In seasons where all local derby matches were traditionally held on the same weekend (including at New Year), the Dundee derby would take precedence if all three clubs were in the same league, and any uneven number of Tayside teams would lead to one usually playing

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, who had no closer rivals geographically. Followers of the Dundee clubs generally consider their city rivalry as far more important than any relationship with St Johnstone, with Dundee captain

Charlie Adam Charles Graham Adam (born 10 December 1985) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Adam started his senior career with Rangers. He spent much of his early senior career on loan to Ross County and St Mirren. ...

stating in 2021 prior to a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Zander Clark Zander Clark (born 26 June 1992) is a Scottish professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Heart of Midlothian F.C., Hearts. Clark previously played for St Johnstone F.C., St Joh ...

did not refute this outright but highlighted the increased travelling support typically brought to each ground for matches due to the close distance between Perth and Dundee, bringing more local interest into league fixtures particularly in seasons where the Dundee clubs are in different divisions and no city derbies are played.

Achievements

Between them, the three clubs have won thirteen major trophies (as well as finishing runners-up/beaten finalists 26 times across the three competitions), with St Johnstone's three triumphs all the most recent, but they are still behind the Dundee clubs who have each won four cups and one national league championship. In the season following their title wins, the Dundee clubs each progressed to the semi-final stage of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

(Dundee in 1962–63, United in 1983–84). Dundee also reached the semi-finals of the 1967–68 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, while Dundee United were runners-up in the

1987 UEFA Cup Final The 1987 UEFA Cup Final was a football tie played on 6 and 20 May 1987 between IFK Göteborg of Sweden and Dundee United of Scotland. Göteborg won 2–1 on aggregate, their second UEFA Cup triumph, following victory in 1982. It was Dundee Unit ...

. St Johnstone have never made a major impact in

European football UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur assoc ...

, although they qualified for Europe six times between 2014 and 2021, more than either Dundee club managed in the 21st century. All three clubs have endured spells in the second tier, but St Johnstone are the only club to have dropped into the third tier for a short period. Between them, they have won the second tier championship 14 times, and have lifted the minor

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2017–18.

Achievements by Tayside clubs

''Up to and including season

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

.''

Dundee United vs St Johnstone

*First meeting: 23 September 1911, 1911–12 Scottish Division Two Perhaps the most famous meeting between the ''Terrors'' and the ''Saints'' was the 2014 Scottish Cup Final at

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 ...

, won 2–0 by St Johnstone to secure the first major trophy in their long history. In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, the clubs met in the semi-final stage of the same tournament, Dundee United winning that match at

East End Park East End Park, currently named KDM Group East End Park for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium situated in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland with a seating capacity of . The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Championship sid ...

to set up a final against

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 ...

which they lost 4–3 after extra time.

Results table

''As of: 18 February 2023.''

Dundee vs St Johnstone

*First meeting: 4 October 1924, 1924–25 Scottish Division One Dundee v St

The two clubs met in the semi-final of the

1967–68 Scottish League Cup The 1967–68 Scottish League Cup was the twenty-second season of Scotland's second Association football, football knockout competition. The competition was won for the third successive season by Celtic F.C., Celtic, who defeated Dundee F.C., Dun ...

at Tannadice. Dundee won 3–1, but went on to lose

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

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 ...

. St Johnstone also lost out (in a replay) at the same stage of that season's

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

. Prior to that, Dundee's greatest triumph – winning the 1961–62 Scottish Division One, the only league title in their history – also involved heartbreak for St Johnstone, as the ''Dark Blues'', needing only a draw to secure the championship, won 3–0 at

Muirton Park Muirton Park (1924–1989) was the second of three football grounds the football club St Johnstone from Perth, Scotland, have occupied in their history. It was preceded by the Recreation Grounds (1885–1924) and succeeded by McDiarmi ...

on the final day, a result which saw the home club relegated on

goal average 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 ...

. ''Saints'' gained a small form of revenge many years later, with both teams in the second tier, when they won 1–0 at Dens Park to all but confirm their return to the top flight by winning the 2008–09 Scottish First Division (it was not mathematically certain at that point, although they eventually held a 10-point margin by the season's end).

Results table

''As of: 23 April 2022.''

Dundee United vs Dundee

*First meeting: 21 November 1925, 1925–26 Scottish Division One The city rivals contested the

1980 Scottish League Cup Final The 1980 Scottish League Cup Final was played on 6 December 1980, at Dens Park in Dundee and was the final of the 35th Scottish League Cup competition. The final was a Dundee derby contested by Dundee United and Dundee. Dundee United won the ma ...

, held at Dens Park after lots were drawn. United's 3–0 victory was one of the early signs of them becoming a force in Scottish football along with

, with the two clubs' spell of success and relative geographical proximity leading to them being dubbed the New Firm, challenging Glasgow's

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

. Previously existing in Dundee's shadow, the United team built by

Jim McLean James Yuille McLean (2 August 1937 – 26 December 2020) was a Scottish football player, manager and director. He managed Dundee United between 1971 and 1993, becoming the longest-serving and most successful manager in the club's history, winni ...

had won the previous edition of the League Cup too, their victory over Aberdeen also played at Dens in a replay after a draw at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

; Paul Sturrock was a scorer in both years. Dundee United would win the league title in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, and once again it was Dens Park which was the scene of their victory, winning 2–1 over Dundee thanks to a memorable chipped goal from Ralph Milne to top the table by one point from Celtic and Aberdeen. They also came out on top 3–2 in the semi-final of the 1986–87 Scottish Cup between the teams played at

Tynecastle Park Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as a ...

, although lost

to St Mirren. The ''Tangerines good fortune at Dens Park ran out in May 2016, however, as Dundee won the city derby 2–1 to confirm United's descent to the second tier.

Results table

''As of: 9 April 2022.''

Totals for three teams

''As of: 18 February 2023.''

Notes

References

External links

Soccerbase:
Matches between Dundee and St Johnstone

Matches between Dundee United and St Johnstone

Matches between Dundee United and Dundee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tayside Derby Scotland football derbies Dundee United F.C. Dundee F.C. St Johnstone F.C. Football in Dundee Sport in Perth, Scotland Recurring sporting events established in 1911 Football in Perth and Kinross