In my era of full-time work on the Evening Telegraph, one of the tasks was for a reporter to go up to Dens and Tannadice around lunchtime most days for a chat with the managers.
When Ivano Bonetti was in charge of Dundee, these were a wee bit hit or miss as Ivano was very much off the cuff time-wise.
Also, he took the squad training at the Michelin grounds to the north-east of the city – and I was on ‘duty’ there one day.
This was around 2pm and, when the manager called a halt to proceedings, almost all the players and staff gathered their gear and made a beeline for the pavilion.
All except one.
Claudio Caniggia stayed behind with a dozen or so footballs on the halfway line.
One by one, he dribbled the balls up the old inside-left channel before chipping for goal from around 22 yards.
His aim was the postage-stamp corner and he ‘scored’ around 80% of the time.
Given his age and what he had achieved in the game, I was gobsmacked that he still ‘practiced’ his trade to such an extent.
Now comes the great news the Argentinian is coming back to the city.
Nicknamed in his own country as “The Son Of The Wind”, he is appearing in “An Audience With ..” at The Whitehall Theatre on Thursday, November 29, alongside noted journalists Paddy Barclay and Alan Pattullo. Tickets are on sale from www.thelongestforty.com
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