Dundee United Jim Goodwin believes city rivals Dundee being relegated would be bad for Scottish football.
Sunday’s Dundee derby at Tannadice is shaping up to be a huge contest for both teams, with United in contention for European football and the Dark Blues desperate to climb away from the Premiership’s drop zone.
While Goodwin understands the importance of bragging rights in derby clashes – and pleasure for fans in celebrating their rivals’ failures – he sees the City of Discovery derby as one of the SPFL’s crown jewels.
And should Dundee drop into the Championship, he believes its absence from next season’s fixture calendar would weaken our game.
“I think it’s important for the league in general to have the big clubs in the top flight,” said the United boss.
“Of course, there’s always bragging rights between supporters and of course, sometimes the fans can enjoy watching their closest rivals going through a difficult spell, but I think the majority of Dundee United fans wouldn’t want to see Dundee getting relegated because we all look forward to those derby days.”
He continued: “I think the league has been really competitive this year.
“You’ve got the Glasgow derby, the Edinburgh derby and the Dundee derby. There are lots of good fixtures to look forward to.
“I think it’s great for the league in terms of marketing it. I think it brings a lot more attention to the game and the atmosphere in the games that we’ve played up to now against Dundee has been brilliant.
“The players have really enjoyed it.
“It’s always been a full house, whether it’s at Tannadice or Dens.
“We’re hoping for a similar atmosphere [on Sunday] and a similar type of game to the ones that we’ve seen previously.
“I wouldn’t sit here and say that I want Tony {Docherty, Dundee boss] and Dundee to go down, because I don’t think it’s a positive thing for the league.
“I don’t think it’s a good thing for the city either.
“As I said, I think most supporters, as much as they enjoy seeing the other team not doing particularly well, I’m pretty sure most fans would want that Dundee derby to be in the top flight again next season.”
Goodwin has loved his first experiences of the Dundee derby’s unique magic this season.
He has also seen how his players have been energised by the atmosphere in the build-up.
Along with the excitement of the matches themselves, he sees plenty of reasons to hope the fixture is preserved next term.
“This year has been my first time involved in it and I’ve loved it,” he said.
“They’re exciting games. The build-up to them is always good. The players know what’s at stake.
“There seems to be a good vibe around the training when you’re building up to these big games.
“It’s important for Scottish football that we have all the big teams who have got a good history, good fan bases, in the league as long as possible.”
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