Many noble and talented players have worn the famous Dark Blue of Dundee FC over the decades.
A dazzling array of stars have pulled on the coveted jersey and risen to new heights, driven on by the combined voices of thousands of passionate fans.
There have been countless memories, countless moments of brilliance served up by the likes of Claudio Caniggia, Georgi Nemsadze, Bobby Cox and Vince Mennie (ahem).
Then there have been those whose legacies are not talked of in such hushed, reverential tones.
Remember Eric Garcin (aka the pickled gherkin)? Thought not.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7Cvp8Ew_Vjs%3Frel%3D0
What about John Robertson? Hearts legend but Dundee disaster. He eventually left with his tail between his legs, branding Dens Park fans the worst in the business (or something similar anyway. The cad.).
Many “stars” are simply forgotten.
Rarer still, however, are those doomed to be vilified for ever more.
Heading up that list, without doubt, is the tragic Arvid Schenk.
Picture the scene Tannadice, a New Year’s Day derby against your bitterest rivals. Your first choice goalkeeper is injured in the warm-up. You haven’t been near the first team, but suddenly you are drafted in. The circumstances could not be more dramatic. The perfect stage, surely, for the birth of a legend.
Either that or you concede a goal in the first 40 seconds followed by another five.Schenk footage too painful? Dark Blue life was once like this:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=SSUtUeIZh4A%3Frel%3D0
While the former scenario must have been in poor Arvid’s mind for a few, glorious, seconds, the latter panned out in front of horrified Dundee fans, both in the stadium and on TV.
Cruelly, of course, it didn’t just play out in front of their eyes, it played out in the front of the eyes of astonished Dundee Utd fans. And they found the whole thing in some way amusing.
Schenk who recently described the experience to The Guardian never played again and has now made a swift and not altogether dignified exit.
He will be, as mentioned above, forever vilified.
But here’s the rub he doesn’t deserve it.
There have been numerous players over the years who have just been tripe.
Week after week, they were tripe.
They picked up a wage for being tripe and nobody really batted an eyelid.
Spare a thought, then for young Arvid, who didn’t actually do much wrong and can’t really blamed for any of the six goals he conceded in a game he was never meant to play.
Here was a young man leaving his homeland dreaming of a new start in the Scottish Premiership, on the cusp of a potentially glorious career.
Now he’s back home again.
What a cruel way for his dreams to be dashed.
History (at least Scottish footballing history) will not be kind to Arvid Schenk. Let this tiny and admittedly not entirely consequential portion of cyberspace stand as a more generous tribute to a man not well treated by circumstance.