Michel Pageaud Player Profile

Biography

“Oooooo, Oooooo, Pageaud!” was a chant that reverberated regularly around Dens Park in the mid-Nineties in honour of the popular French goalkeeper Michel Pageaud. Pageaud spent three years at Dens Park during which he played in two cup finals for The Dee and was an ever present on the ‘Road to Hampden’ to the 1995 League Cup Final.

Pageaud was born in Luçon in France on August 30th 1966 and started his professional career between the sticks with French league club Angers Sporting Club de l’Ouest. After three years at the Stade Jean-Bouin in Angers, Michel joined Valenciennes from which he signed for Dundee in 1993 for a fee of £70,000.

Pageaud had been on trial with Dundee United who decided upon not offering him a contract but he was spotted playing in the ‘wee derby’ by Dundee manager Jim Duffy who decided to bring him across the road to Dens. United’s loss was definitely Dundee’s gain as the 6½ft agile keeper would become a cult hero with the Dundee support with a series of spectacular displays.

Pageaud came into a struggling Dundee side that were rooted to the bottom of the Premier Division and made his debut at home to Heart of Midlothian on February 26th 1994. He played in all but two of the remaining league fixtures but despite five clean sheets (including one at Ibrox and one at Tynecastle) and some impressive shot stopping displays, was unable to help stop Dundee dropping down to the First Division.

Jim Duffy was confident that they could bounce back up at the first time of asking but it was going to be a tough league with Dunfermline Athletic, Raith Rovers, Airdrie and St Johnstone all realistically looking for promotion.

Dundee got off to a decent start with just two defeats before November and by then also found themselves in the final of the B&Q Scottish League Challenge Cup.

Pageaud lined up at McDiarmid Park on Sunday 6th November against Airdrieonians who also had a good start to the season and were top of the First Division thanks largely to Owen Coyle’s seventeen goals. On paper there wasn’t much to choose between the sides and it was the same on the park, and by full time the sides were level at 2-2 after a pulsating 90 minutes.

As the game looked to be heading to a penalty shoot out ex-Dee Graham Harvey had a shot and when Pageaud couldn’t hold it, Airdrie sub Andy Smith smashed home the winner.

In the Scottish Cup Dundee knocked out Premier Division Partick Thistle but were knocked out in the next round by Raith Rovers. Rovers had astonishingly won the League Cup in November and were setting the pace in the League and led the way going into the final day.

Any one from three could win the league, with the runners-up going into a play-off for the first time against the second bottom side in the Premier Division and Dundee had to battle it out with both Raith and Dunfermline.

Rovers just needed a point to win the First Division while Dundee needed goals as they were on the same points as Dunfermline but with a poorer goal difference. Dundee were away to relegated Stranraer and took the lead in nine minutes when Jim Hamilton scored and with Pageaud a virtual spectator, the Dark Blues battered the Stair Park side’s goal.

Despite their dominance it took until the 62nd minute to get a second before three goals in the last ten minutes. It mattered not as Raith got the point they needed while Dunfermline won 2-1 meaning the Dark Blues missed out on promotion and the title by a point (as they had a better goal difference than Raith) and missed out on a play-off with Aberdeen by just two goals.

Aberdeen beat Dunfermline over two legs in the play-off and the side to come down in last place was Dundee United so The Dee were going to have it just as tough to get back up at the second attempt. They made a good start however with a 2-0 win away at St Johnstone in which Pageaud made a fantastic stop from future Dee Danny Griffen.

Progression was made in the League Cup with a 6-0 win over East Stirlingshire in the second round (Neil McCann scoring four) and a 3-1 win over Premier Division Kilmarnock in the third before one of the best games ever seen at Dens in the next round.

Hearts were the visitors in the quarter-final and in front of a packed Dens both sides served up a thriller. Dundee were 2-0 ahead at half time through a George Shaw double before the Jam Tarts pegged them back. Henry Smith in the Hearts goal made a blunder and passed straight to Paul Tosh who made it 3-2 before John Robertson equalised at the death.

Extra time was just as exciting and Morten Weighorst scored a sensational strike from the edge of the box but ex-Dee Alan Lawrence made it 4-4 with two minutes left to take it to penalties.

In a near electric atmosphere Tommy McQueen and Neil McCann netted before Tosh missed but Henry Smith also failed to score before Iain Anderson and player/manager Jim Duffy took it to sudden death. Another former Dee Willie Jamieson stepped up and smashed the ball against Pageaud’s right hand post giving Morten Weighorst the chance to write himself into the Dens Park history books by calmly stroking it past Smith to make it 5-4 on pens and send The Dee through.

The semi-final paired Dundee with Airdrie while Aberdeen met Rangers and it gave the Dark Blues the chance for revenge for the B&Q Cup Final defeat 11 months before. It all looked good for Dundee when Paul Tosh smashed home a Tommy McQueen cross just before the interval but with seven minutes left Peter Duffield stooped in to head home an equaliser.

It looked like it was more extra time for Michel but two minutes later Neil McCann sent Dundee to Hampden with a fabulous winner. George Shaw sent the ball wide to McCann and as he sped into the box, everyone was expecting a cross but instead the winger flighted the ball over John Martin’s head and into the net off the inside of the far post.

Aberdeen beat Rangers in the other semi and the week before the Final Dundee beat Dundee United 3-2 at Tannadice. For the first hour Dundee blew United away with their attacking 4-3-3 formation and raced into a 3-0 lead only for United to peg Dundee back with two late goals.

The Arabs couldn’t get an equaliser as The Dee held on for a famous 3-2 win; Michel’s first derby win in three matches but a fatal blow for the League Cup Final may have been dealt at Tannadice. Unusually for a First Division match at that time the derby was the main game on BBC Sportscene on Saturday night and they highlighted the Dundee weakness at right-back from which United got their goals.

A week later in the Coca-Cola Cup Final at Hampden, Aberdeen doubled up on their left side with Joe Millar and Stephen Glass putting pressure on the left-footed Dundee right-back Dusan Vrto and both goals came from that side.

Aberdeen won 2-0 but Dundee were hampered by both a pre match injury to Neil McCann who struggled and by too many players who froze but Pageaud wasn’t one of them. Alongside the experienced Duffy, Manley and McQueen, Pageaud had played well but it was a desperately disappointing day for The Dee.

Post-Hampden Dundee’s league campaign frizzled away and the Dark Blues finished a disappointing fifth. At the end of the season Michel took advantage of the new freedom of contract that players gained from the 1995 Bosman Ruling and he informed Jim Duffy that he was returning to his old club Valenciennes in France, meaning Dundee would get no compensation.

It was a blow not only to Jim Duffy who would have to find a new keeper for a third tilt at promotion but also to the fans for whom the moustached Michel was a firm favourite. He was a commanding figure in his box, kept thirty-five clean sheets in eighty-five appearances and an excellent shot stopper who had a chant that was sung on a weekly basis due to his consistent and excellent performances between the sticks for Dundee.