PRESS RELEASE: NEW BOOK LIFTS LID ON CLAUDIO CANIGGIA’S TIME IN SCOTTISH FOOTBALL
Former Rangers hero Claudio Caniggia’s time in Scottish football will feature in a new book.
The Bird and the Feather: Caniggia and Ravanelli’s Dundee Adventures will lift the lid on one of the most sensational periods in Scottish football history.
Caniggia’s displays in a Dundee shirt captured the attention of both halves of the Old Firm before he joined Rangers in the summer of 2001.
The book documents Argentine World Cup 1990 and 1994 hero Caniggia’s (the Bird) unlikely stint at Dundee and the box office signing of Italian Champions League winner Fabrizio Ravanelli (the White Feather) three years later.
That they both pitched up at a provincial team in Scotland that just 10 years previously had signed a player for a set of tracksuits made it all the more remarkable.
Amidst the economic doom and gloom, former Juventus and Sampdoria midfielder Ivano Bonetti turned up in a designer leather jacket and jeans in Dundee in the summer of 2000 and pledged big name signings and attractive football.
One of the most recognisable players of his generation following his World Cup heroics in 1990 and 1994, Caniggia sensationally agreed to turn his back on plans to finish his career in America and joined Dundee in a move which lifted the entire city.
Caniggia arrived to sign a short-term deal as his model wife Mariana tottered up Tannadice Street in a leopardskin coat and heels.
Caniggia’s Indian summer of 2000-2001 lifted the entire city and gave Dundee fans memories that will last a lifetime.
Suddenly Dundee games against the likes of Dunfermline were being shown live across the world and Diego Maradona was ready to jump on a plane to play for the Dark Blues.
Caniggia even proved the catalyst for a remarkable attempt by Dundee University students to make Baywatch actor David Hasselhoff their rector.
Sport became front page news as Caniggia arrived with a dream of making Argentina’s 2002 World Cup squad and quickly proved he still had pace to burn and was just as sharp in front of goal as he had been during the heyday of his famous partnership with Diego Maradona.
Graeme Strachan was working as a local journalist in Dundee when sport took over the front pages and his book tells the story of a rollercoaster ride which eventually plunged off the rails.
Graeme said: “The signing made front page headlines in Argentina and it was standing room only when he was unveiled at a press conference at Dens.
“Caniggia was still box office – pure and simple.
“Argentina shirts and blonde wigs sold out across the city.
“The huge demand for Dundee shirts with his name on the back even brought the club shop to a standstill as they ran out of letters.
“He did his talking on the pitch with important goals in big games including a derby win at Tannadice where he famously pulled pints for Dundee fans in the pub after the match.
“The style magazine GQ even turned up to write a feature on the club long before Dundee became ‘Scotland’s sexy new city’ with the opening of the V&A in 2018.
“Dundee games were being shown in South America, New Zealand and even the West Indies and Caniggia also ended up as a character in The Beano as his performances put him in contention for Scotland’s player of the year and sparked an Old Firm bidding war.”
More than just a football story, the Bird and the Feather also documents events off the pitch as the city itself went through a time of transition, which brought triumph and tragedy in equal measure.
Caniggia left to join Rangers in the summer of 2001 but Dundee’s big spending continued and they tried to conquer the Far East where they soon found themselves as the second most popular club in China behind Manchester United.
Giovanni di Stefano later joined the board and had to deny Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden would follow suit as things went from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Italian goal machine Ravanelli – who was once the English Premier League’s highest-paid player - eventually signed on in 2003 for a brief but altogether unforgettable spell.
The man who flew the flag for silver foxes long before George Clooney ran out at Dens after a fishy plan to reel in Paul Gascoigne was sunk.
Ravanelli signed on after leaving Derby County where he was still able to command £40,000-a-week at the age of 30.
After taking an age to get himself fit, the former Juventus striker finally found his old scoring boots and was soon comparing a night playing in front of just under 2,000 fans in North Lanarkshire with a five-star Champions League display in Turin at the height of his powers.
Ravanelli’s arrival even had fans from rivals Dundee United queuing for autographs.
Graeme said: “Memorably before a derby match against Dundee United he was mobbed by autograph hunters clamouring for his signature in the street.
“The thing was that they were United fans but that’s how big he still was at the time.
“The days of big wages and superstar names are gone now at Dens - but the club remains in existence which is ultimately the most important thing.
“But Dundee fans will never forget the memories of the time these two Gods of the game graced the ground whose fastest performers used to be greyhounds.
“It might have been short but it was certainly never dull.”
Ravanelli’s spell was just six games long as Dundee plunged into administration with huge debts in November 2003.
The Bird and the Feather tells the story of Caniggia and Ravanelli’s exploits as it happened including rare interviews from a time that still stirs the emotions to this day.
The Bird and the Feather is on pre-sale now from
www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk and is published by DC Thomson Media.
See also:
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/giovanni-di-stefano-features-in-new-football-book-1-6091226
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/new...caniggia-and-fabrizio-ravanelli-at-dundee-fc/
