Practically forgotten professional in the Netherlands, but eternal legend of Dundee United

• Oscar van der Horst

  editor NOS Sport

In the Netherlands, Guido van de Kamp is the man who arranges for waste containers to be placed on construction sites. In Scotland he is to this day a hero at Dundee United football club, Thursday’s opponent of AZ.

And sometimes he suddenly receives a phone call that takes him back from North Brabant to that wonderful world. Like now.

Van de Kamp (58) was reserve keeper at FC Den Bosch and NEC in the Netherlands, until he ended up in Scotland by luck and became part of a legendary team. “We reached the cup final for the seventh time in club history. The previous ones were all lost by Dundee United, but I remember everything from this day.”

Don’t say Dundee, emphasizes Van de Kamp. Because you mean that other club in town, literally across the street. Even if, according to him, the derby is a purely sporting one. And not with deeper grounds, like the one between Celtic and Rangers or the one between Hearts and Hibernian.

However, nowhere in the UK are two stadiums closer together than those in Scotland’s fourth largest city. Dens Park, of FC Dundee. And Tannadice Park, where AZ plays against Dundee United. “And so I’m already being called by supporters if I’m coming.”

It was the same fans who painted the city orange in the spring of 1994. Glasgow Rangers was already champion and winner of the second cup tournament. “They went full for the treble, the three national prizes. But we won 1-0, due to a too short pass-back shortly after the break. First a bet against the inside of the post and in the rebound it was hit.”

The discharge was huge at Hampden Park, the national stadium in Glasgow. And again a day later, when the ceremony took place in Dundee.

“It’s certainly not that I was the hero of the day, because we just played a great game. I can still remember saves on bets from Alexei Mikhailichenko and Mark Hately. And Duncan Ferguson was still in the squad, that was He was already a beast in the striker then. He was still playing for us the year before.”

Scottish football gave Van de Kamp a second life as a footballer, because he was in the right place a few times at the right time.

Satisfied, he certainly looks back on his time at FC Den Bosch, even though he only played sporadically there. “I have experienced all the beautiful seasons in the Eredivisie there, say the Panasonic years. But I just had Jan van Grinsven in front of me as a keeper. If I had wanted to win the competition, I think I should have locked him up. “

To continue for another year at the highest level after the relegation as a reserve keeper at NEC, turned out to be a golden opportunity.

“Wilfried Brookhuis was suspended, so I was allowed to keep the derby against Vitesse at the end of the season. That was at Monnikenhuize, then. And there was some prestige at stake. The manager of Dundee United was in the stands in front of Cees Lok. But after I kept a clean sheet in that game, he immediately reported to me.”

He didn’t have to think twice about that.

He will never forget the introduction to Scottish football. “After the first best high cross, I was two meters outside the field against the billboards and I also got a corner against. Yes, you learn something from that. And I also took that mentality with me afterwards.”

At that time, Scotland was still a regular customer at the major final tournaments, Van de Kamp also played at Dundee United with a few internationals from that time.

The passion, the experience. And that every game. It was a lot of fun, matches where sparks flew. “Those Scots have a character, who keep going. That is also what AZ can now expect, a team that will fight to the end. And with quite a few nice players.”

Steven Fletcher (35), who has returned to Scotland after all his years in top European competitions, is in the front. Van de Kamp still regularly visits. After a difficult period for the club with even a number of seasons at the second level, there is again a nice team.

Dundee United were also allowed to enter Europe in 1994. Only Van de Kamp never got to experience that. Due to stalled contract negotiations, his period there came to an abrupt end after the cup win.

“To my great regret, I really could not agree with that proposal. I then went back to the Netherlands to train again at Den Bosch. Even though I no longer had a contract, the club could still ask for a transfer fee.”

That situation changed six months later, when Jean-Marc Bosman filed a case for these kinds of situations. “On the day that Den Bosch wanted to make me a proposal, I could suddenly return to Scotland at Dunfermline.”

There he ended his career. And he passed on his love for the land to his daughter, who lived there for the first seven years of her life.

The bond with Dundee United was also restored, resulting in the most beautiful tribute imaginable.

“About five years ago I received a call that they wanted to add me to the Hall of Fame. Tickets, overnight stays, everything was neatly arranged around the ceremony. With a few former players I was allowed to report to a room where everyone stood up and started clapping when we entered.”

Everything came straight from the heart.

“Even my daughter still gets gifts and messages from fans from Scotland. She always said she wanted to get married there. And the great thing is that she recently did.”

Van de Kamp enjoys moments like that even more, the visits to the now familiar Dundee. The club and stadium have changed over the years, hundreds of players came and went, but he is still recognized on the street by supporters.

Only the boardroom is exactly how it used to be. “All that furniture, of that oak. At all those clubs, you know. They are all small football museums there.”

With old photos on the wall, all neatly framed. And Guido van de Kamp from Sint-Michielsgestel will hang there forever. Field employee at a waste disposal company, but above all a club legend whom they will treat with the deepest respect in Scotland for many days to come.

So of course he’s going to cheer, decked out in orange-black.