Despite their turbulent campaign, what can we learn from the statistics about the Dark Blues?

Undee had a season full of ups and downs in 2024–2025.

Supporting the Dee is like riding a rollercoaster, as any fan can tell you, and the previous season was no exception.

And at the end of the trip, a manager got off the rollercoaster for the third time in the last four seasons.

Last Monday marked the end of Tony Docherty’s tenure as Dens Park’s manager.

Numerous people have voiced their opinions over the choice, with club executives pointing to poor performance.

Tony Docherty’s time at Dundee is up. Image: Ross Parker/SNS

But what can be inferred from Dundee’s 2024–2025 numbers?

In order to find out, Courier Sport took out their pocket calculator and started doing calculations.

Goals given up

Dens Park’s most recent season was a tale of goals. Dundee cherished them. and detested them.

Many goals were scored, but far too many were given up.

First, let’s talk about the latter. During the season, Dundee allowed 77 league goals.

They were on pace to set the club’s worst-ever league defensive record, which stands at 80 goals given up, at the end of the season.

Dundee’s 2024/25 goals against numbers were a huge problem. Image: Ross Parker/SNS

However, they failed to meet that dreaded threshold and gave up fewer goals than they did during the 2018–19 relegation season.

With an average of two goals per game and the fewest clean sheets, Dundee had by far the worst defensive record in the Premiership.

With their xG conceded (a metric used to quantify the quality of opportunities given up) nearly 10 goals lower than the closest rival (71.5 for Dundee and 62.2 for Ross County), they also gave up more chances than any other team.

Scored goals

Last season, Dundee gave up an incredible 86 goals in all competitions. That’s a big figure.

They did, however, score 87. A great amount, too.

They recorded their biggest top-flight goal total in an incredible 37 years and finished fourth in the Premiership, behind the top three sides.

Simon Murray enjoyed a superb season in front of goal. Image: SNS

Tommy Coyne’s goal-laden 1987/88 campaign was the last time Dundee scored more goals, with 70 that season and an incredible 74 the previous season. Those seasons, however, did include 44 league games.

Dundee’s expected goals scored were only 10th in the Premiership, despite their high number of goals conceded.

According to the statistics, Dundee’s expected goal total for the season was 42.8. They outperformed their xG by an astounding 14 goals.

Aside from champions Celtic, the Premier League’s best shooters were at Dens Park.

 

Stars

There are no prizes for guessing who leads the attacking stats at Dens Park.

Simon Murray had a fantastic return to his boyhood club, scoring 16 Premiership goals, 22 in all competitions, and adding eight assists.

He also received more league yellow cards than any other Dee, with nine.

Lyall Cameron was next on the list, with nine league goals and 14 overall.

Luke McCowan’s numbers remained high on the list of Dundee’s chief creators in 2024/25. Image: David Young/Shutterstock

Throughout the Premiership season, Mulligan produced more “big chances” than any other Dundee player.

Goalies Trevor Carson and Jon McCracken both contributed assists.

On defence, Mo Sylla had the most interceptions per 90 minutes (1.9), Ethan Ingram had the most successful tackles per 90 minutes (2.0), Clark Robertson had the most clearances per 90 (8.5), and Billy Koumetio came in second (7.5).

Amazing analogy

The Dundee owners were too near to the relegation areas after finishing in 10th place to continue believing in Docherty for the upcoming campaign.

Surprisingly, though, they actually won more league games this season despite finishing in 10th place than they did the previous year when they finished in sixth.

They won ten games to finish sixth, and they won eleven games to finish tenth this past season.

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