The new and improved Elvis is in the building... and Steven Pressley says he's returned to Scotland with a smaller ego but a determination to succeed at Dundee

Daily Mail​

16 hours ago

Crossing the border en route to Dundee, Steven Pressley had plenty of time to reflect on the various personalities who populated the Scottish game when he made the journey in reverse 12 years ago.
One figure in particular gave him cause to wince just a little. He takes comfort from knowing this character is now reformed.
'I am very much a different person to the one who left Scotland with a big ego going down to conquer England,' he claimed.
'I return with a much smaller ego, but with much more knowledge and experience. I think I return a much more authentic guy.'
It was the harsh reality of management which took him down a peg or two. Pressley had some notable success at Coventry, but was eventually sacked in 2015. It ended that way at his last posting with Carlisle, too, six years ago. In between, he resigned from his job at Fleetwood.
He quickly appreciated that his inaugural posting at Falkirk had been only the first page of his learning in his chosen field.
Soon after being appointed Brentford's head of individual development in 2021, his ongoing quest for personnel development took him to Liverpool University where he immersed himself in a course in Strategic Leadership.
'I've just finished my degree,' he revealed. 'One of the things that I most enjoyed about it was self-reflection and looking at how I was as a leader and how I can improve as a leader.
'When I was a player, I was generally a captain. And then I went from that to being a manager almost immediately.
'And you almost, through your title alone, can make people do things.
'Then you go into a job, which I was involved in for four years, where you don't. You have to build relationships.
'You have to manage people in different ways. And it's been brilliant education for me. So, I think I've changed a lot.
'I'm a lot calmer, a lot more controlled, a much smaller ego.
'I think part of that has been that when you're a young manager, you want to take on the world. I still see it with so many young managers.
'Then you have the difficulties, you have the setbacks, you have the failures, you have all of those things.
'And eventually it shapes you and moulds you and changes you.
'I've had a lot of that, a lot of experience, a lot of disappointments, a lot of self-reflection. And I think a lot of growth.
'I think I'm a different character. But I think that that's normal throughout your life.'
He's had plenty to celebrate in recent weeks aside from passing his finals. Having decided to leave Brentford for a new challenge, his next destination was Vietnam, the chosen location for his 25th wedding anniversary.
He and wife June made it that far only for Dundee's interest to force him to cut the trip short by a week.
'I actually signed the contract of this job on the way to the airport,' he explained.
'I had to pull into a service station to sign it, just prior to getting on the plane.
'And as soon as I signed it, I discussed it with my wife, and I said, 'Look, we're going to have to cut this short'.
'So, I did 11 days. She's been with me 25 years, so she's lived the football life. She understands.
'She'll go away with my daughter for a week. That was kind of the thing to smooth it over.'
Some would question his sanity. Pressley is Dundee's 15th different manager this century. As Tony Docherty became the last man to attest to after being sacked for a 10th-place finish, the board have lofty standards and trigger-happy fingers.
'I've just come from a club that has had one manager (Thomas Frank, who has just moved to Spurs) for seven years,' he said.
'My opinion on football, and it's from my experience in working in a certain environment, is that stability is key. Stability is key to growth.
'But to get that stability, the unfortunate aspect of a football manager is that you need to get over certain hurdles and win a certain amount of games to get that opportunity.
'I think we've seen it first-hand in this league last year where you have David Gray at Hibernian. You saw the club kept him there. And then we saw the results of that.
'It's very important that you need to win certain games. But equally, the club has got to show strength and conviction in what they believe. So, it's always the balance.'
Pressley doesn't do social media. But nor is he oblivious to the fact that many Dark Blues fans feel underwhelmed at his appointment on the basis that he hasn't taken charge of a game as a manager in six years.
He is, however, clearly not in town just to tell people what they want to hear.
'If you are a Dundee supporter looking for a manager with a history of producing titles and winning honours then I'm not your man,' he stated candidly.
'I've not demonstrated that yet. I hope I can demonstrate that moving forward but my career to date doesn't suggest that.
'But certainly, from a development perspective and creating a style of play and the way a team performs, I have demonstrated that over the course.'
With wages in England continuing to spiral out of control, the need for him to develop and eventually sell home-grown players is clear.
Yet, every football manager still has to deliver results on a Saturday. At a club that's known four top-six finishes and three relegations this century, no one seems quite sure what constitutes success. Pressley knows what he'd like that to look like.
'I think that the club certainly has aspirations for top six,' he said. 'They said that to me during the meeting.
'When you look at the league in general, the gap between the bottom and third place is never enormous.
'So, it is possible to do that. It would be an incredible achievement. It's not beyond us if we do a lot of things right and we get a lot of things right - recruitment being one of them.'
He may have changed, but he appreciates that perceptions and rivalries won't have.
In a career which saw him wear the colours of Dundee United, Rangers, Hearts, Celtic and Falkirk, he ruffled a few feathers. The great Elvis return tour promises to be eventful.
'Listen, we're never ready for it,' he smiled. 'We pretend we are. It comes with the territory.
'I've got to say that my life down in England, it's been 12 years, has been really enjoyable. Being out of the limelight. Being able to go out and enjoy times with my family without being on the receiving end of any stick.
'It's been great. As I've said, I've lived in football now for 35 years. Unfortunately, I don't know why, I just couldn't get rid of that...
'But I wanted to go back into the front line again. Whether it's right or wrong, we'll only find out in time. But I am genuinely looking forward to it.'