Why Dundee appointed Steven Pressley

The Courier

2 days ago

Steven Pressley is Dundee's new head coach.
The final two words in that sentence are important.
He comes after manager Tony Docherty, after manager Gary Bowyer and every other manager appointment under the stewardship of the Keyes family.
Dundee chief John Nelms is determined to take the club in a new direction; to institute a 'new philosophy' as technical director Gordon Strachan put it.
So what does that actually mean?
Pressley is well known throughout Scottish football after a successful top-level playing career that took in Rangers and Coventry City early on before significant spells at Dundee United and Hearts, where he became club captain and lifted the Scottish Cup.
A spell with Celtic under Gordon Strachan brought a top flight title and Scottish Cup win before heading to Denmark with Randers FC and finishing his playing days at Falkirk.
There he got his first taste of management. Despite being unable to keep the Bairns in the top flight in his first few months, Pressley was snapped up by Coventry City after three years in the job.
A positive start amid administration and a points deduction would lead to a four-year contract extension. However, Pressley was sacked five months later with the club in the League One relegation zone.
Since then he has had short spells as a scout at Southampton, then managerial jobs at Fleetwood Town, Cypriot side Pafos and League Two Carlisle United.
Carlisle was his last job as a manager in 2019, with only his first role at Falkirk bringing a win ratio higher than 40%.
Pressley was a leader as a player and is one of the most experienced managers of the candidates looked at, even if his last job ended six years ago.
However, it is his more recent time behind the scenes at Brentford that set him apart.
At the Premier League outfit, Pressley was head of individual development.
That final word – development – has been repeated time and again in the short time since the announcement.
'Steven has spent the last four years at English Premier League Club Brentford and brings with him a shared core value of player development and a rounded approach to winning football matches,' said Nelms in Monday's statement.
Looking too deeply into the words of these things can be a fool's errand. However, it should be noted that 'player development' came before 'winning football matches'.
Dundee's new philosophy is not only about winning the next game but creating better footballers who can then be sold on.
Whether that is using their own academy, which has been a great success in recent seasons, or through buying up young players from elsewhere.
At Brentford, Pressley's specific job was to monitor the development of the Premier League club's high potential players, working closely with individual stars to find out what they needed to succeed.
Pressley told Sky Sports in November: 'I work with four of our younger first-team players and two of the most talented B team players.
'I just work strategically on the plan for them moving forward in all aspects of their development from being on the grass to analysis to nutrition to sports science.
'I oversee all aspects of development.'
His task at Dundee will be to put all he learned in four years under Thomas Frank to use at Dens Park.
He will, though, be judged by the club's fanbase on winning games of football.
Harshly, too, if the furious reaction to his announcement is anything to go by.
Pressley will be joined by David Longwell as technical manager, who has significant experience in academy coaching at St Mirren, Orlando City, New York Red Bulls, Shrewsbury Town and Dundee's partner club Burnley.
There will also be a new head of recruitment to come in, working alongside Billy Kirkwood in a revamped recruitment team.
It is understood recruitment will be done in a more collective manner than under previous managers. It won't be down to just the 'manager' to scout and sign players as it has been previously.
Pressley will have his say on every player coming in, however.
Longwell will also have responsibility within the first-team coaching setup, though Pressley is expected to appoint a No 2 as well as other coaches.
The various responsibilities of a 'manager' will now be split up between different roles.
The aim of that will be to allow the head coach to focus far more on what happens on the park, while the technical manager can concentrate much more on individual player needs.
Once the framework is in place, the head coach role will be focused on the here and now, with the technical manager looking to the future.
It is a new era at Dundee – the big question is, will it work?