John Nelms targeting top six Premiership spot under new Dundee boss Steven Pressley

The Courier

6 days ago

John Nelms is 'looking forward to a very successful season' under new Dundee head coach Steven Pressley.
Pressley's appointment has sparked a huge reaction from Dark Blues fans unhappy with the length of time the former Hearts, Dundee United, Celtic and Scotland defender has spent out of the dugout.
A lack of sustained success in his previous managerial/head coaching roles is also of concern to Dee supporters.
However, the club's managing director has offered fans some insight into the recruitment process, how Pressley, who has spent the last four years as head of individual player development with Brentford, made himself the stand-out candidate, and his own top six Premiership expectations.
He said: 'It's always top six.
'Top six is what we budget for and is always our goal, we always strive to be in the top six and always will.
'It's tougher to do when you're walking the development like, we were one of the youngest teams in the league last year, but that's always the goal.
'Getting into Europe will be a step beyond that and that's where we believe Dundee should be.
'In that sixth position or higher in a stable position is where we always think we should be.
'I would say to the fans, continue to get behind the team because their support is vital.
'It's vital on the day, it brings that extra spark, that advantage that potentially gets us over the line and puts the points in the bag.
'Our fans are fantastic and that's never been questioned.'
On Pressley's appointment, Nelms was full of praise for the new Dee head coach's knowledge and hunger for the job.
He said: 'Through our interview process we spent about four hours walking through all of the different elements of what needs to happen in order for us to be successful.
'Steven really understood and was basically saying all the things that we want to hear.
'We still have to put it all into practice, but Gordon (Strachan, Dundee technical director) and I want the organisation, from a football standpoint, working in a certain way. and Steven literally ticked all the boxes of what we need to do.
'All the way through to the hard work, from a physical standpoint, from a mental standpoint, from a physical stature standpoint; all of these things, we are aligned with.
'We have to also remember that Steven as a player was a captain; he's a leader.
'He's a soft-spoken leader. He leads by example.
'You know when you're playing for Steven, he cares about you, he cares about your career, he wants to make you better and wants you to be as successful as possible – and that's what we all want.
'I think you will see here at the football club that everybody will be being treated in a manner that gets them to be as successful as they possibly can.'
Gordon Strachan attracted headlines during Dundee's search for their new boss by hinting at a change in 'philosophy' at the club.
The appointment of Pressley, with four years of development experience behind him, along with the recruitment of new technical manager David Longwell, shows the direction of travel, according to Nelms.
'At Dundee Football Club, we have a core value of development. We've always had a core value of development,' he said.
'Working within development and winning is a very fine line. So we need to have somebody that is working within those parameters at a very high level.
'There are multiple parameters within that; having a proper framework, a proper structure, a consistent structure – these are all things that we have to have.
'And with young players we have to have a constant structure for their development. If we're doing all of these things together and getting the senior players working with the development players and singing off the same hymn sheet, so to speak, then we have the ability to be successful.
'Steven comes with all of those tools. For the last four years at Brentford he's been working with development players and integrating them into the first team.
'He's been working on how those players work together, what it takes to get those players to a Premier League level, how they integrate and how the two sets of players work together.
'Steven comes with that vast knowledge and the understanding of what we need to do in order to be successful.
'Here at Dundee football we need all of that to be successful.
'It's a fine line when you walk the development line with the first team because you take one step too far in one direction and you don't have a very successful season.
'But I think Steven will bring the attributes he brings to the role and we're looking forward to a very successful season.'
Asked to put some meat on the bones of the change in club structure, Nelms said: 'It goes back to the word 'development', doesn't it?
'We have a head coach, he'll have his back room staff as normal. We've installed David Longwell, he's going to be the technical manager, working under Gordon Strachan, but also with the first team set-up.
'His role is specific to player development.
'He'll be making sure from a craft knowledge point of view, from a strength and conditioning point of view, and everything in-between, that the player has everything they need and will be working extra in order to fit into our organisation.
'This is really important to us because we have so many players coming through our academies now.
'Stephen Wright and Kevin (Garrick), Robo (Scott Robertson) have been doing such a good job of bringing players through, we need to have that person who's giving that little bit more so they can be the best players they can possibly be.'