Steven Pressley reveals 3 changes Dundee fans will see as new boss aims to put teachings to practical use at Dens

Daily Record

17 hours ago

The new Dens Park boss hopes to put lessons from Strategic Leadership degree at Liverpool University into practice
As a player, Steven Pressley was always head boy in the dressing room.
But his first few goes at management didn't exactly see him pass the test with flying colours.
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His introductory course with Falkirk may have gone well but with Coventry, Fleetwood, Cypriot side Pafos and then Carlisle, he struggled to make the grade.
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Little wonder then that the 51-year-old decided to go back to school.
Combined with the lessons he's learned working alongside new Tottenham boss Thomas Frank at Premier League big guns Brentford as the London side's head of individual development, Pressley has been keen to expand his knowledge base further.
Now he hopes to put the teachings he received while studying a degree in Strategic Leadership at Liverpool University to practical use at Dundee.
The new Dens boss said: 'I've just finished my degree. One of the things that I most enjoyed about the course was self-reflection and looking at 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 almost a manager immediately.
'And you almost, through your title alone, can make people do things.
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'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 a brilliant education for me. So I've changed a lot.
'I'm a lot calmer, a lot more controlled, a much smaller ego.
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'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, setbacks, failures, you have all of those things.
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'Eventually it shapes and moulds you and changes you.
'And I've had a lot of that, a lot of experience, disappointments, self-reflection. And a lot of growth.
'I'm a different character, but that's normal throughout your life.'
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As a player, Pressley was the very definition of the heart-on-his-sleeve skipper.
The roar he'd use to bellow instructions at team-mates was the same one he'd blast from the touchline after moving into coaching.
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But the six years that span his last job as boss and his new posting on Tayside have been used to quietly reflect on where he went wrong.
'There were certain elements of my own management style that I didn't like,' admits the former Scotland defender.
'But equally, there were certain elements of my management that I did like and I think that have helped me and I would continue with.
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'So it's just a natural process. The most important thing is to be able to reflect, to improve and be able to grow.
'And that's what I see it as - a journey. The last four or five years have really changed me a lot in many ways.
'I'm a lot calmer, a lot more understanding, especially understanding of others around me.
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'You can have a leadership style, which is very much a runaway style where you're going to follow. It's about making people feel part of that journey, giving people more autonomy, trusting people more.
'That's a really important factor. It's bringing those people with you on that journey, about working with those people to make things better. I was hugely driven and I was going to get there regardless.
'And probably less understanding of those around me.'
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Pressley may not have been sitting in the dugout these last six years.
But he has been pulling up a chair with a string of big names at Brentford in a bid to help the Bees stars improve their own game.
He said: 'I've always been around first-team players.
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'I was never not away from that. That's what I was doing at Brentford. I was involved with the first team on a daily basis.
'But it was just a different type of supportive role. But the role here at Dundee is one that I've always enjoyed.
'I suppose, especially when I make reference to my degree there, longer term I was thinking more of a role as a technical or sporting director.
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'But unfortunately, I just couldn't get rid of the itch of being a manager again. And I think I had to try again.
'I've been scratching it on a daily basis for some time. And this opportunity came. And, of course, the club, Gordon Strachan, who I've known for a long time, I respect greatly.
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'I think the club has shown a lot of ambition. So it just was the right time. When I left Brentford, I know people might think that I left to come here.
'I didn't leave to come here. I genuinely didn't. I'd been talking to Brentford for three or four months and felt this was the correct juncture in my career.
'I'd been there four years. I wanted a new challenge.
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"My daughter finishes school. I was selling my house. Everything was kind of coming to this summer. And then when I chose to leave, I sent my CV in here.
'When I spoke to the club, there was clear alignment. And I just thought it was an opportunity that I couldn't turn down.'
The Dundee support have hardly opened him with open arms.
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And Pressley knows as one of the game's Marmite characters, he won't get the warmest of welcomes on his travels either.
He said: 'Listen, we're never ready for it. 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. I've lived in football now for 35 years. Unfortunately, I don't know why, I just couldn't get rid of that itch.
'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 genuinely am looking forward to it.'