A LITTLE over two years on from being appointed manager of Dundee, Alex Rae is putting the finishing touches to a third round of squad rebuilding, writes Graeme Dey.

And it’s clear the lack of continuity he’s had to contend with is a source of irritation for him.

But with the start of the new campaign just days away he reckons the Dark Blues are just about ready to meet the demands confronting them.

“It has been frustrating, the turnover of staff,” he admits.

“Gordon Wallace sums it up well when he says it’s like building a house and getting to the second floor then having to go all the way down to ground level and start again.

“We worked out that at one point something like 69 players—including loans—have come and gone in two seasons.

“And that sort of upheaval isn’t helpful.

“Losing the likes of Scott Robertson this summer for nothing was particularly hard to take.

“And the fact he and Kevin McDonald have moved on to a higher level tells you how important they were for us.

“However, we’ve gone out into the market and tried to replace them and to be fair the club are now taking steps—in signing boys for a few years—to give us a foundation.”

While McDonald, Robertson, Craig Samson, Gavin Swankie, Paul Dixon, Derek Lyle and Milan Palenik have departed, Rae has added Mickael Antoine-Curier to the staff on a permanent basis and brought in Mark Gilhaney, Darren Young, Eric Paton, Craig Mc-Keown, Eddie Mearns, Colin Cameron and Jim Lauchlan.

He also has scope to make another signing or two.

“We weren’t far away at all last season when the league was won with 76 points, 10 more than the previous year’s champions amassed,” he said.

“I always think an average of two points per game is going to take you close.

“But even though we almost achieved that we still fell short.

“The fact our strikers scored as many goals as they did from January onwards makes it easy to say that if we’d had them (Colin McMenamin and Antoine-Curier) from the start we’d have gone up.

“But you don’t know how they’d have performed in the first half of the season.

“It’s all ifs and buts.

“What I do feel though is that with Mickael, Colin, Bob Davidson and Bryan Deasley, who is going to offer us another dimension, here we should be okay up top this time.

“And if, defensively, we can go one better than last year, when we had the second best record of goals conceded in the league, then we’ll have every chance.”

Rae suspects this first division will be far more of a contest than the last one (when only his side mounted a challenge to Hamilton) was and is dismissive of the Dark Blues being tagged bookies’ favourites to go up.

“I think there will be a few more clubs in the shake-up this year,” he said.

“There are certainly a number of teams— Dunfermline, St Johnstone, Morton and Queen of the South—looking to have a go, while Partick Thistle have made strides under Ian McCall and Livingston are something of an unknown quantity.

“It’ll be a really tough league.

“I don’t gamble anymore and so don’t pay attention to the bookies’ odds.

“But if you look around racetracks today you’ll find only one or two favourites winning. Being fancied to win is no guarantee of success.”

In order to live up to their billing though, Dundee will be looking to keep avoidable absenteeism—both from the pitch and dugout—at a low level.

“Obviously injuries and suspensions will play their part in shaping the season,” continued Rae, who was twice sent packing from the touchline last term for bust-ups with officials.

“It’s difficult to legislate for injuries. But you can attempt to keep the cards to a minimum and that’s something we’ll be aiming to do.

“I didn’t think our disciplinary record was that bad last year in terms of sendings off.

“But I’ve told the players we won’t tolerate dissent this season—and that includes from myself.

“We’ve a small squad and it’s hard enough handling the demands of a season without contributing to our own downfall.”