Gary Bowyer has hailed the impact Dundee’s “wonderful” new training base will have on the club as he completes a first week in charge.
The 51-year-old met his squad for the first time on Monday and has been putting them through their paces in pre-season.
The training location, though, is a brand new one for the players after the club moved all day-to-day operations to the Gardyne Campus in the east of the city.
Aspects of the facility, like the training pitches, are still to get up to speed.
However, the reaction from the players to their new home has been hugely positive.
Day 5 ☀️
Gardyne | #thedee pic.twitter.com/mlSMUcSdEZ
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) June 24, 2022
‘No excuses’
He has, though, warned them there are no excuses now for poor performances.
“First and foremost it is a wonderful facility and I think the club has done very well to get us in here, to get everything set up as well as they’ve done,” Bowyer said.
“There is a huge amount of work gone into it and a lot of people behind the scenes deserve an enormous amount of credit for getting it operational as quickly as they have done.
“The impact it has is you drive into this place every day with a smile on your face because you are coming into a really good facility.
“The players have a base and that’s made a massive difference.
“I wasn’t here last year but I’ve heard how things were so that has been taken away.
“What you are doing is you are removing excuses from players.
“They have settled in really well.
🚲 | #thedee pic.twitter.com/02vq7rKoOM
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) June 22, 2022
“There has been a real reaction from the players, they are buzzing about the place. The standard of the food as well.
“They have no excuses now.”
Attracting new players
Bowyer has spent his entire coaching career to date as a youth coach at Blackburn and Derby County before a decade in first-team management across England’s lower leagues.
Though the level of finance is completely different, the former Blackpool boss says the new home away from Dens Park can “close the gap” between the Dark Blues and other clubs.
Crucially, it can also help attract new talent.
“Coming from England and the way the academies have changed over the past 10 or 12 years – the facilities down there have been taken to another level,” he added.
“I’ve been fortunate to take development teams to Celtic and Rangers and you see the facilities there.
“So for us to have this as well does then close that gap.
“It also helps to attract players – if you are showing them round they can’t not be impressed.
“It is a good selling point for us.”
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