Gary Bowyer is using valuable lessons picked up while winning promotion at Blackpool as he tries to repeat that feat with Dundee.
Six years ago, the Dens boss took the Seasiders back to England’s League One in what was his first season in charge of the club.
Blackpool beat Exeter City 2-1 in a play-off final at Wembley despite having only 6,000 fans supporting them in the stadium due to a boycott against the club’s owners.
Bowyer is now determined to win promotion once more with the Dark Blues.
They currently sit five points behind Championship league leaders Queen’s Park, albeit with a game in hand.
‘Don’t jump ahead’
And the 51-year-old admitted he is already sharing his Blackpool experiences with a Dundee squad that retains a core of the team who beat Kilmarnock in the play-offs two years ago to win promotion to the Premiership.
Bowyer said: “We spoke about some of those Blackpool lessons with the players recently and shared the experiences with them.
“Don’t forget, we have lads in there who have been through this already.
“But what were the lessons I was telling them about? Just about focus and concentrating on everything that we can control.
“The training, for example, the preparation, how we communicate in meetings. Offering the chance to express their opinions to come up with some ideas for themselves – those sort of things.
“And also just to keep reminding them to focus on the next game and the process. Don’t jump ahead and start looking at the outcome.
“Research by people far more intelligent than me – academics – tells you to focus on the process rather than the outcome.
“That’s what we have just kept saying to them.”
‘When to push harder’
Dundee have nine games of the regular Championship campaign remaining including what could be a season-defining last-day meeting with Queen’s Park.
The title race seems certain to go right down to the wire and Bowyer admitted he will continue to implement different strategies that worked at Blackpool as the campaign edges to a conclusion.
The manager added: “There are other things that I learned through that time that I will use accordingly when we come towards the end of the season.
“Like when to come off them, when to push harder, those sorts of things.
“When to go away and do something different, for example.”
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