Tony Docherty is ready for the step up to his first managerial role at Dundee says former boss Derek McInnes.
Docherty was a long-time assistant to the Kilmarnock manager, starting off together at St Johnstone in 2007 before moving to Bristol City and then spending eight years at Aberdeen.
In all the pair worked closely together for over 15 years.
Now, though, they will be rivals in the Premiership next season after Docherty was announced as the Dark Blues’ new boss.
And McInnes has opened up on moving forward without his long-time assistant.
“We’ve worked together for such a long time,” McInnes told the Herald.
“Tony was a youth coach at Dundee United when I was there as a player. He was still in that job when I took him to St Johnstone as my assistant.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for him. Doc lives in Broughty Ferry, there’s a lot of things ticking the box for him.
‘Ready’
“It allows me to restructure things here and have that freshen, that’s always important for any manager. Any senior manager you speak to, Walter (Smith) always used to say it, Sir Alex (Ferguson) would say it and David Moyes has said it, you need to change your assistant every few years as it keeps things fresh.
“Dundee’s a good club for Tony to start with and it gives us a real opportunity to start afresh.
“I don’t think it’s anything he’s been harbouring for a while, but when Callum (Davidson) rejected the chance to join Dundee, suddenly it probably made a lot of sense to Doc to try go for it.
“The fact he was keen to go for it would suggest that he is ready. I really wish him well with it. It was all amicable.
“He becomes a rival, which is interesting! We also have Barry (Robson) in the league, we had Callum last year who was an ex-player of mine and Lee Johnson who is an ex-player of mine, it probably just demonstrates how old I am!
“Obviously, Tony and I go back a long way. When that fixture comes around it will be competitive as normal.”
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