I can remember meeting Gary Bowyer at Pat Liney’s funeral a couple of years ago.
We had a good chat and he was keen to get as much information about the club as possible, having only been appointed a few weeks earlier.
The main question Gary asked was: “What do I need to do here to be a success?”
My answer was: “Stop Dundee being a yo-yo club.”
Although Gary took the club back into the top flight, he didn’t get the chance to build on that.
As it turned out, the next part of the job fell to Tony Docherty.
And he really couldn’t have got off to a better start.
The long-term project of establishing Dundee as a Premiership club for a generation is only just beginning.
But staying in the league was the goal this season and by finishing in the top six, Tony has exceeded this expectations and then some.
He’s done a phenomenal job.
And the best bit for me is he’s done it his way.
Dundee haven’t gone fishing in the same pool as everybody else with the players they’ve recruited.
Yes, Dundee have spent money and built a big squad.
But if the owners are happy to live with the big financial loss that’s been made last year and is expected for another year, that’s their concern.
There are a lot of loan players who will return to their clubs in a few weeks but there are also a few real assets worth good money under contract.
It will be fascinating to see who Tony brings in this summer but for the moment there’s a place in Europe up for grabs.
Because they just made it into the top six at the very end, there’s far less pressure on them than St Mirren.
That should free them up.
I’m sure the message from the manager will be: “We’ve done brilliantly to get this far, let’s just go for it.”
I can see both sides of the argument between Tony and Stuart Kettlewell as far as Dundee having more money to spend on players than other clubs because they haven’t invested in the pitch.
But what isn’t in doubt is that the Dens Park neglect has caught up with them.
John Nelms will now just have to accept what comes to him out of the SPFL disciplinary hearing.
Dundee have made money they wouldn’t have been expecting by getting into the top six and they could lose it in a fine.
We’ll see what the verdict is.
It could be a sore one and it could affect next season’s plans.
None of us know what the cost will be to fix the pitch – but it won’t be cheap.
And the SPFL will make sure it gets done properly.
It’s nearly time to officially congratulate Dundee United on winning the Championship.
From day one I thought it was a matter of when rather than if.
Credit to Raith Rovers for being their strongest rival but United’s resources were always likely to prevail.
It will be interesting to see if the squad rebuild is as big as Dundee’s the year before.
Whatever happens, it will be great to get the derbies back in the city.
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