Steven Pressley admits the opportunity to take over at Dundee was one he could not turn down.
The former Scotland defender has been out of frontline management since being sacked by Carlisle United in 2019.
But he insists the itch to get back into it has always been there, even when working with Premier League footballers behind the scenes at Brentford.
Now he has the chance to scratch that itch at Dundee.
‘The itch’
“I’ve always been around first-team players,” Pressley said of his four years as Brentford’s head of individual player development.
“I was never away from that. That’s what I was doing at Brentford. I was involved with the first team on a daily basis.
“But it was just a different type of supportive role.
“Longer term, I was thinking more of a role as a technical or sporting director.
“But I just couldn’t get rid of the itch of being a manager again. And I think that I had to try again.
“It’s always been there.
“I’ve been scratching it on a daily basis for some time. And this opportunity came.
“Of course, Gordon Strachan is someone I’ve known for a long time and I respect greatly.
“The club has shown a lot of ambition. So it just was the right time.
‘I didn’t leave Brentford to come here’
“When I left Brentford, I know people might think that I left to come here.
“I didn’t leave to come here. I genuinely didn’t.
“I’d been talking to Brentford for three or four months that I felt this was the correct juncture in my career.
“I’d been in there four years. I wanted a new challenge.
“My daughter finishes school. I was selling my house. Everything was kind of coming to this summer.
“And then when I chose to leave, I sent my CV in here.
“I spoke to them about four or five days later.
“I genuinely mean this – when I left, I was undecided whether it would be football management or more of a technical sporting director type of role.
“But when I spoke to the club, there was clear alignment.
“And I just thought it was an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down.”
Pulling into a service station
Speaking to the quickfire nature of the change, Pressley revealed he was on the way to the airport for his silver wedding anniversary trip to Vietnam.
The plan was to be away for 18 days but that was cut short with the job at Dens Park to begin in earnest.
“I actually signed the contract for this job on the way to the airport. I had to pull into a service station to sign it, just prior to getting on the plane,” he explained.
“As soon as I signed, I discussed it with my wife and said ‘look we’re going to have to cut this short’.
“So I did 11 days. She’s been with me 25 years so she’s lived the football life. She understands.
“She’ll go away with my daughter for a week. That was kind of the thing to smooth it over!”
Top six?
Pressley’s new boss John Nelms wants Dundee to finish in the top six this season.
Immediately after Pressley’s announcement as new head coach, that was the target laid down.
Does Pressley feel that can be achieved this season?
“The club certainly has aspirations for top six,” he said.
“They said that to me during the meeting. So there is a definite ambition and aspirations to be in the top six this year.
“From myself, there’s not going to be any big statements.
“But when you look at the league in general, the gap between the bottom and third place is never enormous.
“Equally, it’s not just about being there one particular season.
“It’s hopefully that we can continue to grow season on season.
“And that’s why it’s really important to put the foundations in place, the processes in place that we can keep moving forward.
“I think the figure [at Dundee] is 18 managers in 21 years.
“I’ve just come from a club that has had one manager for seven years.
“My opinion on football, and it’s from my experience in working in a certain environment, is that stability is key to growth.
“But to get that stability, as a football manager you need to get over certain hurdles and win a certain amount of games to get that opportunity.
“I think we’ve seen it first hand in this league last year where you have David Gray at Hibernian where the club managed to keep him there. And then we’ve seen the results of that.
“It’s very important that you need to win certain games.
“But equally, the club has got to show strength and conviction in what they believe. So it’s always the balance.”
How will transfers work at Dundee?
Dundee’s summer recruitment kicked into gear this week with the arrivals of Paul Digby from Cambridge United and Drey Wright from St Johnstone.
Wright was identified before Pressley was even an option for the head coach role, in fact Tony Docherty was still in charge when thoughts of targeting the versatile 30-year-old emerged.
So how will recruitment work now for Pressley in his role as head coach?
“I know tactical elements are important, cultural elements are important, but football’s never changed. You still need good players. It’s why the top managers spend the most amount of money,” he added.
“If it was just about the management, they wouldn’t spend that money. So you have to get recruitment right, and we have to do that.
“Recruitment will be a collaboration.
“We have Billy Kirkwood as head of recruitment, we’ve got Gordon, technical director, we’ve got John Nelms, we’ve got a number of members of staff and myself, and there’ll be a filtering process.
“Then we’ll make a decision based on that process.
“I’m very comfortable with that.
“I’ve got to say, in the past, I’ve got involved in too many things during my managerial period and made numerous mistakes in the transfer market because you don’t have the time to do both jobs.
“You really don’t.
“Especially if you want to do the recruitment job in the proper detail needed.
“I think you have to trust the people in positions, and I certainly do that.”
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