Steven Pressley admits he’s no longer a young coach – but that doesn’t stop him leaning on mentors.
The new Dundee head coach, unveiled on Friday, has one in the building at Dens Park in the shape of technical director Gordon Strachan.
Pressley was also coached by Dee head of recruitment Billy Kirkwood at Rangers, while he’s picked the brain of Alex Smith, the former Aberdeen and Dundee United boss who was also technical director above Pressley during his time in charge at Falkirk.
‘Incredible experience’
“I’m not a young head coach anymore, but I think having a mentor is really important,” Pressley said.
“I was very, very fortunate in my first job to have Alex Smith as my mentor, and he helped me enormously.
“I actually spoke to him when I was over in Vietnam.
“He’s in Australia just now. And I’ve said to all young managers, when you go into a job, try to get yourself a mentor. I think they’re vital.
“I’m 51 now, but I still see Gordon as a mentor to me. He’s got incredible experience in the game.
“You’re always learning, and I think it’s important that guys like him that have been through the course, they understand what a manager’s going through.
“They understand how difficult it is, and I think when you’re in this job, to have somebody there to help and support you is really important.
“I put a lot of my initial development down to Billy. He was my head coach in the reserve team at Rangers, so it’s a familiar face as well.”
Working under Gordon Strachan
Pressley and Strachan knew each other from the former’s time as a player at Coventry City and were reunited at Celtic in 2006.
Pressley was a free agent after being released by Hearts following criticism of Vladimir Romanov’s stewardship of the Tynecastle club.
He would win the Premier League and Scottish Cup at Parkhead and played in the Champions League, facing European champions AC Milan complete with Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Filippo Inzaghi.
What, though, did Pressley learn from Strachan’s management at that time?
“He was always very straight,” Pressley recalled.
“Players knew where they were with him.
“I watched him quite a lot with Scotland, and I watched him with Celtic, and each team demands differences off you in terms of the way you coach and the way your emphasis is.
“When we were at Celtic, there was a bigger emphasis on the attacking elements, because Celtic were expected to win every game, so there had to be a bigger focus there.
“While for Scotland, Gordon put a bigger focus on the defensive aspects to give us really good foundational strength.
“So these are the sort of things that you always learn and pick up.
“And it’s about this club, about finding the right balance.”
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