Dundee defender Gary Irvine has admitted that he made a wrong decision when it came to signing a new contract in the recent past, so he’ll not be rushing into making his mind up on where he’ll be playing his football next season.
In the days after St Johnstone were promoted to the SPL the former Celtic man was offered a long-term deal to keep him at McDiarmid Park.
His choice to accept terms for just 12 months is one he wished he hadn’t made, as things started to go wrong for him in Perth after that.
Now that he’s out of contract with the Dens Park club, security will be a big factor when the right-back mulls over whether to stay put or move on.
He explained, “I’ll sit down with my agent over the next couple of weeks and we’ll see what happens.
“You hear about possibilities here and there. I’m delighted that Dundee have offered me something here as well.
“We’ve all been told that the manager wants us here and that’s great to know.
“I regretted the contract I signed at St Johnstone a couple of years ago.
“They offered me a two or three-year contract but after taking advice from certain people I just signed a one-year deal because I heard of interest from down south.
“I wish I had signed a longer-term one because I got an injury at the start of that season and it put me under pressure to perform when I came back, and things didn’t work out.
“Security is very important. That’s how I look at it. Some players prefer short-term deals because they play their best football under pressure to perform.Security”But a lot more thrive on having a bit of security and being settled at a club. That works for me.
“Looking back on my time at St Johnstone, I played my best football when I had a two-year contract. It’s something I’ll need to look at.”
Irvine won’t be the only one with a dilemma over the next few weeks, and the harsh realities of football would suggest that after this Saturday’s final game of the season against Queen of the South, some of the Dundee history-making squad will be lured away from the club.
He observed, “I don’t know what will happen over the summer. The reality is that when a team performs as well as we have every single week there are bound to be other clubs taking notice.
“In an ideal world it would be brilliant if we could keep this squad together and add five or six more. Who knows what we could achieve next season if that happened.”
Last week’s celebrations at Dens would have been a high point to finish the season, and Irvine doesn’t want there to be an anti-climax in Dumfries.
There’s also the incentive of topping title-winning Dunfermline’s points total, taking their own 25-point deduction out of the equation.
He said, “We’ll not be stopping just because we’re safe and we had a wee party last week.
“There’s a small incentive that in our heads we’re still going out there to win a league.
“As far as that goes we’re two points clear. Within the dressing room that’s something we want to achieve.
“Everybody’s been against us this season in our eyes.
“To have a bit of ammunition to fire back that we overcame our punishment and it’s down in black and white that we won more points than anybody else would be an achievement to look back on with pride.”