Dundee boss Paul Hartley has revealed that long-serving assistant manager Ray Farningham is set to step down to take up a youth post at the club.
Hartley already has a couple of candidates in mind to succeed “Jinky” and has held talks with one of them.
He now awaits an answer with the manager determined to appoint his new assistant sooner rather than later.
Hartley said: “I will be looking to bring someone else in as a number two. I have one or two people in mind but it is whether we can bring them in or not.
“Jinky will be moving down to a new role. That was always the plan anyway when I came in that Jinky was going to go down to the youth side of it. So I am hoping to get somebody in by the end of the month.
“I have spoken to the person in mind but if he can’t do it, I will have to look elsewhere.
“But we definitely want someone in by the end of the month.”
As well as looking for a new assistant, Hartley has been working tirelessly to reshape his squad for the upcoming Premiership campaign.
He has already added Greg Stewart and Phil Roberts to his roster while a whole host of players including Gavin Rae, Craig Beattie and most recently Stephen O’Donnell have left the club.
Hartley revealed that he has already offered deals to three new unnamed players and intends to hold negotiations with another trio this week.
The manager, who is determined to have his squad finalised as quickly as possible, added: “We are in talks with new players just now and have offered contracts to three of them.
“We will hold talks this week with another three players we would like to bring in.
“I don’t want to mention any names but we are really active just now and have been since the last game of the season. We haven’t really stopped. We have let a number of players go already and there are some who are still under contract for next season.
“We have offered deals to a couple of the players who are still here and we are waiting to hear back from them. But we are really active trying to bring players into the squad.
“It is really important that we hit the ground running. I want to have the majority of players signed for pre-season.
“We are back on June 26, so it may or may not happen. We will get knocked back by players that is just a fact but we have a list of targets we are trying to bring in to the club. But I would like to have some business done within the next week in terms of players coming in.”
When asked if the lure of Premiership football would be of benefit when negotiating with potential targets, Hartley replied: “That definitely helps but it is all about bringing the right type of player in.
“We need to have a bit of experience, a bit of youth, players who have been there.
“The last time we were in the SPL, we were parachuted in at the last minute. We didn’t have time to prepare a squad that can compete so we have to make sure we do have the players to do so this time.”