Tom Hateley has thanked Dundee for showing great patience as he carefully weighed up all his options before ultimately deciding to join the club.
Dens boss Paul Hartley had been tracking the player, who was a free agent after leaving Polish side Slask Wroclaw, for some time.
However, there were a host of other clubs both in Scotland and down south equally keen to snap up the versatile 26-year-old.
With a young family to consider, Hateley was determined to take his time and took counsel from his father, former Rangers striker Mark.
He also spoke with Dundee defender Darren O’Dea who helped persuade him his future lay at Dens and he put pen to paper on a two-year deal on Monday.
Hateley said: “When you’re on a free, you get time to consider your options.
“I had a meeting with the manager and my dad and I appreciate the club being patient with me.
“They were prepared to wait and I said to them I didn’t want to rush into a decision.
“I kind of waited for the transfer window to pass to see what happened.
“For a footballer, you are not always on a free so I just decided to let it run down.
“I had a great chat with the manager and he understood my position.
“I also spoke with Darren O’Dea whom I know from a group of friends from when he went down to Reading.
“I had a chat with Darren and he told me how good the dressing-room was and what the manager is like in training and where they want to be.
“It’s exactly what I want to be part of, a close-knit changing-room with no niggles or anything like that.
“When you speak to someone first-hand who’s in there, I don’t think he’s just going to say that to get me to sign.
“He was good and honest and told me what to expect.
“I want to be part of something where people are looking to push on and become better.
“I get the feeling here that everyone wants the same thing and the lads have been great since I came here. That was the deciding factor.”
Hateley admitted that he and his wife Hannah really enjoyed their time in Poland – even if the fans were a little over the top at times.
On one unforgettable occasion, the irate Slask Wroclaw support literally demanded the shirts off the players’ backs when they lost a derby match.
Hateley said: “Poland was really good. I really enjoyed my time there.
“I had the opportunity once I left Tranmere and I’d always wanted to go and play in Europe.
“As a person, I enjoyed going and living abroad with my wife.
“We’ve got a little daughter now (Eloise) who’s nearly 11 months.
“The football was really good. The fans had a little bit of a screw loose everywhere you went.
“It was flares and bangers, an intense and hostile atmosphere.
“They even took our shirts off! That was at home when we lost the local derby to Zaglebie Lubin.
“You don’t honestly ever want to lose, and particularly not that game.
“There was the big build-up to it and unfortunately we got beaten in front of our home fans.
“There were riot police everywhere stopping them from trying to get on the pitch.
“It was quite hostile to say the least and our fans never stopped singing the whole game.
“They had their drums and that kind of stuff was really good but then after the game there was obviously a little bit of trouble.
“It happened once in the two and a half years I was there.
“They were very good fans to me and to us most of the time, bar that one incident.
“As to be expected, they came to the training ground afterwards and told us what they thought. We held a big, open meeting.
“I sat down and pretended to know what was happening and just nodded!
“It didn’t scar my time there though. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Meanwhile, Dundee boss Hartley admitted that Hateley is in his thoughts for tomorrow’s game against Kilmarnock.
He said: “James Vincent and Michael Duffy will be out but Craig Wighton is OK and Nicky Low is in the squad.
“So we are nearly at full strength. Tom has just joined the group but he has trained the last few days.
“He is in good condition so he is very much in the plans for Saturday’s game.
“He has been without a club for a while but he has looked good in training.
“Tom has looked really good in the centre of midfield this week but I know he can play at full-back also.
“So we will look at a couple of things and see where he fits into the team.”
