Tony Docherty’s impressive debut season as Dundee manager has earned him a new contract.
The Dark Blues have moved to strengthen their deal with Docherty after he led the club to their first top-six finish for nine years.
Taking over the side newly-promoted from the Championship, the long-time assistant to Derek McInnes at St Johnstone, Bristol City, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock made a big impact after making the step up to be a No 1.
Star signings like Owen Beck from Liverpool and the experience of Joe Shaughnessy combined with development of established players like Luke McCowan and Lyall Cameron saw Dundee shine in the Premiership.
And earned Docherty two Manager of the Year nominations.
Rolling deal
Docherty, though, was on a rolling year-to-year contract.
Both sides have now strengthened that agreement to give added security to both club and manager.
The new contract remains a rolling one. However, it will now be more difficult for any prospective suitor to tempt Docherty to another job and also gives the 53-year-old increased job security.
Docherty told the Dundee website: “I am excited to have signed a new deal with the club and I’m quite humbled that the club approached me for a contract extension.
“My ambitions are matched by the ambitions of the club, we want to take the success of last season and to improve us and make us even better.
“I’m delighted that I’ve got the opportunity to work at such a brilliant club and I want to progress the club further.
“I want to highlight the fantastic staff that I’ve got here at the club, every single one of them works so hard every day to make sure we are at our best, they played such a big part in the success we had last season.
“I said last season that one of my most important signings was Stuart Taylor, my assistant manager, who I brought in and he has had such an influence on the team.
“I’ve also had great support from upstairs from John [Nelms] and Gordon [Strachan] and I am really excited with the direction the club is going in. Everybody at the club is on the same page, we all want to improve and develop and be better than we were before.
‘Fans are pivotal to success’
“To the Dundee supporters, I would like to thank them all for all the support they have given me and the players since I’ve been manager.
“They were such an important part of what we achieved last season, but I believe it’s just the start of things.
“The fans are pivotal to any success that we are going to have at this club and we saw that last season.
“I would just like to urge them to get behind us once again as much as they can and help us prove that last season was not just a flash in the pan and we can build on what we achieved last campaign.”
Conversation