Scott Fraser is back home and ready to make his Dundee debut in Saturday’s home clash with Aberdeen.
The 29-year-old penned a one-year deal at Dens Park with a stated aim of enjoying his football once again.
After leaving Dundee United in 2018, Fraser became “one of the standout players” in English League One after shining at Burton Albion and MK Dons.
A Scotland call was close but an ill-fated move to Ipswich Town ended swiftly before a desire to move back north brewed at Charlton.
Fraser also worked under two Premier League-bound managers but found his own ambitions of moving up the pyramid thwarted.
So are Dundee getting a player determined to show his true quality after a trio of moves didn’t quite work as hoped?
Courier Sport examines Fraser’s time down south to find out.
Fraser on the up…
After cutting his teeth at Tannadice, with a senior debut at Celtic against Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson left on the Dundee United bench, Fraser would move south in 2018.
That was after three full seasons of first-team action in the Premiership and Championship.
Fraser settled immediately in Nigel Clough’s side, featuring 50 times, and playing a key role in the Brewers’ best-ever League Cup run to the semi-finals.
On the way they defeated Aston Villa, Burnley, Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough before coming up against the might of Manchester City in the semi-finals.
Fraser started against a midfield of Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Oleksandr Zinchenko with Pep Guardiola’s side showing no mercy in a 9-0 thrashing.
He’d finish the season with seven goals in 50 games before kicking on in 2019/20 with nine in 41, including a 23-minute hat-trick against Oxford United.
Fraser’s career was blossoming.
He finished second in the League One assists table with 11 – 14 in all competitions – before deciding to move on in the summer amid the Covid shutdown.
MK Dons were his next move, despite Championship interest, and things continued to go in the right direction under Russell Martin, now in the Premier League with Southampton.
Martin rated Fraser highly and would later attempt to sign him for Swansea.
A 14-goal season for the Dons was capped by a Player’s Player of the Year award before Ipswich stumped up the cash to prise him away.
Tractor Boys manager Paul Cook said: “He was blossoming at Burton and then took it up another level at MK Dons where he was one of the standout players in the division last season.
“It’s great to have him here.”
Things, though, didn’t work out.
‘I never really got the chance’
Ipswich were a club playing below their level in League One and saw Fraser as a purchase that could get them back to the Championship.
He kicked off in the right manner with a goal on debut against Morecambe but things weren’t right.
It wasn’t until his seventh appearance that he tasted victory in an Ipswich shirt and, after notching 14 the previous season, there would be no more goals.
Fraser himself explained why it didn’t work when signing for Charlton just six months later.
“Never at any point was I thinking I was going to go there and be played out on the left wing,” Fraser told the South London Press.
“With the numbers I’d achieved over the last few seasons, I’d done that playing centrally – whether that was as a No 8 or a left-sided No 10.
“I never achieved them by playing out wide. It’s similar to asking a winger to play as a No 10 – the skillset is not the same, in any way.
“I never really got the chance. The chats I had before were that I was going to a big club and you’re going to be the one that is going to help us, very much, get to the Championship.
“It never worked out like that. That’s football sometimes.”
Scotland national team
More agonising was missing out on his major desire of a Scotland call-up as Fraser’s stock fell at Portman Road.
“That again was one of the biggest frustrations of the Ipswich situation,” he added.
“I was told the season before that I was close and they (Scotland) were more aware of me than ever which, for a player in League One, speaks volumes.
“They told me I had to be playing at a higher standard on a regular basis in front of big crowds.
“I had that opportunity, in my head, at Ipswich.”
Cook was sacked by Ipswich in December 2021. By that time Fraser wanted out, as revealed by Cook’s replacement the following month when the midfielder joined Charlton for £500,000.
“I didn’t get the chance to see Scott play in a game or work with him too long, but it was one where Scott was desperate to go, to be honest,” the new manager said.
“He felt he didn’t manage to settle from a football point of view or from a personal point of view, so he had a strong desire to go and play somewhere where he would be an automatic first choice and somewhere he could be the main man at a club.
“A good offer came in from Charlton and that was something Scott wanted to pursue.”
That manager was Kieran McKenna. In two full seasons, the former Manchester United coach has won back-to-back promotions as Ipswich roared through the divisions and up to Premier League level.
Fraser, meanwhile, finished 13th and 10th in League One with Charlton before completing last term with an underwhelming loan move beset by niggling injury at Hearts.
What might have been…
What Dundee FC are getting in Scott Fraser…
The big smile on Fraser’s face after signing for the Dark Blues bodes well.
Bringing the joy of football back for the midfielder will be Tony Docherty’s aim, so Fraser’s undoubted quality can shine.
“I just want to get back to enjoying my football,” Fraser said when signing the one-year deal.
“It has been a while since I’ve felt that enjoyment and from the chats I’ve had with the gaffer it seems like he will suit me and he will bring that enjoyment out of me and help me get back to my best.”
Fraser’s record down south reads well, despite recent seasons not going as hoped.
Forty-one goals in 229 appearances for Burton, MK Dons, Ipswich and Charlton is impressive for a midfielder – add in assists and you’re talking 88 goal involvements across six years.
Docherty said:” Scotty brings great experience, just look at the games he has played and the level he has played.
“I’m looking to him to impart some of his knowledge and experience as well as orchestrating in the middle of the park for us.
“The thing that’s great about Scott is his decision-making is brilliant.
“He knows the league up here and knows how to win games in the Premiership.”
Dundee have got themselves a player of proven quality at a very good level. Can home comforts bring him back to his best?
We’re about to find out.
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