Dundee chief executive Scot Gardiner’s decision to stay at Dens Park is proof that the club is moving in the right direction, says director of football operations John Nelms.
Gardiner had been linked with the vacant chief executive post at Rangers but has opted to remain with the Dark Blues after discussing the opportunity with representatives from the Glasgow club.
And Nelms is delighted that the CEO has decided to see the job he started through, despite the lure of a potentially lucrative contract at Ibrox.
“We started something several months ago. Now we’re nine weeks in and we’re very happy that Scot is staying with us,” he told The Courier.
“I never had much doubt that that was going to be the case. Nobody ever contacted us and we never gave anybody permission to do anything, nor was it required that we do so.
“He’s an executive it’s not like a player where they have to come in and ask for permission. But it doesn’t surprise me that a big club would come after Scot because Scot is a fantastic CEO.
“If you saw some of the other names associated with the (Rangers) position I think the former Liverpool and Manchester City CEOs have been associated with that it’s great to have somebody like Scot that’s in our organisation thought of so highly in Scottish football.
“Listen, our club, Dundee Football Club, we would like to build it up as large as we can get it but we’re not ever going to be Manchester City. We’re not ever going to be Real Madrid, and sometimes you can outgrow this club.
“We understand that. But I think it absolutely shows that we’re on the right path when other big clubs are coming after our personnel. I think that that’s fantastic, and the fact that Scot wants to be a part of what we are doing is a testament to him himself.
“I think it just reiterates he has strong beliefs we can achieve the goals that we’ve set out and having him here to be a part of it considering he was part of those who conceived it is a huge thing for us.”
Acting Rangers chairman David Somers approached Gardiner to fill the chief executive role at Ibrox and there were suggestions he had been given 24 hours to decide whether or not to make the switch.
Somers wanted Gardiner in place ahead of a potentially stormy annual meeting on December 19, although rebel shareholders including Jim McColl and Paul Murray have demanded any appointment be blocked with the meeting looming.
But while there is plenty more mileage to come out of the story down Govan way, Nelms is relieved Dundee can draw a line under the Rangers link.
“Scot is massively important to Dundee, obviously,” he continued. “We are only nine weeks in but the plans we’ve put in place so far, we’re starting to tick through all of the structure that we need to get in place to get us to the next level.
“That’s all happening and Scot has a major role in that happening.
“He has things he needs to get done as we move forward, I have things I need to get done, and as a team together we have loads of things that we need to get done.
“There are some big things happening as far as facilities go, there are some big things happening as far as players go, as far as the youth goes, as far as staffing goes. We have basically just dipped our toe in the water.”
Dundee boss John Brown echoed those sentiments after hearing the news.
“Scot brought me into the club and took a lot of flak,” he said. “He’s a loyal guy and he’s good for Dundee. He’s brought the American investment in here and he’s a great lad.
“I know what he can do and I’m just pleased that he’s still CEO of Dundee.
“This is a tough season and we need to get out of the division. Every team in our division wants to be the team that gets out of it because it’s going to be very difficult with the calibre of teams who will be in there next year if you think Rangers, possibly Hearts, Dunfermline and the others. When you look at the teams who will be there, it will be a pretty strong league next season.
“But we’re gearing up to get out of that and strong people like Scot Gardiner, Bill Colvin, Steve Martin, John Nelms, they will play a massive part in this club. The stability in the boardroom allows us to build the team.”