Dundee manager John Brown has admitted he was advised by some people not to take on striker Craig Beattie.
Beattie, who signed for the Dark Blues on Wednesday, has not enjoyed the best of times over the last season or so. In particular, his spell at St Johnstone was unsuccessful.
Brown has disclosed that, as he received the views of others regarding the former Celtic and Scotland man, not everyone was positive.
The doubts are due to the amount of time Beattie has spent on the sidelines but, as someone who himself suffered injury misery – particularly as a younger player- Brown has decided to go with his gut instinct and give him a chance.
“He is ready to play,” said Brown of his new recruit as he prepared for Saturday’s big match against Championship leaders Hamilton Accies at Dens.
“He does have a hurdle to get over and that is the lack of matches over the past couple of seasons. Match fitness is an issue but I would say he is OK to play from what I have seen in training.
“You can see Craig’s quality. He is looking sharp and it is a decision for me, whether or not to play him.
“And I think Craig has has a point to prove. I have had a lot of phone calls telling me to steer clear (of him) because of injuries.
“But I had a lot of injuries myself and people were advising other people to steer clear of me.
“Also, I know the quality Craig can give us on the park when he is fit and his contract is structured in such a way that he needs to be playing in ordered to get a wage. We want competition for places in attack and he will give us that.
“A problem for us has been not finishing off teams when we have been creating plenty of chances. We have lacked a cutting edge and that’s why I have asked Craig to come here.”
Brown was keen to highlight the role played by former Celtic youth coach Willie McStay in giving Beattie and others a second chance at a training camp in East Kilbride.
“Willie has been training the players who don’t have clubs,” added the Dundee boss. He has vast experience as a coach at Celtic etc and he does it all off his own back.
“He has had a number of players at a place in East Kilbride and that’s where I got the tip-off about Craig. Willie deserves credit for that because he is trying to get these players back in the game.”
Accies have raised some eyebrows with the way they have started the season but a summer friendly against them left Brown convinced they would be in the mix.
“We played Hamilton in pre-season at Stirling University so I am not surprised to see them doing well,” he said.
“It was a friendly but you could tell then that they were well organised and well drilled. I knew they would be a handful and that was before they got Mickael Antoine-Curier up front- a player that can turn a game.
“They finished last season very well and kept the nucleus of that squad so I thought they wouldn’t be far away. Hamilton are an old club of mine and they are well run from the top right through the youth system.
“They have had a lot of publicity recently because of the James McCarthy thing (a sell-on bonus for his move from Wigan to Everton) but they have been producing players for years.
“It is a conveyor belt of talent there and they also have good experience in their ranks. They are going extremely well, have knocked Kilmarnock out of the League Cup and are top of our division.
“This is a massive game on Saturday and we don’t want a bigger gap between us and them. It is five points and we want to make it two.
“We want to win the game. We need our fans to get right behind the side and they have been great this season.
“I think they got frustrated last weekend and that was understandable because we just couldn’t finish off Stenhousemuir. We had 16 chances against them and this time around we need to bury a higher percentage of our chances.”