Big Celtic moment can't take away surprise renaissance of ridiculed figure

“If you are a Dundee supporter looking for a manager with a history of producing titles and winning honours then I’m not your man. I am not your guy. I don’t profess to be your guy.” Steven Pressley, Broughty Ferry. Friday 13 June.

You’ll remember this statement of course because it was roundly mocked at the time. After Saturday night’s gut-wrenching defeat against Celtic, Pressley won’t be lifting any silverware anytime soon, that’s true. But he has won something that might be even more valuable to him in the long term. He’s won the respect and, dare I say it, even the love of the Dundee faithful, who hailed him throughout the Scottish Cup fifth round tie at Parkhead.

It felt significant because this was the first time it had happened. Not that Pressley responded with any extravagant gestures, the way some managers might. When asked afterwards if hearing his name sung was heartening, he quickly changed the topic to his players—as quickly as his thoughtful delivery-style allows, at least. “As long as they are behind the team,” he replied.

He even remained impassive when Ethan Hamilton had earlier almost ripped the goal from its moorings to put Dundee into the lead. The camera cut to Pressley. Hands in pockets, chewing on gum. Looking like he was strolling around Edinburgh, as he’s wont to do on his day off from the stresses of keeping Dundee in the top flight. And despite some better results and certainly better performances of late, that remains the aim. There are two critical matches this week: the first against Pressley’s old club, Falkirk, on Wednesday and another against Livingston on Saturday.

‘He’s great to draw’

Dundee will be doing well to cast off the disappointment of seeing their hopes of a famous Scottish Cup victory so cruelly dashed by an injury-time equaliser from Celtic substitute Junior Adamu. The hosts used extra time to secure what turned out to be a last eight appointment with….Rangers. Some Dundee fans are probably using this development as a form of self-medication. ‘Ach well, Ibrox would have been a step too far anyway…’ But who knows? In Pressley they are learning to trust.

The transformation in how Dundee supporters—and perhaps Scottish football as a whole—view the lank haired, bespectacled former centre-half is hard to ignore. “I admire his stoicism,” the talented cartoonist Fitbatweets noted on X on Saturday night. “Deserves a lot of credit for the way he’s managed Dundee this season. And he’s great to draw.”

The last time he did so Pressley was shown waiting in a line of Premiership managers in anticipation of the chop. Despite the general feeling he’d be the first to fall, he’s still there and is outlasting the world as the memes on social media have it. The depiction of Pressley by Fitbatweets has him standing with a towel wrapped around his waist and sliders on his feet, as if having just emerged from a shower, Bobby Ewing-style in Dallas. Was it all a dream? Did all the brickbats and ridicule actually happen? Well, yes.

It wasn’t so long ago either. Just 49 days before Saturday’s very audible evidence of Pressley having earned the affections of supporters he had been subjected to chants inviting him to GTF at Motherwell, where Dundee toiled to get a shot on target in the 1-0 defeat. Of course, better teams than Dundee have found the going hard at Fir Park this season. Celtic went there just over a week later and were played off the park.

There was, though, a sense of hopelessness about the situation that not even the pints of lager being sold from a kiosk in the concourse on a trial basis could wash away. It’s important to note that not everyone was joining in. Plenty booed the anti-Pressley songs. And it’s also worth pointing out that Pressley wasn’t the only person in the sights of these disaffected Dundee fans. A job lot of those banners favoured by the Green Brigade had found their way into the visitors’ end.

As well as Pressley’s face with a big red line drawn across it, the faces of Gordon Strachan and John Nelms were given similar treatment. Nelms is the club’s managing director while Strachan, who operates under the title of technical director, is often regarded as the power behind the throne and therefore is the one to blame for unpopular managerial appointments.

Rush to cast judgement

And no one should be in any doubt – Pressley’s recruitment, with his arrival being delayed by a silver wedding anniversary trip to Asia, was unpopular. “Honking!” ran an unusually subjective headline on the front page of the local evening newspaper. A clip of an irate fan leaning out of his car window while offering his trenchant views on the matter went viral. Another supporter dubbed the decision to hire Pressley the most underwhelming appointment in the history of Dundee Football Club.

It summed up what’s become so distasteful about modern day football and, indeed, modern day life. That rush to cast judgment on something – to be the first to call it, and not just that, to call it as extremely as possible. Otherwise what’s the point? Where’s the value? Where are the re-tweets and the hits? We’re all guilty. Well, most of us, this writer included.

What Pressley’s quiet renaissance has done is restore one’s faith in good old-fashioned coaching given a bit of time, which is often all a manager needs and so rarely gets.

Pressley and his coaching staff have improved young, inexperienced players. Not all the new signings have worked out, but most of them have or are beginning to. Crucially everyone, from newbies to those who pre-date his arrival, seems to adore their slowly spoken and distinctively dressed manager who appears content to plough his own furrow. It’s the fans who have taken longer to get on board. Viva, Elvis.