Steven Pressley Transforms Dundee's Fortune in Derby Victory
Steven Pressley cut an almost carefree figure as he strode down Tannadice Street on Saturday, tote bag slung over his shoulder, grin plastered across his face. Twelve months ago, the same walk felt like a gauntlet.
Back then, Dundee fans were furious at his appointment. The Dens Park support did not want him, did not trust him, and they let him know it. A limp League Cup exit to lower-league opposition, followed by a five-game winless start to the Premiership, only sharpened the knives.
The low point? A 2-0 home defeat to Dundee United in the fourth match of that run. A derby loss, at Dens, to the neighbours in tangerine. The pressure on the 52-year-old was suffocating.
Fast forward a year and the same scoreline told a very different story.
This time it was Dundee’s away end erupting in the Tannadice night, their side 2-0 winners, their manager the one being serenaded. That defeat last August had left Dundee second bottom. On Saturday, their fans spilled out onto Sandeman Street with the team sitting second from top.
“I’m immensely proud of this group of players,” Pressley told BBC Scotland, emotion checked but obvious.
“Derby games are never won on tactical detail, they’re won on spirit and determination and I think we had that in abundance.”
He stayed true to character: calm, blunt, no frills. Even in victory, he refused to pretend it had all gone to plan.
“We didn’t carry out any part of [the game plan] to be honest,” he admitted. “But what was very apparent in our performance was the grit and determination that your supporters are generally so proud of.”
That grit has become a theme. Stretching back to the end of last season, when Dundee clung on to safety with three wins from their final four league games, Pressley’s side have now taken five victories from their past seven Premiership fixtures.
The numbers point to momentum. Pressley points to something else.
“What’s most pleasing is that the three league games have been incredibly difficult games,” he said. “But there’s a spirit and togetherness about us just now that is serving us well.”
He will not shout about targets in public, but inside the dressing room the aim is obvious: eighth place, last season’s finish, is no longer enough.
The transformation of his own reputation has been just as stark. Viewed as a joke figure by many this time last year, the former Carlisle boss has gradually won over a sceptical support. His easy, open manner has helped – players talk about enjoying working for him – but the charm masks a coach who has clearly sharpened his tools.
Four years at Brentford, a club that has become a Premier League model, have left their mark. His contacts south of the border have allowed Dundee to work the loan market smartly, yet the squad is far from a collection of blue-chip assets. It is a group stitched together from what Scottish football had left lying around.
There is Ryan Flynn, the Arbroath midfielder who knows Pressley from their Falkirk days and speaks of a manager who specialises in injecting belief and building an environment where players feel able to express themselves.
There is Drey Wright, the versatile livewire who opened the scoring in the derby and has quietly turned into a key component since arriving from St Johnstone.
There is Alan Forrest, picked up after Hearts cut him loose. There are forwards Charlie Reilly and Joe Bevan, who were turning out for Albion Rovers not so long ago.
And then there is Owen Bevan. On loan at Hibernian in 2024 and unable to get on the pitch, the centre-back was immense at Tannadice, scoring the second goal and forming a rugged pairing with Ryan Astley during United’s heaviest spells of pressure.
“Sometimes winning away from home is being comfortable with the uncomfortable and we did that at times,” Pressley said.
It was not slick. It was not textbook. It was something more primal.
“It was no tactical detail that won us the game today,” he added. “It was a group of players that were determined not to lose that derby and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
From boos to backing, from second bottom to second top, Pressley now walks down Tannadice Street with the look of a man who knows his team are no longer just surviving in this league. The real question is how far this patched-together, fiercely committed Dundee side can push it.
