Dundee gaffer rules out move for ex-Utd man

FORMER Dundee United m a n Da n ny Swa n son won’t be plying his trade for Dundee next season.

The midfielder was released by St Johnstone last week and was immediately linked with a move to Dens Park.

However, though Dark Blues gaffer James McPake admits his name was mentioned earlier in the year, Swanson is not a transfer target he’ll be chasing over the summer.

McPake said: “He was a name that was put to us and a player obviously (first-team coach) Dave Mackay knows very well but, at the minute, he’s not one we are pursuing.

“Any name put to us, we look into but it never got anywhere. I wish him well wherever he ends up but it won’t be at Dundee.”

Meanwhile, looking closer to home, McPake says it’s a credit to the club they have extended the deals of out-of-contract players amid the coronavirus shutdown.

The club announced on Monday they were triggering a one-year extension clause in wing-back Christie Elliott’s contract as well as topping up Paul McGowan, Josh Meekings and Tom Field’s deals until the end of June.

Those three first-team players were facing being out of contract at the start of next month with football clubs up and down the country struggling for income.

And McPake says it’s a measure of how people are treated at Dens Park with players being released elsewhere.

He said: “We’ve stopped on a few things i n the shutdown because we just don’t know what is going to happen.

“But I do like the way the club have handled the situation, it’s fantastic and I wasn’t expecting anything different to be done.

“I’ve been in this club six years now and see the way they treat people.

“With Christie, the option was there and he had done really well. It was a no-brainer that one.

“The other l ads getting an extension is a credit to the club and I think the club should be applauded for doing that. They have shown how to act towards staff.

“Paul McGowan has been my best player this season alongside Jordan McGhee. We have extended