The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Dundee star ‘buzzing’ after signing new deal
DARK BLUES: Robertson ‘didn’t care about the details’ as he penned contract
The fine print of his crisp new contract meant nothing to Fin Robertson – playing for Dundee for the next three years is all the 17-year-old cared about.
The Dark Blues fan put pen to paper on a new
Dens deal yesterday and has been“buzzing” ever since. The club made the move to secure the future of one of their prize young assets this week and robertson say she couldn’ t sign fast enough.
He told DEETV: “I’m buzzing. All I’ve wanted to do is play for Dundee and to be at this club for another three years is really good. As soon as I found ou ti just wanted to sign. Ididn’tcareabout the details, I just wanted to put my name on that dotted line and sign for another three years.”
Having made his debut as a 16-year-old in the Premiership, Robertson played a big part for James Mcpake’s Dundee side in the Championship last season.
He made 22 appearances in all competitions, earned scotl an du 19 honours and won the club’ s Young Player of the Year award.
And the Dens Park club revealed there had been interest from other clubs prior to Robertson committing his future to Dundee.
Dundee’s teenage sensation Fin Robertson says he “didn’t care about the details” of his new three-year deal with his boyhood club.
The 17-year-old Dundonian had an impressive breakthrough season last year which earned him Scotland Under-19 caps and the club’s Young Player of the Year award.
Ahead of the new campaign, it’s also earned him an extension to his contract.
And the Dundee fan is delighted to be sticking around at Dens Park for years to come.
He told DEETV: “I’m buzzing. All I’ve wanted to do is play for Dundee and to be at this club for another three years is really good.
“As soon as I found out I just wanted to sign. I didn’t care about the details, I just wanted to put my name on that dotted line and sign for another three years.”
Robertson made his debut as a 16-year-old at the tail end of the 2018-19 season and went on to feature 16 times in the Championship last year and 22 times overall.
He added: “Last season was good. I got a lot more game time than I would have expected and having players like Graham Dorrans and Charlie (Adam) coming in can only be a good thing for me and the rest of the young boys.”
Despite there being no awards ceremony, Robertson was delighted to emulate the achievements of previous academy graduates and Dundee fans by winning the Isobel Sneddon Young Player of the Year award last term.
And he’s looking to kick on in the new campaign which starts next month.
On winning the youth prize, Robertson said: “That was good. Just looking at the players who have won it in the past like Cammy Kerr and Craig Wighton, it’s good to follow in their footsteps.”
He added: “Pre-season has been really good. The boys came back flying, you wouldn’t think we’d been away for six months.
“Hopefully, we can hit the ground running first game of the season.”
Meanwhile, James Mcpake was pleased with his “patient” Dundee side as they continued their pre-season campaign with a 1-0 win at Cove Rangers on Tuesday night.
The Dark Blues left it late to make the breakthrough against their League One opponents, with paulmc go wan heading the winner from trialist Daniel Church’s cross with five minutes remaining.
After six months off, Mcpake’s men have now played three friendlies with two 1-0 wins and a 2-2 draw to show for their early efforts.
Following that draw at Montrose, the Dens boss was pleased to see his side keep Paul Hartley’s outfit at bay at the Balmoral Stadium with central defenders Jordon Forster and Lee Ashcroft singled out for praise.
Mcpake told DEETV: “First and foremost it’s another clean sheet.
“We were disappointed with the goals we lost against Montrose on Saturday. I thought the two centre-halves were really good. Defensively as a team we were really good, and we were patient. We got a really good goal. I thought it was another good game, plenty challenges, it felt a bit like a real game for stages.
“Another work out for Charlie (Adam) and Jordon Forster. Some really good and positive performances.”
The Dens boss gave Graham Dorrans, Jordan Mcghee and Jack Hamilton a rest for the trip to Aberdeen’s League One side but expects the trio to be fit and firing for the return game this Saturday at Dens Park.
He’s also hoping to be able to have
midfielder Shaun Byrne and defender Jordan Marshall available again.
“We left a few players away. They’ll join back up and train Thursday and be involved on Saturday,” Mcpake said.
“They are getting fitter and sharper. They have been away for a while and maybe we weren’t sure exactly how they would react to the games but a lot of them have played a lot of minutes now so we are really pleased with how it has gone.”
Mcpake added: “That was a good game, difficult conditions again but I said to them in the dressing-room: ‘That is what we are going to face in this league.’ Decent pitch, for one of the artificial ones, this is a really good pitch and against a good team.
“That game had a bit of everything in it and we are really pleased.
“A clean sheet and a really good performance and we got through it with, hopefully, not too many niggles.”