Dee close to deal with former boss

DUNDEE are set to avoid a courtroom battle with former boss Paul Hartley over the terms of his severance deal.

The Tele understands the two parties are close to reaching an agreement on a financial package.

Hartley was sacked in April after a run of seven straight defeats saw the Dark Blues drop to second bottom in the Premiership.

Then, last month, he instructed lawyers to instigate legal proceedings because he wanted the pay-off he was due handed over in a lump sum, something the club were not keen to do.

Neither side in the dispute have commented since but discussions have been taking place and it now looks likely the matter will be settled without the need for further court involvement.

Present boss Neil McCann, meanwhile, is continuing his search for talent to strengthen the squad for the new season.

And that’s likely to see him adding another striker at some point this week. He’s confirmed he is close to making his sixth signing of the summer.

Number seven could also follow before his new-look team kicks off the campaign proper in the League Cup at Raith Rovers tomorrow week.

“We are pretty close to one and there will be another one after that,” he said.

“I think we could be doing with another bit of firepower up top. We’ve got Marcus (Haber) there and Faz (Faissal El Bakhtaoui) as natural goalscorers and we have boys like Roarie Deacon, Scotty Allan and Gowser (Paul McGowan) who can play just in behind, but we could do with one more.”

On Saturday, Neil saw his team come back from a goal down to beat Arbroath at Gayfield thanks to late goals from El Bakhtaoui and new signing Randy Wolters.

The manager used two different sides over the 90 minutes and had mixed emotions about the performance.

“I was disappointed with the first half but I can’t be too hard on them because I wanted to try something.

“I slightly worked on it in terms of shape when we didn’t have the ball and a little bit with the ball but it didn’t probably work.

“These are the games to do it in, not the cup competitions, and I was pleased we tried something.

“I was delighted with the way the boys kept going and with the quality of the two goals.”

Tempers flare as both Dundee and Arbroath players clash during the pre-season friendly at Gayfield on Saturday.