DUNDEE DESIGNS ON DEALING IN HARTLEY
DUNDEE have opened talks with manager Paul Hartley aimed at tying him down on a new deal. Hartley has been a major success at Dens Park since his arrival in February, leading them to promotion to the Premiership and a six-match unbeaten run in the top flight until last weekend’s defeat in the Tayside derby. Dark Blues fans looked on anxiously last week as he was targeted by English Championship side Cardiff City, but Dundee’s managing director John Nelms revealed yesterday that negotiations have already begun to extend the 37-year-old’s stay. And he insisted that interest from the Welsh club had not distracted Hartley despite subsequent defeats to their fierce rivals Dundee United in both the league and the League Cup. ‘Paul and I have a very good relationship so we have sat down and we have discussed this,’ said Nelms. ‘It is not a problem and when it happens it will happen. ‘It is something we are discussing but neither of us are concerned about it at the moment. We are concerned about Ross County on Saturday. We started talking about it before the Cardiff speculation. ‘There was an official approach from Cardiff but it never got to the point where we were talking about it. Then they backed off. We never said no, we never said yes. They went into a different direction at that time. But the manager and myself were all involved in the process at that time. Despite that, Paul did not let it skew his focus.’ Conceding that Hartley is an ambitious manager, however, and will look to move on in future, Nelms admitted: ‘We have to be prepared for it. Once that time comes, that time comes and we have to have a succession plan in place.’ Ten-man Dundee were beaten 1-0 by United in Wednesday’s quickfire return in the cup, but Nelms was proud of the team’s efforts following the previous weekend’s 4-1 collapse. ‘Even after we went down to 10 men, we played well and had good spells of possession. I think we deserved to go through but that’s football. The fans backed the guys from start to finish and it was a great occasion for the city.’ Defender James McPake described the difference in Dundee’s performance between last Sunday and Wednesday as ‘night and day’ despite Jaroslaw Fojut’s late header clinching the tie for United at Tannadice. ‘We were devastated in the dressing room,’ said McPake. ‘If there was a positive, it was that there are ways to lose a football match and that was it.’