Dee to step up striker hunt as Miller departs

DUNDEE: Veteran front man leaves by mutual consent

Dundee boss James McPake admits his search for striking reinforcements will intensify after Kenny Miller left the club by mutual consent yesterday.

The veteran front man was signed by former manager Neil McCann in August, last year and scored eight goals in his 35 appearances for the Dark Blues last season.

Following the sacking of McCann’s successor Jim McIntyre last month, Miller threw his hat in the ring to become the new Dens manager.

Obviously, he was unsuccessful as Dundee turned to McPake with Miller now expected to sign for the Dark Blues’ Championship rivals Partick Thistle.

However, what is certain is that with just two senior strikers in Craig Curran and Andy Nelson left at Dens, the manager is determined to bolster his forward options.

McPake said: “Kenny came to see me on Friday and just said he wanted to leave. “That was what he wanted to do. “I have no issue with Kenny. He was great in the few days I had him last season. I expected him back for pre-season until I heard otherwise. So good luck to him in the future. We were a striker light as it was but we will probably need to get two now.

“We have been looking anyway so it hasn’t changed anything from the recruitment side of it, it’s just we’ll maybe need to get two in rather than one.”

Dundee will continue their pre-season preparations next week at a training camp in sunny Spain with McPake admitting he would like to have more new faces signed up before the squad flies out.

He is currently running the rule over former Dundee United skipper Fraser Fyvie and he revealed he is having a look at another midfielder in the shape of Ryan Blair.

The 23-year-old, who started his career at Falkirk before moving to Swansea, had a spell last season on loan at Dunfermline.

McPake added: “We have Ryan Blair in to have a look at along with Fraser Fyvie.

“Fraser has looked really good, he’s worked hard and I’m sure there will be other interest in him as well.

“But at the moment he’s happy to be here so we can have a look at him and we’ll take it from there.

“Ideally, I would like more in before we go away for our pre-season camp but I don’t have a number. We are focused on getting the right players rather than doing it quickly so just because the games are getting closer nothing has changed there.

“We are trying to do things within a certain structure and a certain way, so it takes time.”

Dundee have already paid a fee for a player this summer after snapping up Shaun Byrne from Livingston and McPake refused to rule out asking owner Tim Keyes and managing director John Nelms for money again to land another potential transfer target.

He said: “I never said to John and Tim, ‘Do I have money to buy players?’ but if the right deal comes up they will back me.

“They did that with Shaun Byrne. We had to pay a fee to get him from Livingston and make him a decent offer.

“So the backing is there. I think signing him is a statement of intent.

“And if I go to them in future with another deal that I think suits the club then we will talk about that as well.

“But it’s not a case of going out just to sign a player and pay a fee. It’s about getting the right player and someone who brings something to the club.”

Picture: SNS. Kenny Miller was unsuccessful in his bid to become Dundee manager and has now opted to leave the club.

Picture: David Young. Dundee trialist Ryan Blair has had spells with Swansea and Dunfermline after starting his career with Falkirk.