Steven Pressley: Dundee boss has ‘nothing to prove to anybody’

“Whether you are the manager of Rangers or Celtic, or whether you are the manager at Dundee, your supporters generally turn up on a Saturday afternoon expecting you to win,” he said.

“That is the pressure of the job, that is the expectation, so I am very much aware of that and there will be periods within the season I am sure where people will think we are doing well and there will be periods of the season when that is not the case.

“That is football management and I understand that and accept it. But all I can do is continue to work hard with my staff, with our players and hopefully in time begin to convince people that we can do something that is right here.”

Dundee fans will be expecting the team to successfully emerge from a League Cup Group that also includes three teams outside the top two divisions – Alloa Athletic, Montrose and Bonnyrigg Rose.

Given all the debate and discussion about the decision to bring Pressley in, could a good start to his tenure be the key to changing the narrative that the doubters still have?

“Sometimes that never changes, I am aware of that, I am genuinely okay with that,” he added. “I am not sitting here feeling that I need to prove anything to anybody.

“My whole mindset is that I work exceptionally hard with our staff, with our players, and hopefully as a group we can make progress. That is really all that is in my mind at present.”