Nelms States Dundee’s Ambition for European Football

John Nelms, Dundee’s managing director, has indicated that the club is setting its sights on European qualification while also targeting another top-six finish this season. The Dens Park club concluded the previous season in sixth place upon their return to the Premiership, but their current campaign has seen less consistent results, with two victories and four defeats in their most recent six matches. Nevertheless, after 12 games of the season, they currently occupy seventh position, trailing St Mirren by just three points with a match in hand. Speaking to BBC Scotland, Nelms stated, “The goal is always to be in the top six,” adding, “For a club like Dundee, we want to get into Europe and kind of solidify one of those six places, or one of those five places. Every year, especially this year, we are there or thereabouts. “If we get it right and we do the recruitment in the right manner, I think you could be there or thereabouts every year.” Nelms also highlighted that nurturing young talent represents a “big focus” for the club. Last season, Dundee was prominent in providing Premiership playing time to Scottish players under 21 years old, though Lyall Cameron alone accounted for most of those 3,538 minutes. Nelms further commented, “Tony [Docherty] is focused on the development of young players, which we are as well. He has the same mindset that we have,” continuing, “We have developed probably more young players than most clubs have here recently. But it’s a very fine line to walk. You have to get that right, you have to get the mix right, the number of young players.” He concluded by stating, “I think right now we have four Under-20 Under-21 internationals – Scotland, English and Austrian – and but we try to marry that with senior players that they can look up to and learn from.”