Cove Rangers boss Paul Hartley counts a familiar face in the Dundee hierarchy as one of his close confidants.
Hartley’s time working with Gordon Strachan, when he was a player at Celtic, has left a lasting impression on the former midfielder, who seeks his old manager’s counsel when things are not going well – or simply to talk football.
The two will be rooting for opposite results in Sunday’s Championship meeting, with Strachan as technical director at Dundee and Hartley a month into his second spell as Cove manager.
“I spoke to Gordon on Wednesday night – he’s overseeing mainly the academy and their new training base,” said Hartley. “He’s important with his experience in the game and someone I still speak to a lot.
“If things aren’t going well on my side, he’s someone I can pick the phone up to.
“He can make you laugh, which is something you’re always guaranteed with Gordon -he’s the best manager I’ve worked under.
“It’s his knowledge of football. He played until he’s 40 and you just have to look at the club he’s managed and played for.
“His coaching was unbelievable. But he’s got another side to him.
“He’s very witty and I love his company. He’s one of the people you take to once you’ve worked with him. I’ve kept that relationship and working with him was brilliant.
“Every manager goes through it. Hopefully I can be a mentor to some other managers coming through.
“It’s when you go on a run of bad results or lose your job… he knows the situation managers go through now.
“It’s not just the manager you think about when you lose your job – it’s other people, your family.”
Cove preparing for changes to Dundee line-up
Cove delivered one of their best results of the season against Dundee in October, with Connor Scully scoring twice in a 3-1 win at the Balmoral Stadium.
Hartley took in the Dark Blues’ midweek game against Raith Rovers ahead of returning to Dens with Cove on Sunday.
“They could make changes because they’ve got a big squad,” said former Dundee boss Hartley. “A couple of players went off injured during the week. Gary (Bowyer) has changed quite a lot at times this season and I’d expect more.
“They were really good for the first half on Wednesday night, but Raith did well in the second – that can give us confidence.
“I’ve no doubt they’ll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. They’ve got a top manager in Gary.
“It’s about us going there with a good gameplan to try carry out.”
Cove have got clearance through for new signing Gime Touré to feature against Dundee but Hartley is still in the market to add to his squad.
“We’re still short of a centre-forward and possibly a centre-half,” he said. “We still need a couple more in to make us strong between now and the end of the season.
“Some of the teams in the Championship are massive height-wise – Dundee are a big side.
“We’ve only really got two strikers and you can’t go through the season with only two. Dundee have got four or five.
“It’s so difficult to recruit, even getting free transfers from down south is very hard. There’s not a lot of free agents going about. I’ve spoken to so many agents about players being available, but there’s none they’ve really come across.”
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