John Robertson is happy to remain as Caley Thistle manager in spite of interest from Dundee.
The Dark Blues made an approach to speak to Robertson this week but the move was rebuffed by the Caley Jags, who are intent on keeping him at the Caledonian Stadium.
Robertson is under contract until 2021, having signed a new deal last year and was previously linked to the Livingston job after Kenny Miller’s departure. However it is understood he is on board with how the club have handled the situation and is not pushing for discussions with the recently-relegated side.
Dundee let previous boss Jim McIntyre go after they dropped out of the top flight earlier this month. McIntyre, who was sacked by Ross County in 2017, replaced Neil McCann early in the 2018-19 campaign but failed to spark a revival at Dens Park. James McPake and Kenny Miller are also being considered for the vacancy, with Dundee keen to make an appointment before the end of the week.
Caley Thistle refused permission for Dundee’s neighbours United to speak to then-manager John Hughes in late-2015, with Scottish Cup-winning manager Hughes later admitting he would have liked to have had the opportunity to discuss terms with the Arabs.
Robertson’s first tenure as Caley Jags boss came to an end in 2004 when he was lured away by the top job at his boyhood club Hearts, where he is considered a club legend.
He and chief executive officer Scot Gardiner are in the process of trying to pull together a squad for next season, which will already have to cope without Joe Chalmers and Liam Polworth who have agreed moves to Ross County and Motherwell respectively.
A Dundee statement yesterday read: “We have been inundated with applications since the role became available and in the past week have narrowed down our list of potential targets for the first round of interviews which will take place this week.
“Some of the candidates are currently employed by other clubs and we requested permission to speak to them as part of the initial process. The overall process is ongoing and we are striving to have the best man in place in the very near future.”