By Matty Blakeman
August 1 2002

Our Newest Editor Matty Blakeman asks can Jim Duffy keep the Revolution Ball Rolling? In his Season 2002/2003 Preview. Read what Matty has to say in what will be a now weekly article.

Season 2002/03 Preview – Can Duffy keep the revolution ball rolling?

It feels like just yesterday that Jim Duffy was appointed the new Dundee manager as the new season pops up on us on Saturday when in reality, he has had a few weeks to keep Ivano’s old chair warm. Even before he was appointed, it was made clear that Duffy would not be welcome at Dens from some sections of the Dundee fans as many think that because he “walked out” on the club twice before. In fairness to him, the working conditions under ex-chairman Ron Dixon seemed appalling when Duffy was last in charge in the mid-nineties. One thing that’s for certain is that there will be little to no honeymoon for the new manager.

The alleged “mass-exodus” of players at Dens that was expected this summer was in fact no where near as bad as many would have predicted with names like Nemsadze, Caballero, Sara, Carranza and Speroni still about at the club. Speroni infact, along with Scotland defender Lee Wilkie, signed a 3-year deal earlier this summer. The ones that have left, however, are Kiko Torres, Walter del Rio (although he still trains with the u21s) Khaled Kemas, Massimo Beghetto, Gerardo Traverso, Beto Garrido (Just moved to Argentina to start his career there again) Temuri Ketsbaia (Just moved to Cyprus to join anorthasis famagusta) and (Thank the lord) Patrizio Billio and Marco Di Marchi left after losing their court case with Paul Marr. Duffy has been to strengthen the squad, however, with two new signings. He finished what Ivano started by completing the signing of Nacho Novo from Raith Rovers for £100’000 and he also signed Jonay Hernandez, a Venezuelan left-back who impressed in friendly's.

As for the friendly's, Dundee played 6 in all and some would say that that is too much to play. The first came at Nacho Novo’s old club Raith Rovers with Juan Sara scoring in a 1-1 draw. Then came a 3-game trip to Romania, which saw the Dark Blues lose 3-0 to Sportul Studensec, gain an impressive 1-1 draw with 10 men against Rapid Bucharest with Novo and a 1-0 victory over Electro Magnetico with Novo again scoring. They came back to play 2 more friendly's in quick succession at Dens against Preston North End and a return match against Rapid Bucharest. Both ended in defeats, 2-0 to Preston and 3-1 to Rapid with Steven Milne scoring. So in all, only 1 win and 3 defeats in 6 games and rather worryingly, only 4 goals. But then again, what can we read into friendly's? Duffy seemed keen to see as many players as possible and made a lot of substitutions in each game.

And now, with the new season just a couple of days away, we face an injury stricken Hearts on Saturday in our opening game at Dens in Duffy’s first competitive task as manager. Personally, having seen a fair bit of the new team, I would predict a draw. Duffy, like every manager, needs time. He still has an excellent squad and, in guys like Nemsadze, Carranza etc, has players that other SPL managers can only dream of. He has made to excellent signings with possibly more to follow. I keep my position prediction the same as a couple of weeks ago. 5^th, something I would take with both hands if I were offered now. Expect to see more quality young players and definitely, unless he is snapped by some Arabs, a lot from Fabian Caballero.