Dundee boss Steven Pressley looks to recharge batteries with break from football

Dundee boss Steven Pressley revealed he took a leaf out of Thomas Frank’s book by giving himself a week off to recharge his batteries ahead of this weekend’s visit from Celtic.

Immediately after the 1-0 defeat at Hearts, the 52-year-old headed back to his family home in England for the first week of the international break before returning north to step up preparations for Sunday’s showdown with Martin O’Neill’s Hoops.

“I took a week off, I went down south to the family and completely switched off from football,” said Pressley, who worked under former Tottenham boss Frank in his previous role as Brentford’s head of development.

“The players and other members of staff were in until last Wednesday and then had four days themselves off to recharge.

“I think at times the most important thing is that the players don’t just see you, they see the best version of you and sometimes in order to see that, you need to recharge the batteries.

“During my week off, I virtually paid no attention to football and the first time I really switched back on to football was when I went to watch my son (Aaron) on the Saturday (playing for Walsall) at Colchester.

“That side I really turned off and it was, I hope, a productive period for me. I think it’s important.

“It’s something that I’m always trying to learn as a coach and from my early jobs, I was 24-7 and then never took any time off. I thought I always had to be seen, and in the end you wear yourself down.

“But when I was at Brentford during international breaks, Thomas Frank would always take a week off. It’s very much what I’ve tried to do. Outwith the international breaks I work exceptionally hard, but then that one week where I can recharge the batteries is vitally important.”

Pressley is bracing his team for a “very dangerous” Dens Park clash on Sunday with a Celtic side who have no margin for error after defeat at Dundee United last time out left them five points adrift of William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts.

“Celtic will be a wounded animal after their most recent result at Tannadice,” said Pressley. “And also they have a hugely motivational manager so I’m pretty certain that they’ll be coming to Dens to put some wrongs right.”