Scottish Football League focus: Dundee deja vu for Gavin Rae as he sets his sights on promotion

IT IS an all-too common scenario of this football age. A player, unquestionably retaining a level of ability required to provide benefit to teams at a certain level, finds financial matters are a motivator to keep him out of the professional game. W

When you are aged 33, as is the case with Dundee’s new signing Gavin Rae, managers are less amenable to sending some of their budget your way.

“It is like you have retired, but nobody has told you about it,” recalls Rae of the summer spell which saw him released by Cardiff City after four years, without the security of a contract elsewhere.

“At first, it was alright but then things drag on and you find yourself asking ‘What am I going to do?’

“I was training every day, with Cardiff’s academy players, but on a Saturday I was sitting about the house.

“It was tough, the first time I had ever been in that situation. It got to me more because I love the game, love training as well as playing. When you don’t have a game to aim for at the weekend, mentally it is a difficult time. When football is all you have ever known as a job, your mind drifts towards what else you can do.”

In England, not just Scotland, monetary reality bites. “There is a circumstance down there where teams just have five substitutes in the lower leagues, budgets have been cut and by the time I was out of contract, so many managers already had their squads sorted out,” Rae explains. “It was in my mind to try and get back up the road but I have my family to consider as well, any move had to be the right one.”

Salvation arrived from the club with whom Rae made his name. After reported interest from Aberdeen, Barry Smith stepped in to take the midfielder to Dens Park; Rae made his second “debut” for Dundee when appearing as a substitute in a home defeat to Ross County last week.

His one regret from a period in Wales is that Cardiff didn’t progress to the English top flight, with Rae aiming to make up for lost opportunity by returning Dundee to the level many believe a club of their standing should operate.

“It is a wee bit weird being back but there are a lot of familiar faces,” Rae says. “A lot of the off-field workers are the same and I know lads like Stevie Milne, Graham Bayne, Rab Douglas.

“In many ways, despite all they have been through in the meantime, it’s not too different from the club I left. I joined Dundee in the First Division, got promotion to the Premier League and then came back down again. Even things like the crowd numbers are pretty similar.”

Despite playing a part in Cardiff’s latest, unsuccessful attempt to gain promotion to the Premier League, Rae kept a watching brief on the Dundee off-field struggles of a year ago. Then, the club’s very existence mattered considerably more than what level of Scottish football they would be performing at.

“You always keep a close eye on your former clubs but what they did on the pitch last year was incredible,” Rae adds. “To survive, and survive while having the run of results they did have, was a remarkable achievement. Everyone involved in that deserves no end of credit.”

For now, Dundee sit bottom of a tightly-packed second tier. “We definitely still have our sights set on promotion,” says Rae.

“A few good results in a row shoots you right up the table. We just need to find a good run; I haven’t seen any of the earlier games this season obviously but we played alright last week, even though we lost.”

Dundee may benefit from Rae’s hunger. A period of inactivity seems to have freshened the Aberdeen-born player’s appetite for football, and the extending of his career.

“I still want to play at the highest level and still feel I can do a job at a high level,” he says. “I am probably a better player than the first time here, because I played a lot of games both at Rangers and down at Cardiff.

“At the moment, I still feel fit enough to play the way I have always done. Maybe moving back into defence is an option at some point but I feel fine now.”