Rangers hero Ryan Jack emerges as key target for rival Scottish Premiership side

TONY DOCHERTY has revealed he’s keen to take Ryan Jack to Dundee.

The Scotland midfielder is a free agent after leaving Rangers and is weighing up his options at the moment.

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Doc worked with 32-year-old Jack at Aberdeen for four years — and he’s exactly the type of quality player he aims to beef Dundee up with.

Asked if he thought he’d have a chance of securing Jack, he said: “I’d love to think so.

“I love Jacko, he’s a fantastic footballer and a brilliant person. But I’ve not had any conversations with him.”

Docherty has also been linked with a move for Ross County striker Simon Murray but wouldn’t be drawn into discussing a player who has 12 months left at his current club.

He said: “Everybody knows Simon is a Dundee boy so people put two and two together. But Simon is contracted to County.

“He’d a brilliant season last season so I can understand why people would come to that.

“But I need to respect that Simon is a County player.”

The Dundee boss, who has Aussie keeper Isaac Carmody on trial, also confirmed the club are in talks with Ricki Lamie about his future.

The former Motherwell defender signed a pre-contract earlier this year while on loan at Dens, but could now be released from the deal.

Doc said: “We are in negotiations with his representatives at the moment.

“There is nothing on that right now, we’ll make a statement on that when we need to.”

Dundee will kick off their season against city rivals United after the SPFL paired them on the opening weekend. And Doc hailed league bosses for making the start of the season a blockbuster which will capture the nation’s attention.

He said: “Wow! How good is that? Brilliant.

“It’s everything good about Scottish football, it is brilliant. They’ve got that totally right.

“Anything we can do to enhance the product, which is a great product, this is a great example.

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“A Dundee derby on the Sunday on TV, there will be real excitement in the city. I was listening to talkSPORT earlier and they were talking about the Dundee derby, so the exposure that will get will be a brilliant advert for Scottish football.

“It’s a great game to be involved in. When the news came in, we were pulling the players off the ceiling because it is such an exciting start to the campaign.

“We are all buzzing for it. Derby day is fervent and the game is a hundred miles an hour but the banter around it is really good.

“It is good banter — for now!

“I’ve found it great and that’s an appeal about being up here.

“It is competitive but in a healthy way.”

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