The Dundee manager also believes it is important to do business when in a position of strength.
08:30, 15 Jan 2026Updated 08:51, 15 Jan 2026
Steven Pressley is delighted that Dundee have managed to add Brad Halliday and Joel Cotterill when they are on a high.
The Dark Blues have brought in right-back Halliday, 30, from Bradford City on a two-and-a-half year deal.
They moved to make it a double when midfielder Cotterill, 21, joined on loan from Swansea City, to add to Joe Bevan who had earlier signed from Burnley.
Pressley said: “I spoke to the group to say that although we’ve had a good run of results and performance, people start to talk about the top six and can we challenge higher up the league?
“I’m not saying that’s happening internally, but it’s natural that it happens.
“You can start to think things are okay and you’re fine, but our priority is still to retain our league status as the first stage of this rebuild.
“It would be negligent of me to think that we’re okay now - you have to recruit players when you’re doing okay.
“In that situation, you’re not being reactive but proactive.
“That’s what we’ve tried to be with the three signings we’ve made so far.
“They will help the squad as we try to meet our first priority, which is staying in the league.
“If we can get that mathematically sorted then you can change focus, but until then that’s what everything is focused on.
“Getting three players in sends a signal to the group that we need to keep improving.”
The Dundee connection has been getting both new boys in. Cotterill joins fellow Swansea loanee Cam Congreve, who has grabbed headlines this season.
“Joel Cotterill had a loan at Swindon where he did well and spent the first part of this season with Bristol Rovers,” the Dundee head coach confirmed.
“He’s one we enquired about last summer, he’s a Welsh U21 international and a team-mate of Cam Congreve.
“Joel is someone we have been keeping an eye on for a while so when the opportunity came to bring him in it’s something we were delighted to get done.
“I think Swansea are happy with how it’s gone here with Cam so they were keen for him to come here. “So it’s a good bit of business.
“He’s a good size, good stature and athleticism. He’s a really good footballer but someone who can arrive in the box.
“We see him as someone who can do a lot of running but also play as well, so he’ll add good competition in there.”
Halliday has previously played under coach Barry Nicholson, when they were previously
Pressley added: “We are really pleased to get Brad on board, he’s a player the recruitment team have been monitoring for a few months.
“They did a lot of work, background checks so we were delighted to get him because there was a lot of interest in him from other teams.
“He was in the League Two Team Of The Season a couple of years ago and Barry Nicholson worked with him previously at Fleetwood.
“Brad is a good character, energetic and has a great attitude.
“His arrival will add good experience to the back line because although not much has been said about it, we are actually a very young team.
“In amongst that you need a few stabilisers, Brad will bring that with his personality and character.
“Ryan Astley has performed really well in that right-back area in recent weeks but we felt it was important to add to that part of the team as well.”