Luke McCowan’s phone call to Tony Docherty revealed as Dundee boss says he won’t just be a jersey filler at Celtic

Tony Docherty knows Luke McCowan has the mentality to shine at Celtic and won’t just be going to fill a jersey.

On deadline night, the attacking midfielder secured his ideal transfer and completed the feat by making his debut in the derby victory over Rangers. Now, McCowan will make the most of the international break to settle in with the winners and get ready for their Saturday return matchup against Hearts. Over the course of the last season and a half, Docherty has seen the 26-year-old play some of the best football of his career while at Dundee.

Having served as Brendan Rodgers’ temporary captain at Dee while Joe Shaughnessy was sidelined, he is well aware of his capacity to influence the team and his mental toughness. “He’ll go and be successful at Celtic, knowing his mentality, knowing his spirit,” Docherty predicted. He’s not just going there to fill a jersey; he’s going to make sure he does well there because he has the mindset to succeed.

“Helping others along the way—not just me, but the entire staff—is the most fulfilling aspect of my job,” the employee said. Both the staff and his teammates should be commended greatly for it.

McCowan acknowledged that, in the chaos of it all, he had slept for barely five hours. On Monday, he had intended to visit Dundee to bid the staff farewell and express his gratitude, but Docherty had told him to get some rest.

“Obviously there are mixed emotions regarding Luke because you don’t want to lose someone who is such a good player for you, but you’ve seen all the pictures and his reaction, so I couldn’t be more happy for Luke,” said Doc. He told me over the phone on Saturday night that he had only gotten five hours of sleep and was completely exhausted.

“He was actually scheduled to visit us on Monday, but I told him to just focus, rest, and catch up on his hours, and we’ll talk to you later. There couldn’t be a better boy, and we are all ecstatic for him.

Despite being the leader of the front line, Docherty feels that everyone at Dundee shares in McCowan’s success. McCowan follows Rab Douglas, Jack Hendry, Claudio Caniggia, and Julian Speroni as Dee’s five seven-figure sales.

“That was part of the team talk last Saturday,” Doc stated. I informed them that each of them contributed to his arrival. When a player moves on, it should be satisfying for all of us because he has effectively completed his task with you.

“You’re in it to develop and improve players, and he’s moved on to bigger things. You should be happy when that occurs, but Luke and his teammates deserve all the praise.

Simon Murray was given the armband by Docherty, who expressed his satisfaction with his team’s performance against St Mirren over the weekend. In addition to losing their captain, they persevered and recovered from behind to win a point.

The Dark Blues were able to maintain their winning start thanks to it. “It just shows me the strength of players, the performance level was very good,” Doc remarked.