Graham Dorrans First Interview

The lure of working with old acquaintances made the decision to sign for Dunfermline Athletic compelling.

Dunfermline’s ninth signing for the forthcoming Championship challenge Graham Dorrans claims that the reunion with Peter Grant had a big influence on his decision to join Dunfermline.

The midfielder whose last Scottish club was Dundee, had a “couple of conversations” with teams in England and in Scotland but in the end after those conversations included Peter Grant and Pars chairman Ross McArthur, he felt that the right choice for him was Dunfermline.

“I spoke to the gaffer a couple of weeks ago and it took a bit of time for me to make my decision. I know how I like to play and that suits the gaffer here — and he suits me.

“Once we had the chat, I was just looking forward to coming in and getting started. I am delighted to get it done. I really enjoyed working with Peter when I was at West Brom and have met him a few times since, and even asked him for advice a few times.”

Graham Dorrans move to West Bromwich Albion coincided with Peter Grant’s arrival on 8th July 2008 replacing Craig Shakespeare as first-team coach to his former Celtic team mate Tony Mowbray. He added:-

“I like his coaching style, his work ethic and the standards he sets in training. That was a big part in me coming here. When you get to my age and the stage of my career, you look for certain options — and his style of play and coaching methods suit me down to the ground. I wanted to be involved. So, it is great for me to know exactly what I am coming in to.”

The ambition of the club and its manager attracted Graham who memory of his teenage years is with Dunfermline being a force in the Premier League. He sees no reason why promotion and even the Championship title should be be out of touch:-

“Why not? We should be. This is a big club and when I was growing up, it was always in the top league. I’ve got no qualms about taking that challenge. It’s a tough league — Hamilton and Kilmarnock have come down — and there are other good teams, so it will be difficult. But I don’t see why we shouldn’t be aiming to win it.

“When I spoke to the chairman, I heard the vision he has for the club — the new training facilities — that was something that did excite me. There’s a desire to get this club back to the Premiership, a great stadium and it’s an exciting time.”

Another friendship rekindled by his move to Dunfermline is with First team coach, Steven Whittaker. The pair were team mates for two seasons at Norwich City from 2015-2017. He continued:-

“I’ve been close with Stevie for a long time since I broke into the Scotland squad. We were good mates down at Norwich and we always kept in touch. There was a couple of times when I asked how Dunfermline were doing, and how he was getting on with his coaching.

“He got in touch a few weeks ago and things snowballed from there. I spoke to the gaffer and we got things over the line.

“He did his badges when we were down at Norwich so I always knew he was someone who would go into that side of things. When he came here last season, that was probably in the back of his mind as well. It’s great to see him pursuing that and I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Pointing out that nobody is the same player as they were 10 or 12 years ago, Graham feels that everybody changes, but he has probably got a bit deeper as a deep-lying play-maker in the last few years.

“I know the style of play the manager wants to play, it’s a possession-based style, and that will suit me. Hopefully I can get on the ball and help everyone round about me.”

Graham maintains that he has got plenty left in his legs at the minute but started his ‘B’ Licence before Covid came along and will continue that.

Covid also sent his footballing career in a very different direction. Exercising an option in his contract at Dundee, the Scotland internationalist moved to Western Sydney Wanderers in November 2020. Graham said that he thoroughly enjoyed it and claimed that it was a great experience:-

“Throughout my entire career, I’ve always wanted to go abroad and play — so when the opportunity came up to play over there, it was fantastic for me. The football was great, Western Sydney Wanderers were great and had fantastic facilities — top notch stuff. It was great to go over there and be part of that.”

With Covid restrictions denying fans at matches in Scotland, the move to Australia reintroduced fans to his match day experiences:-

“That was great for me, that was part of my decision as well in going over. It was almost normal for the full time I was over there. I know they’ve gone into a bit of a lockdown just now but for most of the season we had fans in the stadium and it was great to have that back and to be playing in front of big crowds again. There’s big stadiums and big clubs over there so they were getting decent crowds at the games.

“It was relatively normal over there. It was only really the last week when they went into lockdown, and as I left it was extended. Unfortunately the family didn’t settle too well and we came back a few weeks ago, but I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to go over there and give it a try.

“I think the football over there can get looked down on — but that shouldn’t be the case. There are some very good footballers and good teams over there.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it, thought the style of football suited me and I managed to score a few goals too. I was fit for every game, never missed a session so it was all good.

“Once I was leaving to come back home I spoke to Steven and he told me the quality that’s in the squad and the way the manager works, which I knew anyway. He told me the standards here and said that I would really enjoy it.
Hearing that from someone like Steven was definitely part of my decision in coming here, but I just had to take that little bit of time to make sure everything was right for myself.”

At the age of 34 Graham conceded that this might be his last club, so understandably he wants to enjoy the next couple of years. Both the player and his manager recognised how important it was to take time in making the decision on where to sign.

“When I spoke to the chairman about his vision for the football club and trying to get it back into the Premier, and the training ground and the facilities that are coming, it was great for me to get a two-year deal and be part of that future.”

Graham will be the most senior outfield player at Dunfermline yet knows the recent young arrivals Kai Kennedy and Rhys Breen from playing alongside them at Rangers. He described their qualities from first hand experience:-

“Rhys is a big, strong, athletic defender and Kai Kennedy is a very good footballer. When I was at Rangers he was just filling out and growing but he seems to have got himself in the gym and bulked up a bit. The feedback I’ve got is that he’s done well in his loan spells, so hopefully he can come in here and help us out as well. There’s no doubt he’s got top, top quality.

“Hopefully I can come in and help them. It’s a young squad and hopefully I can give little bits of advice to these boys as well. My first day’s training was certainly a tough session. We’ve got a good squad and a competitive squad and I’m looking forward to getting started at the weekend.

“The boys here have been back for five or six weeks so they’ll be a little bit ahead of me, but I’ll be looking to get some catch-up runs in and get back up to speed as soon as possible.”

First impressions at Dunfermline was the undoubted quality in the assembled squad:-

“Why shouldn’t the aim be to win the league and get promoted? It’s going to be a tough league, there’s no doubt about it, but the aim’s certainly going to be to up the top end of the table and pushing to get promoted.”

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