Dens supremo is banking on youth

American youth supremo John Nelms wants to turn Dundee into a talent factory for the Scottish national team.

And in doing so, the Texan believes the Dark Blues can make MILLIONS.

Just three weeks after joining the board at Dens Park as Director of Football Operations, Nelms watched as ex-Hamilton kid James McCarthy move from Wigan to Everton for a reported £15-million.

Thanks to a sell-on clause, that deal saw Accies net a seven-figure sum.

Nelms, who cut his teeth running a youth academy in Houston, is already working to transform Dundee into a club capable of doing the same.

And he says the proof his plan has worked will come if the Dark Blues can produce Scotland’s next generation of superstars.

He said: “If we do it properly, if we put a couple of Dundee lads out there who were born and bred and developed here, the stadium is going to be filled.

“If those players get bigger than us, fantastic. Then we’ll have done our job.

“And if we get several players in the national squad, again we’ve done our job. That’s the main goal.

“The fact that James McCarthy was sold on for as much as he was is fantastic for the game up in Scotland and I’m happy for the guys at Hamilton.

“Nobody knows exactly how much money they’re getting, but I’m sure it’s a fair share.”

Nelms’ plan is not lacking in ambition. But big plans cost big money and that’s a limited resource.

Even so, the American believes he can get results.

“A lot of people take an idea like this on board, and think we’re going to go and acquire 200 acres and put all of this stuff in,” he said.

“We’re not doing that. It’s not going to be Manchester City spending £900-million to do it, but hopefully we’ll have the same result with the kids.

“We don’t want to just throw everything out there. We’re being very methodical about it.

“But we’re just scratching the surface at the moment, and taking our time because we’re not going to do anything that doesn’t fit our plan.”

At this stage, the specifics of that plan are still being sketched out.

Pressed on timescales, Nelms admits the system will take years to bear fruit. But if it does, he believes Dee fans will have a team on the park deserving of their fervent support.

“There are things I’d like to have done before the beginning of next season,” he admits.

“But the overall vision is going to take three to five years before it’s fully functional.

“We want to get to a place where, whichever location we’re at, there’s history on the wall and when the kids walk through or the first team walk through, they know that’s their home and that’s where they need to put in the work.

“When the fans show up on a Saturday, we want to make sure we have the best product we can possibly put out there and hopefully some of them are from Dundee, born and bred.”