THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS
Rankin knocks back champions

DAVID FERGUSON

IAN Rankin will lead Dundee HSFP into tomorrow’s BT Cup final and then bid to take them into Premiership Division 1 after revealing yesterday that he had turned down an offer to move to Glasgow Hawks.

The former Edinburgh Reivers and Scotland A coach was approached by the Division 1 champions to succeed Peter Wright, who left to become the full-time coach with Scotland Under-19s. However, announcing the side that will face Boroughmuir at Murrayfield tomorrow, he said: "I told the Dundee players this week that I have decided to stay where I am.

"It was very nice to be asked by the Hawks, who are a big, ambitious club, and nice to think they felt I could take them forward, but I came to Dundee with a specific aim and that was to take the club into Division 1. I haven’t achieved that yet and I still feel we have a squad and a club which has the potential to make that step."

Tomorrow, however, Rankin’s focus is purely on steering Dundee HSFP to a cup triumph, following their defeat by the Hawks in last year’s Murrayfield final.

This article was originally posted on 29-Apr-2005, 09:50 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 29-Apr-2005, 09:51.