Football: Ludo's language skills will sort out our foreign legion.

Byline: DAVIE FARRELL

OUR training sessions so far this week have been a bit like the United Nations.

We've had foreign trialists from all over the world at Dens Park and the other day we staged a seven-a-side bounce game which had a Canadian, South African, Spaniard, Frenchman, Belgian and Italian all on the same side.

It makes for a bit of fun when you're trying to give out tactics, explain to them it's one touch, and you can only score with a certain part of your anatomy.

We've even thought of hauling Ludovic Roy off the treatment table to act as a translator.

Ludo hurt his ribs against Partick Thistle last weekend but his fluent French would certainly come in handy.

As for the rest, Andy McLaren can interpret for them in his finest Glasgow accent.

Amid all the hectic goings' on since we came to the club, Alex Rae and I actually found a spare minute to sit down and have a look at how things have come along over the past couple of months.

Off the park, I think we've made quite significant progress in terms of slashing overall costs.

Since the last day in May we tallied up that we've reduced the budget by pounds 430,000.

That's not bad going by anyone's standards and if the fans can see that the club as a whole is making progress then it augurs well for the future.

It also goes to show just how perilous the financial situation was at the end of last season.

Make no mistake, there's still a long, hard road ahead of us but we're getting there slowly but surely.

And if you take into account we've only brought in four new players after losing 15, you begin to realise the tight financial circumstances we're now working within to get this club back to the SPL.

One of our new signings, Gary McKenzie, has settled in really well with the rest of his team-mates.

But he's been taking a fair bit of stick recently for a certain phone call which appeared in the Record Hotline.

Big Gary's grandad phoned up from Ashgill in Lanarkshire to say how well his grandson had played in the City of Discovery Cup victory against Dundee United.

When one of the lads pointed it out the next day in the dressing room there was the usual banter and it hasn't stopped.

All the boys have been teasing Gary, saying he's a one-man show - but in the nicest possible way.

To be honest, Gary can take things personally which is no bad thing.

What we've found out since he came here is that he's by far his own biggest critic.

He's not afraid to analyse his own performance if he feels there's something he could improve on.

But at the same time Gary shouldn't be too hard on himself because he's still only a young lad with a very bright future in the game.

When I was coaching at Gretna, I saw him play for Rangers reserves and he was a stand-out among quality, experienced professionals.

Now it's up to myself and the gaffer to make sure he realises his undoubted potential.

We'll be reminding him he's making good progress and that he's still learning the game.

CAPTION(S):

HANDY ROY: Ludo is injured but still useful