That was good news for the manager, who feels the former Dark Blues skipper has a vital role to play, not only in the short term but also over a much longer period at the club.

“It’s great to have Barry back and, although he’ll help with the first team, he’ll primarily be doing work with the U/19 side and taking them for matches,” said Jocky.

“I said when I came back, I wanted a team around me who were Dundee people and, like ‘Jinky’ (assistant boss Ray Farningham), Barry fits that bill.

“He has great experience, which he will be able to pass on to the kids, and he’s also well known to the fans and knows what this club is all about. But when I brought Barry back I was also thinking about a couple of years down the road, and we’ll both benefit from the coaching experience he’ll gain between now and then.”

Smith will register as a player in January, although Jocky stressed he would almost certainly only be used as cover in an emergency.

“Signing him gives us another body. I don’t want to find myself in the same situation numbers-wise as I was when I took over.”

Meanwhile, the Dens gaffer rejected suggestions he was poised to make a move to bring Lee Mair back to the club. With the transfer window rapidly approaching, the Aberdeen defender had been linked with a return to the City of Discovery.

However, that was news to Jocky, although he didn’t rule out the possibility of bolstering his squad next month. He said, “Hopefully, I’ll be speaking to people in January.”

The Dens men were again forced to train indoors today.

Saturday’s opponents Livingston are expected to unveil a new manager over the next 24 hours and it looks likely to be former Dundee United player and manager Paul Hegarty. The 54-year-old has been working as a scout for Scotland boss George Burley after leaving his post as Motherwell assistant boss in June 2007.

And the United gaffer reads nothing into the fact that Caley’s form suggests they tend to save their best performances for on the road — four of their five league wins have come away from home.

“Maybe they play a different system away from home which is more suited to a counter-attacking style,” said Craig.

“But, I think you’ll find that last season was the complete opposite and I don’t think their away form will have any real bearing on Saturday’s game,” said Craig.

“What I do know is that they have definitely improved since last season and it’s a difficult place to go to get a result.

“We’ve had mixed success up there over the last few seasons with a couple of wins and a couple of defeats.

“But the main thing for me is that, hopefully, we can take things on from last Saturday’s win at St Mirren.

“After this weekend, we have Rangers, Hearts, Falkirk then Celtic, so we have a difficult run of games coming up.”

Meanwhile, with conditions treacherous outside, United were again forced to train indoors today, restricting their preparation for the weekend.

“With the game getting so close, it’s not ideal, but we have to get on with it,” said the manager.

“Training indoors is not ideal, though, and we have to be careful with guys like Keith Watson and Lee Wilkie on the harder surface.”

Craig felt yesterday’s meeting of SPL bosses at Hampden was a worthwhile exercise.

Believed to be on the agenda were talks about the SPL’s U/21 substitute rule, league expansion, SPL2, a winter break, video replays and — a subject close to most top-flight bosses’ hearts — referees.

“It was a chance to discuss a number of things,” said Craig.

“But there’s not really much to report. It’s an on-going thing and we’ll have another meeting in January.”

East and West Stand season tickets are valid for admission to the Ormond Stand, and cash turnstiles will be open.