McPake: Squad in a good place

MANAGER James McPake reckons continuity will give Dundee a leg up on the competition in the new season.

There may be no start date for the Championship or any real idea of what it might look like for 2020/21 with league reconstruction still a possibility.

However, with a host of clubs releasing large swathes of their squads and relegated Hearts likely to make sweeping changes after a disastrous Premiership season, McPake is pleased he’ll have a settled squad next term.

After a complete rebuild of playing personnel shortly after he came in as full-time boss last season, the Dens gaffer already has 16 senior first-team players contracted through to next summer.

The only men with contracts expiring at the end of this month are Paul McGowan, Josh Meekings and Tom Field.

And that, McPake reckons, can be used to Dundee’s advantage as they bid to return to the top flight when the new campaign gets under way.

He said: “I feel i n a better position than a lot of clubs because we only had three players out of contract.

“A lot of clubs had many more than that and now face a lot of upheaval.

“I said when I first became manager that getting that stability was a big factor because for too many summers we have been going through big rebuilds.

“The club needed stability, when you look at our squad now if we were to start again tomorrow I think we’d be in a good place.

“Having that stability was one of the first things I talked about with John (Nelms) because it’s tough bedding eight or nine players every summer.

“It’s tough on the players and it’s hard on the fans because they don’t get to know people well either when it’s a revolving door.

“Financially, it’s tough on the club because you are constantly paying people off and bringing new ones in.”

That has been a regular feature over the past few years at Dens Park as the Dark Blues struggled to stay afloat in the Premiership.

Since finishing eighth in 2015/16, Dundee have gone through a succession of managers in Paul Hartley, Neil McCann, Jim McIntyre and now McPake.

That upheaval has seen plenty of changes in personnel from season to season until that culminated with the club fielding 40 different players in their relegation season between McCann and, ultimately, McIntyre.

Immediately after taking full charge of the team, that was something McPake wanted to avoid.

He added: “I’d seen both sides of it as a player. Some clubs I’d been at were stable and the core of the team stayed the same for a long time, and others it wasn’t like that.

“It’s difficult for a dressingroom because you don’t get that continuity.

“The first season when Dundee came up, Paul added to the team which had won the league and it worked well.

“Last summer I had a blank canvas because of the amount of players who were out of contract so that has let us build something which can last.”

Dundee manager James McPake (right) has the vast majority of his squad signed up again for next season.