Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘Pressure is part being a manager
FOOTBALL management is filled with pressure – and Dundee boss James McPake has been feeling it more than most over the past few weeks.
A poor night at home to Ayr last Tuesday ramped it up even further and resulted in the Dens boss answering questions over his future at the club.
Having failed to keep pace with Hearts at the top of the Championship, even a place in the top four to secure a play-off slot looked in doubt.
That’s still by no means secure but the Dark Blues welcome Dunfermline – one of their rivals for the play-offs – on Saturday in good spirits after an impressive 3-0 win at Alloa.
Speaking to BBC Scotland immediately after that match, McPake’s first words showed the strain that victory had lifted.
He said: “Relieved. It gives me a chance to sleep for the weekend.”
When joining the written press shortly after that, the Dundee boss cut a drained figure as he talked through his team’s performance.
However, this week he revealed he wished he hadn’t talked about his disrupted sleep live on TV as he discussed the pressure of being a manager.
Asked if there is a big difference now being the man in charge rather than a player, McPake replied: “The pressure is there to perform and for the team to win but it is different.
“Every decision that’s made, people look at.
“There is plenty of experience here at the club we can tap into, though.
“It is a different pressure being a manager. This side of the game is completely different but would I change it? No.
“It’s something I love and I’ve loved coaching ever since I got injured. The pressure is part and parcel of the job.
“I wouldn’t say as a player you don’t feel it after a defeat – I saw all of our players last week thinking they’d let the club down.
“When you are a manager, you look over every decision. When we get beat, everything is wrong – should we have played him, we should have done this earlier or this different.
“I think it just throws a whole load of questions your way when you are manager.
“As a player you are thinking about how you did first and foremost.
“But when you have a good bunch then everyone is pulling in the right