Limboland continues for Dee – I hope end is near

ARBROATH have Pleasureland next door, for Dundee it’s Limboland this summer.

Since the Dark Blues last had a manager, the prime minister has had a no-confidence vote, Scotland tanked their World Cup play-off, Blackpool player Jake Daniels and Scottish referees Craig Napier and Lloyd Wilson have come out as gay, Dunfermline became a city and the Queen’s had a jubilee.

Quite a lot has happened in the world.

But it doesn’t seem like much has happened at Dens Park.

Three-and-a-half weeks since Mark McGhee’s final match in charge have come and gone and still there’s no new nameplate on the manager’s door.

At the start of all this the club insisted they would be patient in their approach to finding a new manager.

I’m all for that.

Though, I didn’t expect their patience to last this long, I must admit.

Football people are on their holidays at this time of year so it is always a slow burn at the end of May/start of June.

But I can’t shake the image of Dundee as a club that’s currently stagnating in a pool of relegation disappointment right now.

The only thing now that will spark some life into the old dog and see us all looking towards the future is a new manager being named.

Of course, I wholeheartedly agree with my colleague Lee Wilkie’s assertion yesterday that it must be the right man they choose. That goes without saying.

If it was an anyone-will-do policy, they’d have been as well promoting Deewok rather than retiring the poor guy.

Some people might argue it has been that kind of policy all along since we’ve been through Jack Ross, Shaun Maloney,

Peter Leven and no doubt many more we haven’t heard about.

Now we’re on to Steve Kean and Gary Bowyer with the latter very much the favourite to land the job.

The profile of Kean and

Bowyer is a different one to the early thoughts on what their criteria might be for a new manager.

Certainly I imagined a young, up-and-coming coach to be mentored by Gordon Strachan.

But, if it is indeed Bowyer who takes the reins, then the Dark Blues are getting a coach who is anything but inexperienced.

He has managed a big, big club in Blackburn Rovers, even if they weren’t enjoying the success of previous decades.

Blackpool and Bradford are also ex-Premier League clubs where there is a certain expectation from the fan base. Then expectation took a huge leap when Bowyer took over at Salford City after recommendation from his Derby boss Wayne Rooney.

He was sacked by Gary

Neville but there’s hardly a manager in the world who has not been sacked at some point.

Even Alex Ferguson got the bullet early on.

A fresh approach with an experienced coach speaks of sensible thinking at Dens Park.

At the very least it will allow the club and fans to move on, think about the season to come and finally get out of Limboland.

Dundee are still looking to appoint their new manager – and Gary Bowyer is now the favourite.