I told Jordan: ‘You’ve done us in’ but he said he didn’t really care
SAYS CAMMY KERR
As a fleet-footed winger, Jordan Jones is familiar with the need to find consistency in his game. Cammy Kerr evidently feels the Kilmarnock man could do with extending this to other aspects of his professional life. Like getting his story straight, for a kick-off.
The final game before the international break saw Jones hit the turf at Dens Park while barely within the same postcode as his opponent.
Face buried in the turf, presumably in shame, Jones didn’t even see referee steven McLean point to the penalty spot but climbed to his feet to see Eamonn Brophy convert from 12 yards as steve Clarke’s men headed to a 2-1 win.
Neil McCann’s pointed words to the man in the middle at full time — that he’d cost him his job — proved to be prophetic.
subsequently charged by the sFA, Jones curiously accepted the offer of a two-match ban without admitting his guilt.
With his club claiming he was ‘adamant he did not carry out an act of simulation’, the Rugby Park outfit claimed they would accept the suspension but only because there was ‘no additional substantive evidence’ to back up their player’s case.
If TV evidence suggested Kilmarnock were simply trying to mitigate against a blatant case of cheating, Kerr’s recollections of his exchange with Jones immediately after the decision certainly flies in the face of his later claim of innocence.
‘I said: “Look, you’ve kind of done us there”,’ said the Dundee captain.
‘He was like: “As long as we win, I don’t really care”. It’s a good mentality to have, to be fair, but I was on the receiving end of it.
‘When you’re up the table these things go for you but when you’re at the bottom they seem to go against you.’
Two weeks on, Kerr is rightly focused on today’s trip to Livingston which marks Jim McIntyre’s first game in charge.
Clearly, however, the fact he didn’t receive a hint of an apology from any of the parties involved remains a sore point.
‘I probably wouldn’t expect it from the referee,’ he added. ‘They are human and do make errors. I’m not saying I accept it but mistakes do happen.
‘These things happen but he (Jones) is now suspended for games against teams who are round about us just now. It doesn’t change our result against them. We may or may not have got something out of the game.
‘I was obviously devastated when he blew the whistle. I couldn’t believe it.’
With the Dark Blues currently bottom of the pile, the fact that Jones, one of Killie’s top performers this season, is suspended for games against st Mirren and Hamilton has been lost on no one.
Rest assured, though, that when the sides next lock horns in Ayrshire on December 15 the date will be circled in red ink on the calendar.
‘I’ll make sure next time I’m up against him I won’t miss him in a tackle,’ Kerr grinned.
‘We both respect each other. We’ve been up against each other a few times. But it’s still not great what he did.’
The fall-out from the incident may have been nuclear but even McCann would admit it wasn’t that flashpoint alone that led to him being relieved of his duties this week. With just one win to their name, Dundee have simply had too many off days and hard-luck stories.
If the timing of the manager’s departure — ten days after the Killie game — was somewhat surprising, the dismal form line pointed towards a change at the helm sooner or later.
‘It’s never nice to see someone lose their job,’ Kerr reflected. ‘But we all know these things happen in football and you have to deal with it.
‘The playing staff don’t know what goes on with the board. We just have to get on with our jobs. We came back after a couple of days off for the internationals and were getting ready to go again this weekend.
‘We didn’t get any inclination that something was going to happen.
‘I know it sounds a cliché but we have to make sure we get things right in the next few games. You’re a footballer not just for your ability — it’s because you’re thick-skinned and can deal with these situations.’
After the gamble that was McCann, McIntyre does feel like the right person at the right time.
Vastly experienced from his time at Dunfermline, Queen of the south and Ross County, he brings a track record of success and a proven ability to ensure the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
‘The boys are saying he’ll be a good boss to work under,’ Kerr said.
‘His Ross County teams had some good results against us. I think he got top six with them and he obviously won a cup.
‘I’m looking forward to working under him and hopefully he can help us get up the table.
‘He had a quick chat with us on our first morning of training with him. He said he thinks we’ve got a good bunch here and that we’ll have to work hard to get out of the position we’re in.
‘That will mean everybody pulling in the same direction as a group. All the boys are behind him.’
Livingston away these days is no one’s idea of a fun day out. organised, hungry and brimming with confidence, gary Holt’s side are unbeaten there on league duty thus far and can extend the gap on the Dark Blues to 15 points with a win.
‘All credit to them,’ Kerr added. ‘They’ve been great since they came up. They’ve maybe not been the prettiest to watch but they have a strong core of players who work hard for each other and they’ve got results.
‘We know how hard it will be. It’s a massive game on a sticky pitch.’