Dundee v partick thistle

Dundee boss Paul Hartley admits the pressure on managers to secure instant success and results in the Premiership has never been greater.

The Dens gaffer was speaking yesterday shortly after Motherwell parted company with manager Mark McGhee.

The Fir Park boss paid the price for a poor run of results that culminated in the 5-1 home hammering on Saturday dished out by the Dark Blues.

Hartley himself suffered a slump earlier this season when his side went 10 games without a win and at one point they were propping up the Premiership table.

However, the Dundee boss insisted he never feared for his job because of the good board of directors at the club.

When asked what he thought of the McGhee sacking, Hartley said: “I think it is disappointing.

“Nowadays, managers are under so much pressure. A couple of bad results and it seems like you might lose your job. We were in that position about October time when we were bottom of the league.

“So I have been there when there haven’t been good results.

“It is somebody different every other month.”

Motherwell fans protested both during and after the Dundee game calling for McGhee to go and Hartley said: “I don’t think it was nice. We saw that on Saturday. If you look at Mark’s CV overall, it is really good.

“I know it is only a minority (protesting) but it is not nice. I don’t think there was any need for that. People want results instantly. You don’t get a lot of time as a manager.

“I think it is part and parcel of being in the job now. Probably nine managers have had that pressure this season of people calling for their heads or whatever.

“There is pressure to win games of football but especially in the Premiership it is so tight. It is all about the next result but if you can string a few together, it does give you a bit of breathing space.

“You need a good board to help you also and thankfully I have that here – a board that understands. Even when we were having bad results, there was never any pressure from them.

“There might have been pressure from other quarters but I never felt it. That’s not to say that we are out of the woods yet, I don’t mean that. But I think you need to have a strong board behind you.

“We were out of the top flight for a long spell but we have been back in it the last three years so it is important that we establish ourselves in the top flight forever, to be honest with you. That’s not easy with the bottom team going down and a play-off place, the pressure is much greater than it was.”

Dundee’s win over Motherwell was their second victory in a row and they are currently sitting sixth in the table.

However, Hartley insisted there is still work to be done before they can discount being dragged back into the relegation dogfight and he will be looking for his players to make it three wins in a row when they play Partick tonight.

When asked if he was still looking over his shoulder, Hartley said: “I think you have to. There is not a lot in it between sixth and 12th. We have had a couple of good results and are in a good position but we still have to look behind us and say that we need some results.

“The players have come in with such a good feeling after the last two weeks but we can’t step off it.

“We have a break after the Partick game so it’s important that we go into it on the back of another good result. However, Thistle are our closest challengers for sixth. They are in good form and Alan (Archibald) has done an excellent job there.

“We want to be in the top six after the split but we still have a lot of tough games coming up.”

Hartley has a full squad to choose from with Mark O’Hara having recovered from an ankle problem he picked up at Motherwell.

Meanwhile, Dundee midfielder Jesse Curran has gone out on loan to East Fife until the end of the season.

Paul Hartley has sympathy for sacked Mark McGhee, left.