The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Dens return not crazy – McCann
DUNDEE: New boss insists taking on Dark Blues role is ‘great opportunity’
Another dramatic week in Dundee Football Club’s history finally came to a close last night with Neil McCann being formally unveiled as the Dark Blues boss for a second time.
After a successful stint as interim manager that secured Premiership safety it looked certain at the start of this week that he would be returning to his role as a Sky Sports pundit.
Instead, he performed a dramatic U-turn on Thursday night and accepted the Dens post on a permanent basis.
McCann has now spoken about his reasons for doing so and insist he is not “off his head” for deciding to move into management.
Meanwhile, Dundee managing director John Nelms maintains the club fully adhered to SPFL rules throughout the search for a new Dens Park boss.
Neil McCann candidly admits there will be people thinking he is “off his head” after swapping Sky Sports security for one of the most precarious jobs there is – that of football manager.
The 42-year-old stunned the Scottish game on Thursday night when it was announced he was the new permanent boss of Dundee.
Just three days before, the club had issued a statement saying that after a successful stint as interim boss, he was returning to his full-time job as a Sky Sports pundit.
However, following a dramatic change of heart, McCann has now left the comfort of the TV studio sofa to take over in the Dens hot-seat.
He insists though, that having made the life-changing decision, he is 100% committed to becoming a success as Dundee boss
McCann said: “I just came to a decision it was too good an opportunity to turn down, it really was.
“It is a precarious position being a football manager. I’ve no doubts about that but I’ve no fears of that.
“If you go into something with a bit of fear, you can get consumed by it. It’s one of the quotes that I stuck up on the wall: ‘The biggest barrier to success is the fear of failure’.
“If you have that, somebody will sniff it out. You will not go into it full-hearted.
“Yes, with the security of Sky, people say I must be off my head. I’m not off my head. This is a great opportunity and Sky have been brilliant with me.
“I understand that people might think I’ve taken a crazy decision to step away from that. I’ve not. I worked hard at that. You can easily fall flat on your face on live television.
“I’m coming into this (football management) with the focus and drive that I want to be successful.”
He added: “I’ve had conversations with my Sky bosses and they’ve been great. Not to over egg it but they were so supportive for me to come out of the contract to go into the job in the first place and they’ve been that way again.
“I think they understand when they’re recruiting their pundits we are proper football guys, we’re passionate about the game and they absolutely knew that once I came into this and got a taste for it I might want more. “That’s how it’s turned out. “I go with their blessings and I go into a new job, a big challenge ahead but I honestly can’t wait to get started.”
During his five games in charge as interim boss, McCann’s mantra was constant that he would be returning to Sky at the end of his stint at Dens.
However, the lure of taking over as Dark Blues boss ultimately proved too strong to resist.
He said: “I was always intending to go back to Sky and I think that’s been pretty constant.
“That’s why the statement went out and I was fully committed to going and continuing my career in broadcasting because it’s a very good job, it’s a brilliant job and you know the club could have taken a different route.
“But I always felt as though they made me feel I was number one in their mind and John (managing director Nelms) said that to me.
“The decision has been a really difficult one but my goodness, it was two good choices and I’ve spoken to various people who said you’ve not really got a bad choice to make and they are right.
“This is a very attractive job and I’d be pretty ignorant person if I thought I was the only guy that had been spoken to.
“I’m pretty sure there would have been a long list of quality names wanting this job but the dialogue was always there.
“John always knew, even though I said I had to go back to Sky, there might have been a wee thing at the back of my mind that I could change and come and be the Dundee manager. “That’s how it turned out.” Nelms meanwhile insists he acted completely above board during the club’s search for a new manager and at no point was St Mirren boss Jack Ross offered the job.
Dundee had been strongly linked with Ross – the Buddies rejected an official approach – after McCann initially turned down the post.
It was then widely reported that Nelms had flown to Spain to meet the St Mirren manager before McCann performed a dramatic U-turn on Thursday and agreed to become the new boss.
The Dens chief is delighted he has finally got his man and he insists he adhered at all times to the SPFL rules which state: “No club shall either directly or indirectly induce or attempt to induce any manager, coach, trainer or other person involved in the training or management of the team of another club or a club in membership of the Scottish FA to breach a written contract of employment.”
When asked if he had gone to Spain, Nelms said: “I went to Europe and I spoke to candidates and agents in regards to players that we are looking at as targets.
“The rules state that you can’t try to entice someone out of a job. I would never do anything like that. We always stay well above board. I talked to the SPFL before I talked to anyone to make sure I was fine and in the rules.
“The rule states you can’t entice someone out of a job. So if you don’t offer people jobs, if you just want to know what their situations are, you can certainly have those conversations. We are not trying to entice anyone out of a job.
“We do everything above board. We made the proper phone calls, the proper inquiries through the SPFL, to make sure we were not stepping over any lines.
“I spoke to the SPFL about four days before I went to Europe. And they said it was above board? For all candidates, yes. Who did I speak with? I’m not going to talk about my business dealings. I never do that.”
When asked if Ross had been offered the Dundee manager’s job, Nelms replied: “No. Neil McCann is the only person who has been offered the job.”
The managing director admitted that now McCann has finally accepted the post permanently, he has no worries about his change of heart earlier this week.
Nelms added: “When you are making a life decision it takes time to think it through and come to a big decision.
“We had 164 applications, which is fantastic. It’s a sought-after job. We were getting down to the point where we needed to make a decision. Being prudent for the organisation, I was interviewing the entire time.
“Jack was certainly on our radar but there were five or six others on the shortlist too. But it’s in Neil’s blood. He wants to be a football manager. If that wasn’t with us it would be with another club not too far in the near future.” stscott@thecourier.co.uk