Dark Blues boss plans to remain aggressive

DUNDEE: McCann learning from mistakes, but will not change his approach to management

Neil McCann will not change his “aggressive” approach to management.

But the Dundee boss will learn from mistakes he has made over the course of the season.

McCann believes he will be a better manager at the start of the next campaign than he was at the start of the one just finished.

“I learned an enormous amount in my five games (as interim manager) last year,” he said.

“That probably helped me going into the post-split fixtures this time around because we weren’t too far removed from the position of the season before. We were very different in terms of the squad and how the team were functioning, though.

“You have to self-analyse. I’ve made mistakes as a young manager. I think that’s normal.

“But if you’re learning from those, it will put you in a better position for the next season.”

McCann added: “I’m a rookie manager. It was probably a surprise to a lot of people when I came in last season.

“I managed to secure the club’s position in the league.”

“I had higher targets for my team this year. I’m bullish like that,”added McCann.

“I wasn’t disrespectful to the league but I’m aggressive in my approach.

“I’m disappointed in the league position but I’ve learned so much.

“I can’t change who I am and I won’t change but I’ve learned from spending one game in the stand that it’s not a good place to be.”

There was a lot of pessimism about Dundee’s survival chances as the Premiership split approached but it actually proved to be a seasondefining time for positive reasons.

“I’ve learned a lot about my squad,” said the manager. “A lot of people looked at our three games before the split and thought ‘they’ll get nothing from that’.

“We had Hearts, Celtic and Rangers in succession. We came away with two draws.

“I think the fans probably thought after that ‘what an effort’. “There was huge pressure. “We went into that Hamilton game knowing that if we lost it would be total role reversal.

“We knew what the implications of defeat would be but we were brave and together. That’s good for a manager to see.

“That will help next season 100%.”

Neil McCann says he had “higher targets for my team this year”.