The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
McPake delighted with his new arrivals
Patience pays off for boss as he looks for new faces
Dundee boss James McPake admits he is pleased his patience has paid off as he overhauled the Dens squad with a big summer recruitment campaign.
Kane Hemmings became the latest addition on Thursday with the striker, who enjoyed a prolific first spell with the Dark Blues in 2015-16, signing a threeyear deal at the club.
The frontman goes straight into McPake’s squad for this afternoon’s home match against Ayr United with Dundee looking to build on last week’s draw with Dunfermline at East End Park.
However, while delighted with his business so far, the manager admitted he continues to be keen on further additions.
McPake said: “I still think we are a little bit short.
“But I can now say we have got the ones in that we really wanted.
“That’s not to say there still aren’t any out there that we don’t want.
“I think the approach has been good. It has been long but I can sit here and say that I certainly would not have been able to bring Kane Hemmings here if I had rushed into it.
“It has been hard because when you are a young manager you can be tempted looking at someone who can score you goals but you can end up second guessing yourself.
“So you go back to (assistant) Jimmy Nicholl and (coach) Dave Mackay, the board, whoever it is and say, ‘No, we were right to take a step back and see what develops’.
“But with this one (Hemmings) we knew when we got a chance we would go for it.
“Overall, I have been happy with the way we have done it.
“I am happy with the recruitment but we need to get it right on the pitch.”
McPake is certainly hoping his players can do just that against the Honest Men.
Ian McCall’s side were expected to struggle last season after coming up from League 1 but instead they were competing at the top of the Championship throughout before eventually losing out in the promotion play-offs to Inverness.
Much of their success was built on striker Lawrence Shankland and his 34 goals in the campaign.
Dundee United signed him in the summer but Ayr took up from where they left off last season by beating Morton 4-2 last week with four different scorers.
And McPake is wary of the threat they possess with many of their team still having memories of beating Dundee in the Betfred Cup at the same venue this time last year.
He said: “Ayr have good players in that team who know the league.
“I saw them in a bounce game earlier this summer and I was really impressed.
“They have brought some good signings in.
“They are good and they will be up there or thereabouts again this year because they get results.
“You saw that last Saturday and for me they get those results playing in a really positive way. So it is a tough game.
“They obviously lost a guy who got them goals but they have replaced him.
“Kris Doolan has come in and Michael Moffat is still there.
“They have two very good strikers plus they are getting goals all over the pitch so it is a dangerous one for us.”
Meanwhile, Ayr will travel to Dens buoyed by their opening day win over Morton but former Dundee player McCall knows his team could be in for a difficult afternoon.
He said: “Every game in the Championship is going to be tough and
winning last weekend sets us up really nicely for the game at Dens Park.
“We know however that it will be a huge challenge to win there. Dundee are a big, big club as I know from playing for them, but we will not sit in and let them have the run of things. We will have a go,” added McCall.
“They played well in the second half at Dunfermline in their opening game and they have also added a good player in Kane Hemmings this week.
“We are huge underdogs, but we do not mind that.”
● It is understood that Andrew Davies and Craig Curran have asked to leave Dundee.
Both were signed by former boss Jim McIntyre but now see their future’s elsewhere with the club now trying to come to a settlement with the players over the remainders of their contracts. nrobertson@thecourier.co.uk