The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
McCann needs time to lift Dee from darkness
Premiership: St Johnstone rival Wright knows margins are fine
Dundee manager Neil McCann will be desperate to avoid playing Premiership catch-up according to St Johnstone rival Tommy Wright.
The Perth manager takes his team to Dens Park on Saturday with their Tayside neighbours still seeking a first win of the Premiership campaign.
Wright believes the rebuilding job McCann has taken on needs time to be seen through but knows the former television pundit will be determined to get a derby win to make the here and now look a lot more positive.
Wright said: “Neil will be finding it tough but he will have expected manage- ment to be tough. He will certainly know now how difficult it is.
“But I have no doubt he will be working extremely hard to turn things around.
“Dundee certainly have ability in their squad, they have good players, and he will need them to perform to a consistent level because that’s what you need to pick up points in this league.
“I spoke to Neil quite a few times when he was with Sky because he used to come in for a chat and his assistant Graham Gartland was still at St Johnstone when I joined. So I know them both. Neil has had to bring in a lot of new players over the summer.
“After the season they had last year he thought what they had wasn’t good enough so has tried to change that.
“It takes time when you are bringing in new players in numbers.”
Wright believes Caley Thistle paid the price for their poor start as they ended up being relegated to the Championship and knows McCann will be keen to avoid a repeat.
He said: “They will be looking to get back to winning as soon as possible because they don’t want too big a gap opening up.
“You saw last season with Inverness how difficult it is to play catch-up so Neil will be desperate to avoid getting into that situation.
“When you are chasing teams in front of you it makes for a very difficult season.
“We all go through bad spells as managers. I have had five and six-game losing or winless runs, Alan Archibald has had them, Jim McIntyre has had them at Ross County.
“It happens in this league because the margins are so tight between so many clubs.”
The illness which forced Murray Davidson off at half time on Saturday kept the midfielder out of training yesterday.
And Wright was sticking to his post-match opinion that Davidson shouldn’t have put his hand up to play against Hibs in the first place.
He said: “Murray is still sick. It’s good to see players desperate to play when they are not 100% but ultimately it was the wrong decision.
“Hopefully he will come back and be ready.”