‘I was too intense and couldn’t switch off. For too long my life was about Dundee FC. It’s only now, seeing pictures, I realise I didn’t look myself. If I get back in I will have a better balance’
McPAKE BEARS THE SCARS OF HIS DENS DEPARTURE BUT INSISTS HE TAKES PRIDE IN WHAT HE ACHIEVED
HAVING spent the full of his tenure as Dundee manager under varying degrees of pressure, James McPake always suspected his time would come. Yet when the fatal moment finally arrived, he admits to being left numb with shock.
Had he been sacked following his team’s 5-0 thumping at home to Ross County last October he would have been far better prepared and even warned his wife Dawn that such a damaging result might well mark the end of his first job in management.
Having survived that harrowing evening — and bounced back with a restorative win at St Mirren watched in person by his eventual replacement Mark McGhee — the 37-year-old scarcely expected to be let go after back-to-back wins that saw his team beat Hearts at Tynecastle and then earn a place in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals.
Instead of preparing the team for today’s last-eight encounter with Rangers at Dens Park, McPake will be offering analysis on what is now McGhee’s team as they take on the Ibrox side.
Speaking for the first time since his sudden dismissal last month, he admits the episode left him numb and embarrassed.
He had taken training as normal on the morning of Wednesday, February 16 and his guard was down as he walked into what he presumed was a routine meeting with managing director John
Nelms. ‘I didn’t have any inkling,’ admits McPake. ‘It was a sit-down with John who told me they were going in a different direction.
‘We shook hands and I walked out. I was genuinely shocked. I had eight years at the club, so I was devastated.
‘I asked them not to announce it before I’d spoken to my wife, my mum and brother Michael.
‘I spoke to Dave (Mackay) and the coaching staff, got my office cleared and jumped in the car to go and see Dawn and the kids.
‘I was numb, I couldn’t get my head around what had happened. I just wanted to get down the road. It was horrible.’
McPake’s association with Dundee began in 2014 when he was signed by Paul Hartley following his release from relegated Hibs.
A combative and brave centreback, injuries had been an occupational hazard throughout his career, and knee-ligament damage sustained in a Dundee derby would ultimately end his playing days but also fast-track his move into coaching with the club’s Under-18s.
His leadership skills transferred easily from pitch to touchline. Possessed with a rare blend of hardness and empathy, McPake managed much as he captained by demanding a lot, yet offering plenty of encouragement in return.
And, at just 34, he was trusted by Dundee’s owners Nelms and Tim Keyes to replace Jim McIntyre, whose short-lived reign had led to the club’s relegation from the Premiership in 2019.
Throughout his tenure, McPake felt largely supported by the club’s American owners and had been given the backing to recruit the likes of Niall McGinn and Zak Rudden in the January window.
Little wonder he was stunned to be removed just as he saw an upturn in results.
He continues: ‘Let’s be honest, we’d had worse results than the two before I got sacked.
‘When you think something is coming you prepare for it. After we’d lost 5-0 to Ross County, I’ll be honest — I told Dawn, this could be a bad one.
‘Had it happened then, I’m not sure if I’d have had an issue with it. I could maybe have seen it coming. I knew we needed a result away to St Mirren.’
A Max Anderson goal secured a valuable 1-0 win for Dundee on the day and eased the pressure on McPake until he was eventually replaced by McGhee last month.
After accepting the job, McGhee revealed he had been in attendance in Paisley, saying: ‘Gordon (Strachan) knew there weren’t many of the Dundee directors going to St Mirren, so he said: “Come on, we’ll go and give him (McPake) a bit of moral support’.’
‘All the support I needed came from my family, staff and players,’ insists McPake. ‘I fully believed I had that from them.
‘People will draw their own conclusions. Do I have an opinion? Yes, but do I lose sleep over it? No.
‘Mark McGhee took the job and I hope Dundee stay in the division.’
Despite his surprise at the suddenness of his departure from Dens — and Strachan’s influence on McGhee’s appointment — McPake says he remains on good terms with the former Celtic and Scotland boss.
He adds: ‘Any time I spoke to Gordon, he was great. He gave advice to me, Dave and my coaching staff whenever we needed it.
‘I’ve spoken to him and he and Lesley (Strachan’s wife) have been great with me and Dawn.’
McGhee’s friendship with Strachan (right) may have helped secure the job, yet the timing of his arrival remains strange given that he had long been out of work and was not apparently in demand elsewhere.
Had Dundee acted with speed to ensure they could appoint, say Jack Ross, before he landed alternative employment, then the ruthlessness of their decision might be better understood.
McPake has no insight into the board’s thought process but has firm views on where the team stood at the vital moment.
‘I fully believed that we were going in the right direction,’ says McPake. ‘We were getting players back and had brought in Zak Rudden, who I’d tried to sign for two years.
‘Listen, the club has the right to make that call and some people might agree with it.
‘But the Hearts result was our best of the season. Outwith Celtic and Rangers we — sorry, Dundee — are the only team to have won at Tynecastle this season.
‘At Peterhead, all we had to do was win the game. The TV cameras were there because they wanted a shock.
‘We made sure that didn’t happen. We weren’t great on the night but we won 3-0 so it was job done.
‘This is only the club’s second Scottish Cup quarter-final in 10 years.’ While McPake would ultimately love to be in the dressing-room and not behind a microphone this afternoon, he has felt the benefit of removing himself from the fray these past few weeks.
Chatting during some downtime on a family break
to the Archerfield golf resort in East Lothian, he looks relaxed and happier.
And he reveals a conversation with a Mail on Sunday columnist helped him overcome the gloom that descended during the aftermath of his sacking.
‘I was embarrassed to go out the door, bump into people and know they would ask me about what happened.
‘But I had a great conversation with Derek McInnes, who said: “Get yourself out be proud of what you’ve done”.
‘Many other managers have phoned too. Yogi (John Hughes), Malky Mackay, Callum Davidson, Jack Ross, Chris Coleman. I’m not name-dropping — it’s relevant to what I’m saying.
‘I’ve always felt pressure and that’s great because that’s a sign of how much it means.
‘What can’t be said about myself and the staff is that we didn’t work hard enough.
‘But when you get beaten, you don’t sleep. And the job was 24/7. I was too intense and couldn’t switch off.
‘It’s only now, reflecting on it and seeing certain pictures I realise I didn’t look myself.
‘I have needed knee surgery for a while, so I’m going to get that sorted. I need to make this about me for now because for too long my full life was about Dundee Football Club. I feel a wee bit guilty about that. I could be up there four nights a week and Dawn was having to deal with the three kids single-handedly.
‘These last couple of weeks I have realised I have a life outside of football.
‘If I get back in, I will have a better balance and I will be a better manager for it.’
McPake’s first full season in the job was abbreviated by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
While Dundee’s role in the decision to terminate the Scottish football season will forever be associated with that ‘missing e-mail’ on the deadline day for club votes, it’s forgotten that the ballot ultimately cost Dundee the chance of promotion through the play-offs.
That, ultimately, was the successful route followed last season. Runners-up to Hearts in the Championship, Dundee came on strong to beat Kilmarnock convincingly in the play-off final.
He feels his record stands up to scrutiny, saying: ‘We had a target to get the club out of the Championship. We achieved that.
‘Let’s not beat about the bush — the aim this season was to stay in the division.
‘I believe we would have stayed up. The players will have their opinion of me but my job was to pick a team to win games.
‘I had to leave the likes of Charlie Adam, Paul McGowan and Leigh Griffiths out of the team.
‘Charlie is one of the biggest names in Scottish football and I left him out of live TV games. Did he come in raging? No, he took it the way a proper professional does and he got back in the team.
‘You don’t go to Tynecastle and win if you’re not together as a group.’
Next month, McPake will undergo surgery on that irksome knee and, after a couple of months of rehab he will be ready to start thinking about his next move.
He says: ‘I’m 37 and I’ve got 100 games under my belt (as a manager). I feel a sense of pride of having that many games at that age, winning a promotion at the first realistic chance and being named Championship Manager of the Year. But the thing that makes me proudest is seeing kids like Max Anderson and Finlay Robertson develop.
‘I want to get back in. No matter where I go, I will try to do the same because we need to produce young Scottish players.’
The same might be said of the game’s need for smart young managers.