I should have got a second chance

DUNDEE AXE ATTACK

JIM McINTYRE insists he wasn’t given enough time to turn things around at Dundee.

McIntyre was axed on Sunday after seven months at the helm – but says he was led to believe he’d still be in charge next season.

Record Sport understands the decision to sack McIntyre was made because seasonticket sales had been hit by the club’s relegation from the Premiership.

But he believes American owner Tim Keyes and managing director John Nelms should have given him more than one transfer window to make his mark.

The former Dunfermline and Ross County gaffer said: “I’m gutted about the way this has all panned out.

“It’s a sore one to take. It had been intimated to me I would still be at the club next year. John then phoned me on Sunday to tell me that was not the case.

“He told me the club had decided to make a change at managerial level after discussions in America.

“I just feel seven months and one transfer window is BY ANTHONY HAGGERTY not nearly long enough to make your mark as a manager. I assume full responsibility for what happened as it’s culminated in the club being relegated.

“I thought I’d get the chance to take Dundee straight back up to the Premiership. I am just disappointed I wasn’t given the opportunity to try.”

Despite losing 11 of the last 12 games at Dundee, McIntyre has a tremendous track record of managing clubs in the Championship having won the title with Dunfermline in 2010-11.

He also took Queen of the South to the play-offs in 2015 before bowing out to Rangers. And three years ago McIntyre was Scottish Football Writers Manager of the Year after leading Ross County to League Cup glory and sixth in the Premiership.

It’s hard to see why that record did not at least tick a box for Keyes and Nelms.

McIntyre’s cause wasn’t helped by being prevented from bringing in Billy Dodds who had been his assistant in Dumfries and Dingwall.

Some fans didn’t want Dodds back after a bitter end to his spell as Gordon Chisholm’s No.2 in 2011, when he voted against a creditors’ deal that rescued the club from administration.

But McIntyre added: “I needed one more window at least to try to bring in the necessary changes.

“We just weren’t consistent enough and results were nowhere near good enough.That is what ultimately let us down.”