Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
McPake: I’ll take hit for Dee form
MANAGER James McPake is happy to “take the hit” for Dundee’s poor first half of the season but insists the club can still achieve their aim of promotion.
The Dark Blues trail league leaders Dundee United by 17 points and second-placed Inverness Caley Thistle by seven.
With 20 matches remaining in the Championship, however, James is confident he can turn the club’s form around and head back up the table i nto the play-off spots.
He said: “My aim hasn’t changed and neither has the club’s.
“We want to get back to the Premiership.
“We’ve not had a great month but we’re still in a position where we can challenge to get where we want to be.
“The staff are hurting as much as us.
“We’re all looking for ways to make the club better.
“Ultimately you are judged by the product of your first team and I’ll take the hit for that because we haven’t been good enough.”
The Dens gaffer revealed his regular conversations with managing director John Nelms haven’t changed either, despite the team’s poor form.
He added: “The conversations with me and John haven’t changed.
“We chat almost daily. They’re harder when you’re losing games compared with when you’re winning them but that’s the same for every manager in world football.
“It’s not been plain sailing. “We’ve got a good squad and we’re one of the bigger clubs in the l eague – that’s common knowledge.
“But there’s a reason it’s been tough for teams to bounce straight back – Hearts are the exception and their circumstances were different with their points deduction, that gave them time to plan ahead for the division.
“Some big clubs have taken more than one season to get out of this league – Rangers were one of them.
“The fact that it is tough doesn’t buy you time, though.
“We know we haven’t reached the standards this football club demands.
“We’ve not underestimated the league or the challenge but not getting to those levels has been the disappointing thing.”