Decisions at top led to relegation for Dark Blues

DUNDEE failures have been many this season.

Far too many for an increasingly disillusioned support base.

This summer will be a critical juncture in the stewardship of the club by Tim Keyes and John Nelms.

They have already moved to change the way things work as Gordon Strachan takes a much more influential role in first-team matters (see p29).

Who the head coach might be, we don’t yet know.

Dees have made abundantly clear, from the very moment the announcement was made in February, they don’t want Mark McGhee as manager.

The decision for who is in charge next season, though, will be made soon.

At a time like this, when relegation has been confirmed, the club must look back over the season and identify what went wrong.

You can point at recruitment and managers but there is one very obvious place to start.

On February 16 the Dundee hierarchy shocked Scottish football by sacking James McPake on the back of two victories.

The team was 11th and the January transfer window had not gone well.

When teams are at threat of relegation, they bring in a new manager. It happens, sadly for that profession it tends to work fairly often.

Dundee’s move, however, torpedoed their own season.

The decision by managing director John Nelms, advised by Strachan, could not have been made at a worse time.

It took 13 matches before victory came as the Dark Blues dropped to the foot of the table and were knocked out of the Scottish Cup with ease by Rangers.

The point of bringing in a new coach is to get that “new manager bounce”. Instead Dundee’s season burst like a cheap fly-away beach ball at the seaside.

The display in a 4-0 home loss to Livingston was a clear example of how mismanagement from board level can impact what happens on the pitch.

Just two league matches after toppling Hearts on their own patch, Dundee were ripped apart by Livingston at Dens Park in an insipid, heartless display.