This is football’s equivalent of a pay-day loan

HAD Theresa May barked out the announcement from that lectern on Downing Street, it could hardly have seemed more surreal. Neil McCann, Sky Sports analyst, is the new interim manager of Dundee. With five games to avoid the Russian Roulette of a relegation play-off and a £500,000 hit to their budget, the Dens Park board panicked. People can just about get to grips with the sacking of Paul Hartley. At some point, most managerial reigns reach the point of no return. The moment when a board of directors could place the speaking clock or Jeremy Corbyn in charge and have a reasonable expectation of better results. Ronny Deila got there with Celtic. Mark Warburton likewise at Rangers. The minute Hartley confessed to running out of ideas after seven straight defeats, the Dundee board could have handed over the black bin bag there and then. The game was effectively up. The hope now is obvious. That a new face, a new message, will spark a reaction. A managerial bounce rarely lasts. The novelty eventually wears off. But it’s not a long-term impact the Dundee board need. It’s the footballing equivalent of a pay-day loan. Something to get them to the end of May and keep the sharks from the door. For that reason, most people expected an old bruiser. A gnarled individual with tattoos on his knuckles and a baseball bat for a No 2. Ideal candidates were hardly leaping out the woodwork. But Jocky Scott, a wily veteran of many a Dens Park crisis, might have taken the call. Jimmy Calderwood, a seasoned Red Adair at Kilmarnock and Ross County, certainly would. Dull? Probably. Unimaginative? Yes. But if the definition of progressive, logical thinking is sacking Hartley and appointing a coach with no experience of managing a club of any description, let alone a side locked in a relegation dog-fight, life as a dinosaur has much to commend it. McCann is a bright, sharp and intelligent guy. Does he have what it takes to craft a glittering future as a Premiership manager? Maybe. But nobody knows one way or the other. If this works out — and we all wish him well — it’s a masterstroke. But, if it doesn’t, the Dundee board will stand accused of a leap of faith. And there’s no soft landing in the SPFL Championship.