The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Mcghee: Dee must build on positive performance
Jordan Mcghee was proud of his Dundee team-mates for their response to the sacking of manager James Mcpake at Celtic Park.
Now, though, he’s made clear more than positive performances are needed, the Dark Blues require points to get out of relegation trouble.
Mcghee and his teammates have been working to make sure that starts against Livingston today under new management team Mark Mcghee and Simon Rusk.
The game will be their home bow after kicking off their tenure with a 3-2 defeat at Parkhead.
Mcghee said: “Obviously the news broke, but no one had seen it coming.
“We rallied round and once the new management team came in, they tried to get their ideas across.
“So to then go to Parkhead and play one of the best teams in the league and put on a good performance – albeit we were beaten – I was proud of the boys.
“There were also three academy boys in the team as well in Josh Mulligan, Max Anderson and Cammy Kerr.
“To dig deep and to come away from Parkhead disappointed doesn’t happen very often, so I was proud of the team and the club for that to be honest. It was a difficult time with the old gaffer losing his job.
“He was someone who brought me to the club and I can’t thank him enough for that. I have massive respect for him.
“But we have a new management team in now and it is going well. I think you saw a positive performance at Parkhead on Sunday so hopefully we can build on that today.”
The turnaround in managers was quick for the Dark Blues.
Mark Mcghee was only installed as boss at Dens Park on February 17, but Jordan Mcghee reveals there has been a lift from the players already.
With a new manager to impress, players are
working hard to get on the team-sheet.
The defender-cummidfielder, though, says it is early yet to see what impact there might be on the pitch.
He said: “It is hard to tell as it is still early doors, but so far it has been good and there has been a bounce in training.
“All the boys are working hard and it is a fresh start for everyone, so we all get a wee lift. We only had a couple of days to work on our game plan at Celtic, which I thought worked well.
“We now have to work on one for Livingston and hopefully we can implement that to pick up three points.”
It is only a few weeks since Dundee last faced Livingston – losing 2-0 in West Lothian with a poor display.
Mcghee is keen to make amends for that night and
points to the previous meeting at Dens Park where the Dark Blues dominated, but were held to a 0-0 draw.
“We have had poor results this season, but we have shown when the chips are down – like we did last year towards the end of the campaign – we can pull together and get results,” the 25-year-old added.
“And that’s what we need to start to do now. Hopefully we can put on a show and more importantly pick up three points.
“We have to roll the sleeves up and hopefully a wee bit of quality will win the game for us.
“The last time we played them was a poor result and performance from us, especially being the first game after the break – it was a tough one to take.
“Hopefully we can make amends for that.
“We played them at the start of the season and,
although we drew 0-0, we probably should have won the game.
“If we can replicate that performance, hopefully this time we can pick up the three points.”
Boss Mark Mcghee hopes he can get off on the right foot on his Dens Park bow.
“I’m under no illusions, when you go to any club, you have to win the loyalty of the fans,” he said.
I’m aware of that. All I’m asking is that they give us the benefit of the doubt.
“I’m a professional football manager and I’ve had other jobs, but that doesn’t mean I can’t come to Dundee and give all I’ve got. I have plenty to give. People have to give me a little slack.
“My record says I deserve the opportunity to do this job, but I also have to prove I’m worthy of the job. Hopefully we can get a result against Livingston that helps us up the league
and endears us in some way to the supporters.”
Mcghee was pleased with the way bottom-ofthe-table Dundee performed at Celtic Park, but believes he will learn a lot more about them from how they handle the visit of a spirited Livingston team.
“This game will be a bigger indicator of how the players have responded to us than last Sunday’s game at Celtic,” he said.
“We had a good performance at Celtic, but we (Mcghee and his assistant Simon Rusk) didn’t have a big amount to do with that.
“The players were already in a groove after beating Hearts and Peterhead and they took that into the Celtic game.
“We added little bits and people have been complimentary about how we looked against Celtic, which is great, but this is a totally different game.”