Mcpake fails to see funny side of Jason ‘The Joker’
Grim-faced Dundee boss James Mcpake has hit out at Jason Cummings, branding his behaviour as completely unacceptable.
The Dark Blues were down to the bare bones for the game against Hearts at Dens with several players missing because of injury and suspension.
Despite that, Cummings was also left out of the squad for disciplinary reasons after appearing on stage as “The Joker” at an event held in the Hydro in Glasgow on Thursday night.
Mcpake insisted the former Hibs and Rangers striker was unfit to train on Friday and was sent home with his future at Dens now in doubt.
The manager said: “He will be away from the club until Monday and then we’ll deal with it internally. He was unfit to train.
“It’s something I’m not going to go into, but there’s enough social media that I can’t deny it either.
“People will make up their own minds as to why he’s not involved today, but it’s not down to injury or Covid.
“Do I have to hold my hands up? Possibly, I signed Jason.
“On the whole for what he’s done – he helped us get promoted and did an OK job – but what he did on Thursday is completely unacceptable.
“He was unfit to train on Friday so do I regret my decision? No.
“He never asked me to go to the event and would I have allowed him to go? I didn’t get the chance to answer that.
“I probably wouldn’t have because of where we are, but I didn’t get the courtesy of that – so there’s the first breach.
“Then he wasn’t anywhere near enough fit to train on Friday morning.
“I was made aware of it at 7am on Friday morning, I didn’t see it on social media.”
The Dark Blues boss’s disappointment with Cummings was heightened by the fact that he had players willing to play through the pain barrier against Hearts.
Mcpake added: “We are fighting, and people like Alex Jakubiak are telling me they’re not ready but he’s willing to play.
“We had 11 players and they all gave everything.”
The defeat was Dundee’s fourth in a row with Mcpake admitting the manner of the Hearts goal summed up how the Dark Blues’ luck is going at the moment.
He said: “We put a lot into the game so it was a sore one. They gave everything and we had some good bits of play.
“It was the typical kind of goal we are losing at the minute. Liam Fontaine does the right thing but it rolls across the line to Jamie Walker.”