Dundee could be set to appoint Mark McGhee as the club’s new manager following James McPake’s sacking yesterday – but you don’t need to be a fortune-teller to see it looks like a massive mis-step from the Dens Park side.
According to reports, McGhee could be confirmed as McPake’s replacement today with Gordon Strachan leading the search for a new boss.
The close relationship between Strachan and McGhee is likely a big part of why he is the man that Dundee appear to have opted for but it just screams ‘jobs for the boys’.
Since leaving Motherwell almost five years ago, McGhee has since rocked up at Barnet before a spell as caretaker at Eastbourne Borough and a stint as assistant manager at Stockport County.
While Strachan may feel McGhee is a safe pair of hands as Dundee look to avoid the drop, there’s nothing that the former Scotland boss has achieved in years that suggests he is the right appointment for Dundee.
Suggestions that McGhee would only be in charge until the summer just scream short-termism and getting a new boss in long-term would allow them to start building something that isn’t just going to get ripped up at the end of the season.
There are plenty of young managers who – while still a gamble – would be a better hire than McGhee and have every bit as good a chance as saving the Dee from the drop.
McGhee’s arrival also raises another potential problem for Dundee.
When he left Motherwell in 2017, McGhee was due to seve a six-game ban for “aggressive behaviour” towards a match official.
That was never served as it wasn’t transferred across to the English FA so he could well find himself stuck in the stands for around half of the games he’s going to be in charge of.
Maybe there’s something we don’t know that Strachan does – but hiring McGhee just seems like a huge mis-step for Dundee as they look to retain their Premiership status.
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