Former Eastbourne Borough manager appointed as new Dundee boss

Dundee have appointed Mark McGhee as their new manager on a contract until the end of the season.

The 64-year-old, who has previously had spells in charge of cinch Premiership clubs Aberdeen and Motherwell, succeeds James McPake, who was sacked on Wednesday with the team a point off the bottom of the table.

McGhee will be assisted by Simon Rusk, with whom he worked at previous club Stockport County, and Dave Mackay, who was already in situ at the club.

After the dismissal of McPake, which came on the back of two successive victories, the club stated that they wished to appoint a successor with “additional experience” to try to ensure they avoided relegation.

In that regard they have been true to their word, as McGhee has been involved in management for more than three decades since becoming Reading boss in 1991.

The former Scotland and Aberdeen striker has also had spells in charge of Wolves, Millwall, Leicester, Brighton, Bristol Rovers and Barnet, while he also had a four-year stint as Scotland assistant between 2013 and 2017 under Gordon Strachan, Dundee’s current technical director.

The move to appoint McGhee at such a critical phase in the season has come as a surprise to many due to his lack of recent top-level involvement in the game. His two most recent roles were as caretaker manager at Eastbourne Borough and as assistant at Stockport in the National League.

McGhee’s first job will be to prepare the team for Sunday’s Premiership visit to leaders Celtic, where they lost 6-0 earlier in the season.