Dundee manager Mark McGhee planning for new season for ‘ambitious club’ | Football News

Dundee manager Mark McGhee admits he is already planning for next season and hopes to still be in charge of what he sees as an “ambitious club”.

The former Scotland assistant boss replaced James McPake in February after he was sacked despite winning his last two games.

The short-term appointment marked McGhee’s return to the Scottish top flight five years after he left Motherwell, reuniting him with the club’s technical director Gordon Strachan, after the pair worked together in the national set-up.

Dundee are yet to win a Scottish Premiership match under McGhee and have fallen six points adrift at the bottom of the table with six games remaining.

But McGhee insists he is still planning to be in charge after the summer, no matter what division they are playing in.

“The first day I got here I warned them they weren’t going to win many games, they hadn’t won many games,” he told Sky Sports News.

“Those [defeats] aren’t bumps in the road, those are inevitable outcomes so that doesn’t bother me.

“What I have found is a club that is ambitious, people behind the scenes that are ambitious looking at a new stadium and all that would bring.

“We’ve got a youth policy developing that is going to produce players, we’ve already got three or four in the squad. I think regardless of what happens this season there are exciting times ahead for Dundee.”

While the 64-year-old insists Dundee can still get out of trouble, he admits plans are being made for another season in the top flight, but also if they find themselves dropping straight back down to the Scottish Championship.

“We’ve had conversations with John Nelms about what needs to be done and what we can do,” he added.

“You can’t stand still because you won’t have much time at the end of the season wherever you are to get things in place for the following season.

“One of the things we do have here is a lot of the current squad under contract, so next year, without players leaving, the likelihood is the squad is going to be pretty much the same because they’re all contracted for at least another season.

“There is going to be opportunity to bring in two or three and depending which division you’re in it’ll be two or three at this level or two or three at a slightly less level.

“So they can still do a lot of planning behind the scenes in the circumstances we’re in.”

Dundee make the short trip to Tannadice Park on Saturday to face city rivals Dundee United, who are in a strong position to claim a place in the top six in the final round of fixtures before the split.

“If we win on Saturday then are relegated then it’s irrelevant, it means nothing,” said McGhee.

“If we win and we stay up then we’ll look back and say what an amazing result on a pressure day.”