McIntyre confident he can lead Dundee back into Ladbrokes Premiership

Jim McIntyre backed himself to repeat his second-tier success with Dundee as he awaits the outcome of the club’s annual review.

Managing director John Nelms is expected back in Scotland on Saturday after flying out to discuss the causes and consequences of Dundee’s relegation with Texas-based majority shareholder Tim Keyes.

McIntyre has not spoken to Keyes and has been preparing for Saturday’s visit to Livingston as well as looking ahead to next season in the Ladbrokes Championship.

A number of fans called for his sacking after a home defeat by Hamilton consigned their team to bottom spot last Saturday.

While McIntyre knows he would face a long road to winning them over, he believes his experience can help.

The former Queen of the South manager, who led Ross County to League Cup success in 2016, said: “You have got to back yourself and in my managerial career so far I have had success at every club I have been at. 

“This is the first real low point in terms of not managing to get the job done. But I have won the Championship before with Dunfermline and it’s a league I know, and I would back myself every day of the week to be allowed to continue on and try and get the job done.”

The 46-year-old added: “The supporters are upset, they are angry and I totally understand that. That goes with the position of being the manager of the football club. I take that on the chin and try and bounce back. It’s as simple as that.

“It’s natural that there’s speculation and John has been in America this week for his annual meeting.

“He goes every year at this time to discuss how everything went, not just at Dundee, obviously they have a lot of other business interests and things they need to speak about. He will be back this week and we will sit down and chat.”

Dundee equalled a 120-year-old club record of 10 consecutive defeats last weekend and McIntyre is determined to stop the rot at Livingston while looking ahead to next season.

“We want to win the game first and foremost, we have got professional pride we are playing for now,” he said. “That’s what’s left for us. And we want to break the run we are on as well.

“But there will be a couple of young lads (involved) like Callum Moore and Max Anderson who have signed new contracts.”

Meanwhile, McIntyre played down talk of a disagreement with Neil McCann, who criticised his successor for making claims that his player recruitment had not been good enough and argued “we would have been absolutely fine” if he had stayed in his job.

“You know, football is about opinions, it really is,” McIntyre said. “Neil is entitled to his opinion about the players he coached and I respect that opinion.

“I have my own thoughts having worked with that group for three months. I have not got any beef with Neil whatsoever, I have always got on well with him, but the game is about opinions and it’s not about me having a go at him or his response back to me.

“The bottom line is the squad hasn’t been good enough and that’s something I need to take on the chin. I chose to make the changes and the changes that I made didn’t quite work out, albeit you are working in a very difficult window in January.”