Dundee boss John Brown has thrown down the gauntlet to his players telling them to shape up or risk being shipped out in next month’s transfer window.
The manager held talks with club CEO Scot Gardiner, director of football operations John Nelms as well as “scout” Archie Knox to discuss possible signing targets.
Afterwards, Brown revealed that the club have budgeted for up to three or four new recruits to be brought in if the present squad do not show they are capable of performing at a consistently-high level.
The Dark Blues lost last weekend to the part-timers of Cowdenbeath and the manager admitted the result and display were simply not acceptable. Now, he is looking for a big response from his players at Alloa tomorrow to show they are capable of handling the Championship favourites’ tag, otherwise that could signal the need for changes next month.
Brown said: “This was a planned meeting but things have been heightened by what happened at the weekend. In the last couple of months since Archie came in, we have had one eye on the January window and whether we needed to strengthen.
“John Nelms and Scot Gardiner held a board meeting and they have cleared the way for us to add to the squad come January.
“My challenge to the present players now is to go and show me that Saturday was a one-off. There have been two or three poor results this season but it was the manner of the defeat against Cowdenbeath.
“If I do not get a reaction from the players at the Alloa game, then there will be changes in January. So I am throwing the gauntlet down to the present players to go and show me that while we all make mistakes, we learn from them.
“We had a great opportunity while sitting top to stretch our lead and I have said that to the players.
“That tells me something about their mentality, that they are not used to being in that position and handling it. If they can’t deal with that, then we have to get players who will.
“It is crucial that Dundee get into the Premiership this season as next season, there is a possibility the Championship will have Rangers, Hearts and Dunfermline in there and it will be a lot tougher.
“So every Championship team is desperate to get out of the division this year and one of the reasons for the meeting was to flag up names we might bring in to strengthen in January.
“So I have thrown it down to the players in the dressing-room now that they have to start producing consistently or else we will need to deal with that.
“The players have to realise their jobs are at risk. It will be them or me. If I don’t have a successful season with the team going up, then it will be my head on the chopping block.”