Dundee boss James McPake insists the row over player bonuses at Dens Park will have no effect on his players’ performances against Aberdeen on Saturday.
The story broke last week of an ongoing disagreement between the playing squad and managing director John Nelms.
Club captain Charlie Adam and Nelms have been in talks since the summer but the two sides are yet to shake hands on the levels of win bonuses for this season.
McPake captained both the Dark Blues and Hibs during his playing days and revealed it was often the case in his experience that these negotiations would rumble on into the season.
And therefore won’t have a negative impact on the pitch.
McPake said: “I don’t know if it has been fully resolved but I have been involved in these as captain of clubs.
“This has happened at every single club I have been at and it will continue to happen.
“What I can say about the players is that I haven’t seen any poor reactions or bad feeling about the place.
“As a player I was always the one who was chapping the door trying to get it done. I am glad I don’t have to do that now.
“But the bonus will have nothing to do with what happens on Saturday performance-wise.
“It’s had nothing to do with how they have performed in training because they have been excellent.
“It will be fixed but as I said, I have been there myself as a player and it is not going to affect the way the lads approach Saturday’s game.
“It has not affected any other game this season.”
‘Dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s’
The Dens boss points to the club’s previous history in looking after their players and is confident everything will be sorted shortly.
McPake added: “They will know roughly what will be resolved and what they will get.
“It is dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. It is at that stage. You know there are ball-park figures at every club.
“So it is not an unwanted or unwelcome distraction – it is not even a distraction as far as I am concerned.
“Yes, as a captain you always wanted it done before the first game of the season but it never did as far as I can remember in Scotland.
“It seemed to be different in England for some reason.
“It is a negotiation thing and that’s where your senior players come to the fore. The club have always been fair here and it will get sorted.
“It is not a distraction – they just want to win football games.
“Everybody has different motivations but I would put the bonus at the bottom of that.
“I don’t think they knew what the bonus was going into the play-offs and it didn’t hamper us then.”