Neil McCann has turned down the chance to become the permanent Dundee manager.
After steering the Dark Blues to Premiership safety as interim boss, McCann has taken his time to mull over whether to stay at Dens Park for next season or return to his Sky Sports pundit role.
Courier Sport understands that discussions between the former Dundee, Hearts, Rangers and Scotland winger continued through the weekend, at the end of which McCann opted for TV work over the Dens Park dugout.
With over a week having passed since the end of the season, Dundee will now have to find a new manager.
A squad rebuild is going to be required for McCann’s successor given the fact that it was a narrow escape from relegation.
A Dundee statement read: “Dundee Football Club can today confirm that Neil McCann has left the club after fulfilling his role as Interim Manager.
“Neil returned to Dens on April 18th with a clear objective to steer the club clear of relegation with five matches of the 2016/17 season remaining.
“As a man who already had a number of historic moments with the club, including a Hall of Fame induction, Neil quickly got to grips with what was required and got down to business.
“After impressing around the club in his first week, he led the team to Fir Park and left with all three points after a 3-2 victory. It was a great start which was made better the following week when back to back wins were secured with a 1-0 win at Kilmarnock.
“His first outing at Dens saw the team battle back from 1-0 down against Ross County. A point was gained and it would be enough to secure the clubs Premiership status.
“Since Neil returned to the club the process for finding our next permanent manager began. Extensive discussions have taken place over the past few weeks, and the process continues this week.
“Sky very kindly allowed Neil to step away from his contract to answer the call for the past 5 weeks. We are grateful to them and also to Neil for his hard work over the period.
“We would like to wish Neil all the best for the future.”
Managing Director John Nelms said: “On behalf of the entire Dundee Football Club family I’d like to thank Neil for his interim spell in charge. He came in and did the job we asked him to do. The club once again owes Neil a debt of gratitude. Neil is certainly a credit to Dundee Football Club and Scottish football as a whole.”
McCann said: “I’d like to thank everyone at Dundee FC for their hard work in the time I was manager there. It was an honour to become manager of the club where my playing career started and finished and I’m very proud I was able to succeed in keeping them in the Scottish Premiership. I wish them great success in the future.”
