Dundee boss Jim McIntyre believes he is the right man to bring the Dark Blues back up to the Premiership at the first time of asking.
Furious home fans at Dens on Saturday left the manager in no doubt about their thoughts on his future, singing, “You’re getting sacked in the morning” and “10 in a row, you’ve got to go” in reference to the run of defeats suffered by the club that ultimately consigned them to the drop.
McIntyre, while admitting he accepts responsibility for the club being relegated, is determined to be at Dens next season.
However, his criticism of his own recruitment policy and that of his predecessor Neil McCann sparked a furious response from the former Rangers and Scotland winger who blasted: “Don’t throw mud backwards”.
When asked about the fans venting their anger, McIntyre said: “Rightly so. I totally understand it. They have just watched their team get relegated and we have not offered enough to win the game.
“I don’t know any support that would be clapping us off the park. It’s not been good enough and me being at the helm, I take full responsibility.
“They are obviously hurting big time and so are we. It’s hurt like this that we have got to try and use to bounce back up at the first time of asking.
“I’m absolutely determined to do that. It’s my responsibility and it’s my responsibility to get the club back up. Unless I’m told otherwise, that’s exactly what I will be planning.”
McIntyre admitted that the big personnel changes he made in the January window had fallen short of expectations.
He said: “I felt I had to change it in the January window and I still stand by that, because I felt there wasn’t enough in the dressing-room to get us out of the situation.
“The ones I brought in haven’t done the job. I’ve not done the job. It was my choice but it had to be done, and we have just not had the consistency levels to get a bit of momentum.”
Speaking to the BBC, McIntyre added: “Any manager’s biggest job is recruitment. Mine hasn’t been good enough, previous managers’ haven’t been good enough. The results prove that.”
An angry McCann responded saying: “I don’t have a relegation on my CV.
“Jim didn’t want my players, including (Glen) Kamara (who was sold to Rangers), that’s up to him if he wants to recruit his players. But don’t then start to throw mud backwards and saying about the previous recruitment.
“There’s no doubt in my mind we would have been absolutely fine this season.
“Some of my budget was taken up by Paul Hartley’s signings but I don’t then start throwing rubbish at Paul and his signings. We all make our own signings.”
