Neil McCann condemns Frank De Boer sacking as he aims to get things right at Dundee

Dundee manager Neil McCann says the only pressure he feels is the duty to improve his squad of players.

The Tayside club sit bottom of the Premiership with one point from five matches but McCann is not panicking about results.

The former Sky Sports pundit has swapped that role for a demanding environment, which was highlighted this week when his former Rangers team-mate, Frank de Boer, lost his job after only four Premier League matches as Crystal Palace boss.

Dundee will be far more patient and McCann is focusing on the process after putting a team together in the summer.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's Dens Park derby against St Johnstone, McCann said: “Plenty of my friends and family have asked why I'm doing it but I do it because I love football and I love coaching, and I'm absolutely loving management.

“It's very time-consuming but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I don't enjoy the bad results, I hate them with a passion. I hate when we make mistakes because it's something we are working on. But I understand the job now.

“For what it's worth I think it was a disgraceful decision to sack Frank de Boer after four games. But equally I understand the pitfalls of management. Sometimes you don't get time.

“Arguably the greatest manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, went through a real bad time at Man United and was given time to come out the other side and look what happened there. But I know football isn't like that now.

“But it's up to me to come in here and forget about results and pressure and just do my job, which is coaching.

“I don't feel the pressure of the job in terms of results, I feel the pressure and the responsibility of making the guys better and making sure they still know that I trust them, and making sure they are continuing to do what I want them to do.''

The 43-year-old admitted he would “batter'' his methods into the players so his way of playing became second nature.

McCann added: “Part of my job is to take the fear away from the players. I will deal with that and I will deal with the stick and the fans saying 'that's not good enough'. They can't have the fear not to play on a Saturday.

“I ask the Dundee fans, do they want to come and watch their team going under or playing 10 men behind the ball and smashing it up to a striker and trying to get out? It's not good football to watch.

“I want the Dundee fans to come here and watch us and say, 'They are moving together, yes they make mistakes, but my goodness they are working together as a team and are going up trying to score goals and defending as a team'.'