Former Dundee chairman Stuart Murphy has questioned the credentials of the man chosen to manage the club on an interim basis as well as the process that led to John Brown being awarded the post.
His appointment has been greeted with disbelief by many Dark Blues supporters, who point to the fact he was fired from his only other previous managerial post at Clyde.
Brown was a popular player at Dens in the 1980s but Murphy has also questioned what he terms a “perception” problem regarding someone so closely linked with Rangers, another club he starred for.
Brown even attempted to lead a fans’ revolt against the Charles Green takeover of the Glasgow club last year and was infamously seen addressing supporters on the steps of Ibrox.
Murphy admitted he was baffled why the Dundee chief executive Scot Gardiner and the board of directors would opt to appoint Brown to replace the sacked Barry Smith.
He said: “My reaction has been similar to much of the fanbase one of heartfelt disappointment. We lost our manager and we were led to believe there was a plethora of applicants of sufficient quality.
“Yet the man who was appointed and no disrespect to him; when he was a player here some of my best memories watching Dundee involve John Brown and he was a fantastic servant for the club his managerial CV and his coaching CV do not befit a club of our standing.
“I want the manager to succeed. I do not wish him ill but the quality of the decision-making and the process used is not clear. I am just not sure about a managerial CV from a guy who failed in his only other managerial post.”
Murphy continued: “Perception also comes into this as well. He has pinned his colours to the mast in terms of an affinity with another football club. That shouldn’t really come into it if you are professional.
“It is a very transient sport, with people moving from job to job and I can accept that. But when someone is quite as vociferous about what he said about his allegiances and that Celtic and Rangers are all that really seems to matter in terms of Scottish football…I am just not sure it needed to be done and in the way it was done. Hopefully, I will be proved wrong in the fullness of time.”
For more from Murphy, and further coverage from Dens, see Tuesday’s Courier or try our new digital edition.