Dundee manager James McPake has blasted Inverness saying Dark Blues staff were “mismanaged” in the lead-up to their 2-2 draw in the Highlands.
A late Jordan McGhee strike earned Dundee a point after Caley Thistle had overturned Liam Fontaine’s opener with two goals in three minutes from Robbie Deas and James Keatings.
However, McPake was angered by the treatment of Dark Blues general manager Jim Thomson, who he was reportedly forced to wait outside the stadium for over an hour, while the Dens Park club were also denied permission to video the contest.
McPake said: “I wasn’t pleased with the build-up to the game. I’d say we were mismanaged (by Inverness).
“Our general manager of 30 years – the third-highest in command of our club – had to stand outside the stadium from half-past 12 to quarter to two before he could get in.
“He’s there to check our dressing-room is fit for purpose and everything is alright because we are in a pandemic.
We had staff members who weren’t treated in the way I believe they should have been.
“We also weren’t allowed to film the game which isn’t right.
“We’re in a situation in Scottish football where I believe we should be helping each other out.
“This is my opinion, it’s not the opinion of the club.
“There’s no rule to say you can’t film games, we do it for our own purpose so we can show the players on Monday morning what worked and what didn’t, like every team in the wold does.
“What annoyed me about that is we asked Hearts if we could film, absolutely no problem at all. Alloa was no problem, even though the game was on TV.
“Clubs are helping other clubs out but I didn’t feel we got that on Saturday.
“That’s disappointing and not the way as a club we’d do things. When it affects my staff I’ll come out fighting for them.”
Saturday was the first meeting between the two clubs since the infamous vote that ended the 2019/20 season and the recriminations that followed.
A May statement from Inverness CEO Scot Gardiner – former chief executive at Dundee – and chairman Ross Morrison took aim at the SPFL and Dens managing director John Nelms over his voting U-turn.
Nelms, meanwhile, had spoken of “bad blood” throughout the league after Gardiner read out a private WhatsApp conversation between clubs on live radio.
‘Bizarre comment’
Gardiner, speaking to the Press & Journal, expressed his surprise over McPake’s criticism.
He said: “I spoke to Jim (Thomson) personally before the match and after the match and he said everything was great.
“There were no problems at all.
“Jim was in with us at half-time in the boardroom and had a cup of tea and sandwich. He never mentioned anything and everything was fine.
“It seems a bizarre comment for James McPake to make in the circumstances.”