Rather understandably, no one has asked Jim McIntyre if he’s a fan of the hit BBC show DIY SOS.
Perhaps we should, because if he leads Dundee to safety this season he might just be able to lay claim to being the Scottish Premiership’s version of its presenter Nick Knowles.
For those lucky enough to watch only football on the box, it’s the one where Knowles and a team of tradesmen step in to help families or groups with building projects they don’t have the knowhow or resources to complete on their own. To add to the drama, it’s done as a race against the clock.
And McIntyre is gaining a growing reputation for doing the same with top-flight clubs here.
Four-and-a-bit years ago he arrived at Ross County with the Highland outfit seemingly already doomed to relegation.
By the end of that season he hadn’t just kept the Staggies up, he’d rebuilt them into a squad that would go on and win silverware in the shape of the 2016 League Cup.
After the Dark Blues’ weekend win at Livingston got them out of the bottom two for the first time since the end of August, thanks to goals from new handy men Andrew Nelson and Scott Wright, there are strong signs he can do the same at Dens Park.
McIntyre’s reign as Dundee boss started in October when he received an SOS from owner Tim Keyes and managing director John Nelms.
After a miserable start to the campaign, the Americans’ dream of cementing their team as a force in the Premiership and, eventually, taking the club to a new stadium looked in danger of crumbling around them.
Confirmation of just how dire the need for an emergency rebuild came in his first game in charge when the roof fell in during a 4-0 defeat at Livi. It showed how flimsy the foundations of the team were as they collapsed under the weight of the home team’s excellence at set-pieces.
Almost exactly four months on and after that second visit to the Tony Macaroni Arena under the new boss, the structure looks much more sound.
And it’s all thanks to the kind of speedy reconstruction he undertook at County and of which Knowles and his team would be proud. For the team that ran out against Livi at the weekend bore no resemblance to the one McIntyre had to work with when he first headed there.
Not one of the players in the starting XI in October were on from the start this time and of the 13 who were involved on that first day, 10 have left the club.
Only Kenny Miller, Cammy Kerr and Elliott Parish remain and, of those three, veteran Miller was the sole participant in the vital 2-1 victory.
For McIntyre, to bring about almost a complete change in such a short space of time has been a gamble, one that will only be confirmed as paying off if his team are still in the Premiership come the end of the season.
It’s one, though, that represents his best chance of success and it is very much a case of so far so good.
While Dundee under him remain a work in progress, the signs of improvement have been there for all to see.
Since the end of the winter break there have been two wins, two draws and just one defeat in five league outings.
By some margin that’s been the best run of form in the top flight so far this term.
If it continues there is every reason to believe that target of building a team good enough for this level by the end of the season will have been achieved.
And if that is the case, fans will be hoping given more time, the manager will be able to set about putting together something even more impressive for next season and beyond.
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