The last thing that Dundee need just now is a wrangle over bonuses eating away at dressing room harmony.
The subject becoming public when you’ve just lost another game isn’t great either.
The issue and the timing of the news being leaked out are two different things.
As far as the substance of it is concerned, my main feeling is that it should have been sorted out long ago.
It appears the issue is over win bonuses.
Because Dundee have come up a division, there would have been more to sort out than would have been the case for teams staying in the same league.
There’s no doubt that at Scottish football level, win bonuses are a huge thing for players.
We’re not talking about Jim McLean days when a win would be worth a lot more than your weekly wage.
But for young players they could be the difference between affording a deposit on a flat or not.
It’s part of your earnings and, for those at the lower end of the wage scale, a significant part.
Poor timing
Like I said, the timing isn’t great.
Everybody knows that Dundee are struggling at the moment.
And by all accounts – and from what James McPake has said – the team were really poor at McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
There will be opposition fans who joke that the players don’t need to worry about win bonuses and there will be Dundee fans who think it’s wrong that this should come out now.
But one thing that shouldn’t be forgotten is that the majority of that squad agreed wage cuts when Covid was causing huge financial issues for Dundee and Scottish football as a whole.
These aren’t mercenaries who could retire on their earnings.
Like I said, in an ideal world this would all have been boxed off before a ball was kicked.
If there’s one good thing to come out of it going public, it should speed things up to get it sorted before it becomes an even bigger issue.
The Aberdeen match is going to be huge for both clubs.
As much as James was really unhappy with his team’s performance in Perth, at least he’ll have it fixed in his mind that they are better with a back four.
And he’ll probably also be clearer about his best bet up front.
Cillian Sheridan made an impact off the bench and that 45-minute run-out could be really important in terms of boosting his match sharpness before Aberdeen come to Dens next Saturday.
It would be a big shock if he didn’t start.
Scotland v Israel in front of a sold-out Hampden will be a special occasion.
There was a slow start to the World Cup qualifiers but I think most of us would have taken the scenario of winning this game to be strong favourites for second place when the group started.
đź’Ş A good session in the sun at @OriamScotland.
All eyes on Saturday.#SCOISR pic.twitter.com/fiSjdZ9qhQ
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) October 6, 2021
I know that Israel have caused us problems in the past – and both teams will be sick of the sight of each other – but I’m backing Steve Clarke to build on the fantastic win in Austria and put a team on the pitch that gets the job done.
