Dundee captain Darren O’Dea “fully believed” Neil McCann would be the club’s manager next season.
But the experienced defender does not believe two poor end of season defeats made the interim boss do a U-turn.
O’Dea has spoken to his now former boss and is convinced that loyalty to Sky Sports, as opposed to the harsh realities of the Inverness Caley Thistle and Hamilton Accies games, was at the root of his decision to walk away from Dens Park.
The former Celtic man admitted that the news has come as a huge disappointment, though.
“I’m surprised,” he said. “The way he went about his business, he certainly wasn’t half-hearted and did everything to the best of his abilities. I fully believed he would be in charge next season and I’m really disappointed.
“He was fantastic for us and got us out of a position where we had suffered seven defeats on the bounce. We had lost a very good manager in Paul Hartley and things didn’t look good – but Neil did great.
“I really thought he would stay on but I completely understand and respect his decision. All we can really do is thank him. I’ve spoken to him on the phone and I thanked him for doing a fantastic job.
“He does things at 100 miles per hour, he was never going to do a half-job and he went beyond the things he needed to do. That is probably the reason I thought he would stay on.”
O’Dea added: “He wants to be a manager. He will be a manager. His reasons are solely because of his agreements with Sky and his loyalty – that is a testament to the man, he is very loyal.
“I don’t think the two results we had at the end of the season affected his decision at all.”
