Dundee managing director John Nelms insists he acted completely above board during the club’s search for a new manager and at no point was St Mirren boss Jack Ross offered the job.
Earlier this week, Neil McCann ruled himself out of the running to take the post on a permanent basis following a successful spell as interim manager that had secured the Dark Blues’ Premiership safety.
Following that announcement, Dundee were strongly linked with Ross with the Buddies rejecting an official approach.
It was then widely reported that Nelms had flown to Spain to meet the St Mirren manager before McCann performed a dramatic U-turn on Thursday and agreed to become the new Dundee boss.
The Dens chief is delighted he has finally got his man and he insists he adhered at all times to the SPFL rules which state: “No club shall either directly or indirectly induce or attempt to induce any manager, coach, trainer or other person involved in the training or management of the team of another club or a club in membership of the Scottish FA to breach a written contract of employment.”
When asked if he had gone to Spain, Nelms said: “I went to Europe and I spoke to candidates and agents in regards to players that we are looking at as targets.
“The rules state that you can’t try to entice someone out of a job. I would never do anything like that. We always stay well above board.
“I talked to the SPFL before I talked to anyone to make sure I was fine and in the rules.
“The rule states you can’t entice someone out of a job. So if you don’t offer people jobs, if you just want to know what their situations are you can certainly have those conversations. We are not trying to entice anyone out of a job.
“We do everything above board. We made the proper phone calls, the proper inquiries through the SPFL to make sure we were not stepping over any lines.
“I spoke to the SPFL about four days before I went to Europe. And they said it was above board? For all candidates, yes. Who did I speak with? I’m not going to talk about my business dealings. I never do that.”
When asked if Ross had been offered the Dundee manager’s job, Nelms replied: “No. Neil McCann is the only person who has been offered the job.”
The managing director admitted that now McCann has finally accepted the post permanently, he has no worries about his change of heart earlier this week.
Nelms added: “When you are making a life decision it takes time to think it through and come to a big decision.
“We had 164 applications, which is fantastic. It’s a sought-after job. We were getting down to the point where we needed to make a decision. Being prudent for the organisation, I was interviewing the entire time.
“Jack was certainly on our radar but there were five or six others on the shortlist too.
“But it’s in Neil’s blood. He wants to be a football manager. If that wasn’t with us it would be with another club not too far in the near future. It was clear that in some point in time he was going to be a football manager.
“There are several things that are involved and he had to take time to make a proper decision.”
