Sacked Dundee boss Tony Docherty shouldn’t have been “judged for overachieving”, insists Dens Park legend Barry Smith.
The Dark Blues fired Docherty on Monday morning, less than 24 hours after securing Premiership safety with a win at St Johnstone.
A difficult second season saw them finish in 10th place, just one spot above the relegation zone.
That was after Docherty led Dundee to the club’s second top-six finish in the past 20 years.
The decision shocked Smith, a former manager at Dens Park and the man third on the club’s all-time appearance list.
He said: “I think everybody was quite surprised.
“You don’t know the expectation that was set initially this season.
“Last season they finished in the top six, probably overachieved, and I don’t think you should be judged for overachieving, if that’s what they set the target at this season.
“It is a bit of a surprise. They are still in the league, it’s the first time they’ve been three years in a row in the Premiership for a while.
“In that sense, they have done their job.
“Should they be higher up the league? Probably they would expect to be a wee bit higher but they conceded too many goals.
“But by the same token they are still in the league and they can still build on that for next season.”
‘There has to be realism’
He added: “I think there has got to be realism to it. I don’t know what the budgets are and what the budgets are for the other teams.
“I guarantee it is not the same as Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts. So to get into the top six is a massive achievement.
“I don’t think you should consider saying ‘we want to stay in the league’. Ultimately you set off with that target and then you look to get as high as you can from there.
“I don’t think you should be judged on that first season. The second season is always more difficult when you’ve been promoted.
“Given what Aberdeen and Hibs did this season, it shows Dundee are where they should be at this present time.
“But if you have stability then you are able to build on it. Changing a manager after two years makes it more difficult.
“The new manager might be starting from block one again rather than building on what you’ve already got.”
‘Easy solve’
Smith joined two other former Dundee players in Tam McManus and Scott Allan on PLZ’s The Footballer’s Football Show.
Allan spent six months at Dens Park under Neil McCann’s management and pointed to the loss of Luke McCowan as a mitigating factor for Docherty.
“I was (shocked). I think at a club like Dundee you want that continuity,” he said.
“Like Barry says, they overachieved last season. They lost Luke McCowan, a captain and a player who was the real focal point of the Dundee team.
“I think looking at them in terms of performance, they always looked like they would score goals. It was plain to see they were conceding goals but, for me, that would have been an easy solve come this summer.
“Tony Docherty would have known what he needed to build this team going into next season so for me it was a huge surprise.”
‘Yo-yo club’
McManus spent 18 months with Dundee after signing in January 2005, endearing himself to the support with a derby goal at Dundee United.
He added: “When you go in and do as well as Tony did in the first season, they have been a bit of a yo-yo club over the past 15, 20 years.
“I played with them in the Premier League and then the Championship. They had more than a few seasons in the Championship then back up and back down straight away.
“I just think when you finish top six in the first season, that bar, the supporters think we should be top six this season.
“They got a wee bit of a bounce from coming up from the Championship, a winning mentality coming up and I felt this season was going to be much more difficult.
“I was shocked at it but the Dundee owners pay the bills and make the decisions.
“It will be interesting to see where they go next.”
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