Paul Hartley Saddened By Mark Mcghee’s Motherwell Exit

McGhee was sacked three days after Motherwell shipped five first-half goals against the Dark Blues.

Motherwell are outside the Ladbrokes Premiership relegation places and have barely been in them all season but McGhee was offered little leeway after an inexperienced defence was exposed by Hartley’s side so soon after his team conceded seven goals at Aberdeen.

Hartley had his own difficult spell after losing main attacking threats Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart early in the season, and his side were bottom after Partick Thistle inflicted a sixth straight defeat in October.

But they go into Wednesday’s visit of Thistle in sixth place and Hartley is thankful he had a supportive board.

On McGhee’s sacking, Hartley said: “I just think it’s modern-day football. It’s all results-based and I think it’s disappointing.

“We have been in the situation Mark and Motherwell were in, we had a bad start to the season, we were down near the bottom.

“Managers now are definitely under pressure game by game. Mark has an excellent CV, but it’s just the way football clubs work now.

“We’re under difficult circumstances, we are under pressure all the time from everyone. It’s all about results, trying to get some wins and hopefully you can keep people off your back.

“It’s not just the bottom half, there are managers under pressure in the top half. It’s been a different manager every month since the start of the season that has felt the strain.

“It’s hard being a manager: what we have to work under, the amount of pressure we are under to produce results, the financial constraints that we work under. Sometimes it’s impossible, but all we can do is try and put squads together and try and win football matches.”

Hartley, who led Dundee to promotion and then the top six, never feared he would get the sack himself.

“Not really, I was always confident in my ability,” the 40-year-old said. “I work under a good board, I think that’s a key thing. If you have key people working with you, you have their support and your backing.

“We always knew we could turn it, we know we have enough quality in the squad. I think having a good board and a strong board is important.”

The signing of Marcus Haber in late October helped Dundee get off the bottom of the table and the recent arrival of his strike partner, Henrik Ojamaa, has allowed Hartley to revert to a 4-4-2 from a three-man central defence.

Dundee have had four offensive midfielders in James Vincent, Paul McGowan, Craig Wighton and Mark O’Hara in the recent wins over Rangers and Motherwell and their opponents have struggled to cope with their attacking play.

“I have always been a manager that has put teams out that want to win football games, that are really attack-minded and play some excellent football and been on the front foot and score goals and try to entertain,” Hartley said.

“Now we have found a system where it can help us and the players are enjoying it.”

However, with the pressure never far away, complacency is unlikely to creep in at Dens Park, even when they are 5-1 up at half-time.

“I wasn’t pinching myself,” Hartley said. “I was a little bit disappointed with the goal we lost. We told the players we weren’t happy with some things.

“I know going in at 5-1, people say you must be happy. I wasn’t, and we had to have a little go at the players to make sure that they kept a level of concentration.

“I don’t think you can ever be happy but the players knew at half-time that they had to manage the game in the second half.”