John Nelms reveals James McPake's Dundee manager fate was sealed BEFORE rousing Hearts win

Dundee managing director John Nelms admits former boss James McPake 's fate was sealed before a morale-boosting win against Hearts at Tynecastle in February.

The 37-year-old was relieved of his duties after successive wins against the Jambos and Peterhead in the Scottish Cup.

McPake's exit hasn't led to an upturn in results with successor Mark McGhee winless in seven matches since taking the reins at Dens Park.

They have slipped to bottom place and are four points adrift of St Johnstone with seven leagues matches remaining.

And Nelms has now admitted the decision to part with McPake was in the works before Dundee 's famous victory in Gorgie.

Speaking to the Courier, he said: “Normally, if we were going to make a change we’d wait for an international break, make a change and give the new manager time with the squad.

“We don’t look at anything in a very short, narrow timeframe.

“We beat a team that was ninth in League One and we beat Hearts but the decision had already been made prior to that.

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“It was unbelievably difficult to make the change. James is like a son to us, we invested in him and we didn’t go through our usual change protocols."

“We went through the window to give him the best