Sacking shocked Niall McGinn but Dundee winger looks forward under Mark McGhee

Dundee winger Niall McGinn admits he was surprised and disappointed to find out about the sacking of James McPake.

Recent Dundee signing McGinn discovered the news on Wednesday on television having scored his first goal for the club 48 hours earlier in a 3-0 Scottish Cup win at Peterhead.

Dundee had also beaten Hearts in their previous match and the timing of the decision to dispense with McPake’s services did not make sense to a lot of fans.

McGinn has only lost once in five matches since joining Dundee from Aberdeen and McPake’s departure came out of the blue to him too.

The 34-year-old said: “If I’m being honest, I was surprised. We had training and I was up the road in Aberdeen for the night and I found out the news on Sky Sports News, which was a big shock to me, coming off the back of two good results.

“But I have been round the game long enough to know how football works and how quickly things can change.

“I was disappointed. Obviously I have just come to the club and started to build a relationship with James, and obviously that’s all been taken away.

“But I have been round long enough to know the game and here we are with a new manager and we just have to get on with things.”

The swift appointment of Mark McGhee as replacement was equally surprising considering the 64-year-old’s career in top-level management appeared to be over – but McGinn is looking at the positives of working under a new manager.

“I always find it’s exciting to work under new managers and just for them to bring across new ideas and see how they see the game as well,” the Northern Ireland international said.

“The thing for me is you are here to play football and that’s the priority for me, just to knuckle down, work hard and play as much