New Dundee manager Mark McGhee is determined to prove the doubters wrong at Dens Park.

McGhee was handed a deal to the end of the season during a dramatic 24 hours on Tayside.

James McPake was sacked on Wednesday after leading Dundee to victory at Tynecastle and a 3-0 win at Peterhead in the Scottish Cup last 16 in the previous seven days.

Dundee had only lost once in six matches and McPake had been given the final weeks of the transfer window to turn their fortunes around despite a six-match losing run beforehand.

The appointment of McGhee on Thursday eclipsed the surprise element of the timing of McPake’s departure.

The 64-year-old’s previous management job was a caretaker stint at Eastbourne Borough in 2019 and a long and varied career as a boss looked to have ended.

The former Aberdeen and Motherwell boss admitted his friendship with Dundee’s technical director, Gordon Strachan, had helped him and was not naive enough to expect his appointment to be universally popular with Dundee support.

But he added: “I keep wanting to prove myself. I keep wanting to prove people right, I keep wanting to prove people wrong.

“The day I stop feeling like that is the day I stop doing it. I’m up for the challenge of proving I can do this. That is my motivation.

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When pressed on his recent absence from management, McGhee, who was Stockport assistant for a spell last season, said: “I have not applied for any jobs, I have been doing bits and pieces of other stuff. But I realise I’m not a businessman, I’m a football manager.”