Jim McIntyre: Dundee give new manager top-eight target
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John Nelms says Jim McIntyre was the best manager available who met Dundee's criteria
New Dundee manager Jim McIntyre will have to lead his side to a top-eight finish in his first season to satisfy managing director John Nelms.
McIntyre took Ross County from bottom to ninth after taking charge in Dingwall in September 2014.
But Nelms says repeating that feat with Dundee will not be viewed as success for 46-year-old McIntyre, who has replaced Neil McCann.
"Seventh or eighth is where we'd like to be," Nelms told BBC Scotland.
"We're not far off it as we speak. We are lucky in that respect. But his ultimate goal would be top six - fifth or sixth is where we'd like to be, if not even higher."
'Best qualified based on our criteria'
Dundee turned to McIntyre a day after dismissing McCann following a failed attempt to bring in former Hearts manager Jim Jefferies as his assistant.
Nelms said they had wanted to give McCann "the best opportunity" to succeed but have had a succession strategy in place ever since Paul Hartley came close to leaving for Cardiff City in 2015.
"We didn't have a very good plan at that point and it was quite scary that we weren't prepared and we've been prepared ever since," he said.
"We have a shortlist - which is actually quite a long list - of managers that are available or that could be available and meet our criteria at that point in time.
"When we went to make the change, we knew where we wanted to go. We've modified our criteria ever so slightly and, in this case, Jim was at the top of the list."
McIntyre, who previously managed Dunfermline Athletic and Queen of the South, led County to the Scottish League Cup in 2016, during his three years in charge.
Although he was sacked in September 2017 with his side 10th in the Premiership, Nelms insisted McIntyre has "a good work ethic, a good plan behind him".
He added: "If you look at the whole body of work, he has been successful and he has met our criteria. Out of all the managers who were there, he was the best qualified based on our criteria."
'Stronger group' than at Ross County
Despite Nelms' ambitions, McIntyre is not looking beyond lifting Dundee off the foot of the table.
He recognises "it's going to be a difficult job", but he has been heartened by his first training session with his new squad.
"I would probably say there's a stronger group in the changing-room than the one I inherited at Ross County and I mean that with utmost respect," he said.
"There's a lot of good technical players in there with a mixture of experience and some young lads as well."
His appointment came so quickly that negotiations are still continuing with a view to re-uniting him with his usual assistant manager, Billy Dodds.
"It's been a whirlwind 24 hours," he added. "I got a phone call saying John would like to meet and that's what we done. We had a right good chat and I was offered the job pretty quickly."