What banned Dundee boss Mark McGhee had to say about 'classy' Celtic Park treatment and new team's display

Dundee manager Mark McGhee praised Celtic “as very, very classy” for their means of accommodating him as he began his new role while serving a six-match touchline ban.

McGhee’s side came within six minutes of earning a point at Parkhead before going down 3-2 as they were skewered by a Giorgos Giakoumakis hat-trick and while 63-year-old was philosophical about the outcome, it didn’t prove more exasperating because of his detached vantage point.

“I have to say that from the moment I got here Celtic have been brilliant,” he said. “They provided me with a room downstairs I could go and sit privately during the period up to kick off. They had me a seat in the press box with a monitor and all of that, Celtic were absolutely brilliant. Very, very classy in terms of the way they helped me today.

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“[Apart from those arrangements] I think it was nothing different from what we expected. You expect an onslaught and you expect to have to defend. And then you have to wonder how well you will defend, and I think in that respect we defended well enough. There were a couple of naive moments when we tried things, maybe even at the other end and that caused them to break against us. We lost a couple of goals that were probably avoidable.

“But we were beaten by a better team. I also thought our performance was good, a lot of really encouraging things about it. Particularly, I expected that they would work hard, that they would roll their sleeves up and work for each other if not yet for us because we’re only just in the door. But I asked them to get the ball down at times and pass the ball. Have the bottle to do that here against a team who want to jump on to you. They did that and that was the most pleasing aspect for me.

“[It is three home games on the trot now] and the players have got the bit between their teeth. The Hearts win [last week gave them a huge lift in terms of belief in themselves. And now today, running Celtic so close, I know they’re gutted and that’s good. They’re not going out with the attitude ‘it’s Celtic’. They’re feeling they could’ve got something.”

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