Dave Mackay insists he will be no ‘yes man’ after being appointed assistant to James McPake at Dunfermline.
The pair were team-mates at Livingston before working together at Dundee, where Mackay was his pals’s number two.
That relationship ended when McPake was sacked in February and Mackay, who stayed on under Mark McGhee, was wanted as part of Gary Bowyer’s new backroom team at Dens Park.
But the former St Johnstone Scottish Cup-winning skipper decided it was time for a clean break and he has again joined up with McPake at East End Park.
He said: “Dundee wanted to keep me, I had spoken to the new manager there when I was on holiday and he was appointed. I had a couple of good chats with him and the plan was for me to stay.
“He seemed like a real top guy, he was great with me. But I had a bit of time to think while I was away and I just felt it was probably the right thing for everyone - for them included, as well as myself - for me to move on.
“I’m good mates with James. We work well together and it’s good to be back working together.
“Of course, you do get disagreements from time to time and a few wee arguments. But I think that’s healthy as well. There’s no point in me just sitting there and agreeing with everything the manager does. I would be cheating myself and everybody else if I was doing that.
“So, he knows himself that at times I will challenge him and we will disagree on things. I’ve got to make him think about things - whether I even agree with it or not! Sometimes you just do it to throw a wee curveball in there, just to get him thinking.
“I’ll speak my mind to him - just because we’ve got that sort of relationship; we’ve known each other for that long that we know that much about each other.
“I’m excited to hook back up with again and hopefully we can be successful, as we were in the first couple of seasons at Dundee.”
