Dundee managing director John Nelms admits former boss James McPake 's fate was sealed before a morale-boosting win against Hearts at Tynecastle in February.
The 37-year-old was relieved of his duties after successive wins against the Jambos and Peterhead in the Scottish Cup.
McPake's exit hasn't led to an upturn in results with successor Mark McGhee winless in seven matches since taking the reins at Dens Park.
They have slipped to bottom place and are four points adrift of St Johnstone with seven leagues matches remaining.
And Nelms has now admitted the decision to part with McPake was in the works before Dundee 's famous victory in Gorgie.
Speaking to the Courier, he said: “Normally, if we were going to make a change we’d wait for an international break, make a change and give the new manager time with the squad.
“We don’t look at anything in a very short, narrow timeframe.
“We beat a team that was ninth in League One and we beat Hearts but the decision had already been made prior to that.
“It was unbelievably difficult to make the change. James is like a son to us, we invested in him and we didn’t go through our usual change protocols."
“We went through the window to give him the best opportunity to succeed but it just didn’t change and it wasn’t in the ascendancy.
“So we made the difficult decision.”
McGhee's side host Aberdeen on Saturday and know a win is vital if they are to launch a late bid for survival.
And Nelms is convinced he sees signs for cautious optimism ahead of the final weeks of the season.
He added: “I do see that we are better organised.
“I think Mark has been unfortunate with player Covid issues, we’ve had serious injury issues – right now we don’t have our first-choice keeper, centre-back or captain.
“It is hard so I think the overall picture has worked. I think if we had everyone healthy, it would be a different conversation.
“In the first half of the second Rangers game, we got our tactics spot on. They brought on players to lift their level and we just don’t have that.”
Nelms admits technical director Gordon Strachan played a pivotal role in the arrival of his close friend to succeed McPake.
But the American insists the decision to bring in the former Aberdeen and Motherwell boss was warmly received across the board,
He said: “Yes, there was a list. But it’s a difficult situation because you don’t have the ability to bring in other players.
“It was a unique scenario and some managers relish that sort of challenge.
“We had conversations with others but we came to the conclusion that in this situation, a manager with 980 matches under his belt, has been there and done it and has the backing of Gordon.
“We spoke to others about Mark as well, not just Gordon, and got good reports across the board.”
