Neil McCann was left frustrated by how late Celtic signed Jack Hendry on transfer deadline day because it gave him no time to replace the defender.

The 22-year-old signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with the champions, thought to be worth around £1million, as the clock ticked down to midnight.

Despite the ongoing speculation Hendry would make the move to Parkhead throughout the January window, McCann was left disappointed by how late it was eventually completed.

"It left me no time whatsoever to get any business done myself," he explained. "I'm not in a position here financially to bring a centre back in.

"I wanted to keep Jack, that was black and white, I was desperate to keep him. But I'm mindful of the fact should Celtic come in with an offer the club can't turn down then I have to have someone who can step in and bolster the squad.

"But I'm not allowed to do that because I can't sign a player at one minute to 12. It takes a bit of time to go through and by that time these players might have other options.

"It was a club record fee for Dundee though, a huge amount of money and I'm proud we've been able to give Jack a platform to showcase his undoubted ability.

"It's not all about the club or all about the player. It was a marriage, we allowed Jack to play a certain way because I encouraged and demanded it and Jack had the ability to allow me to do that."

Aside from Hendry's move, Dundee were involved with a 'triangle' arrangement which saw three other players switch between three Scottish Premiership clubs.

Celtic's Scott Allan, who was on loan at Dundee, joined Hibs, while Dundee's Scott Bain, who was on loan at Hibs, joined Celtic.

In exchange, Dundee took Hibs striker Simon Murray on loan until the end of the season.

Despite signing the boyhood Dundee fan, who played for Tayside rivals Dundee United until last summer, McCann admitted he was glad to see the back of deadline day.

"I didn't enjoy it one bit," he said. "The actual business of the day was horrible and I've learnt so much from it. I was in here at quarter to ten and I think we left nearer one o'clock.

"We controlled the triangle because we owned three players, but it had to work. We held a lot of the aces.

"The only piece of business I enjoyed was getting Simon Murray in the door. I am so happy to get him, anybody who knows me when I first took the job knows I said we should be trying to get Simon before he went to Hibs.

"The whole triangle piece of business worked out where I lost a very talented player in Scott Allan but I got in one of my biggest targets.

"He's such a threat, he's quick, he's aggressive and he's a Dundee fan so he can't wait to pull the dark blue shirt on.

"Not many of those boys go about so if you can get someone of that quality and that feeling for the club you take them."