Last night, the Scottish Football Association ruled that a £15,000 (€21,700) fine handed out to Livingston by the SPL board for paying Kachloul while he was an amateur signing should stand, leaving Dundee relegated to the Bell’s First Division.

But the issue was only finally decided less than a week before the new campaign, leaving new Livi manager Paul Lambert and his team unsure of where they would be playing their football this year.

However, McNamee, 24, believes the SPL should not have allowed the saga rumble on for so long.

He said: “It’s been dragging on a bit longer than it should have done and, maybe, they (the SPL board) made a mountain out of a molehill and Dundee were clutching at straws.

“I am not a lawyer, so I can’t say what’s right and wrong, but, obviously, this is good news for us.

“You pick a paper each day to find out that something else had happened and it would go on for another week.

“It should have been sorted out a long time ago, but now we want to concentrate on the new season because it has affected us.”

McNamee is still sidelined with a serious Achilles injury sustained in May.

But he is looking forward to seeing new Livi signings Ludovic Roy, Paul Tierney, Dave Mackay, Harald Pinxten, Dubi Tesevic and Ramon Pereira in action.

McNamee said: “All the lads have been very impressed with the new gaffer.

“He has come in with fresh ideas and new players to freshen the place up.

“He is quite quiet but obviously knows a lot having been to Germany and he already has the respect of all the players at the club.”