Chisholm led Queens to the Scottish Cup final last season

Queen of the South chairman David Rae has refused Dundee permission to speak to the club's manager Gordon Chisholm.

Dundee are seeking a successor to Alex Rae, who was sacked last week. But Rae said Chisholm told him he was happy to remain at Palmerston.

"I think going to Dundee wouldn't be a step up for our manager," said Rae.

"Had it been the SPL, the Premiership or even the Championship south of the border, then I would have considered giving permission."

Chisholm, whose side currently lead the First Division, said last week that he was flattered to be linked with Dundee.

Meanwhile, Brechin manager Michael O'Neill has told BBC Sport he is interested in the managerial vacancy at Dens Park.

The Glebe Park club confirmed they had been approached by Dundee, but had yet to decide whether to give O'Neill permission to hold talks.

"I don't think it would do me any harm to speak to Dundee," said O'Neill.

"I have a career outside of football which comes into any decision I would make as regards going into football on a full-time basis."

Rae was sacked by the First Division club last week with his assistant David Farrell taking charge of first-team affairs for Saturday's 2-0 defeat by Morton.

The defeat was Dundee's 10th match without a win and left them ninth in the First Division table, having finished second in the league last season.

The Dark Blues have already been denied permission to speak to Airdrie United boss Kenny Black and it is believed Queen of the South manager Gordon Chisholm is also a target.

"We have got five or six people that we have whittled down from 20-odd," said Dundee chief executive Dave MacKinnon.

"Three of them are currently at clubs, so we have written to the chairmen.

"One has got back and is unhappy for us to speak to his manager. So we will take that one on the chin and see how that progresses.

"I would expect on Monday we will get the same reaction from the other clubs.

"But certainly we hope to make an appointment next week, that's the plan. It is pretty imperative we get someone in pretty quickly."

O'Neill's Brechin currently sit top of the Second Division and bolstered their position with Saturday's 2-1 home win over Queen's Park.

"It's come as a little bit of a surprise," he told BBC Sport.

"I was notified by the chairman on Saturday morning that there had been contact from Dundee and we had a very informal discussion. He said that the board would be discussing it today (Monday).

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"I'm very open about the whole thing to be honest. It's great to be linked to a club the size of Dundee. I'm still at the start of my managerial career and I have no great plans mapped out as such.

"Although I'm flattered, I'm not considering it as a job I have to get right now but it is nice to be linked with.

"It interests me because it's club in a higher division and it's full-time but any decision would have to be based around my career away from football in financial services."

O'Neill said he felt a sense of loyalty to Brechin for giving him his managerial break in football.

The former Northern Ireland international spent much of his playing career in Scotland, including a spell with Dundee's city rivals Dundee United.

"I'm sure that the Dundee fans would rather one of their old favourites was put in the position of manager," said O'Neill.