To be honest, we all knew it was coming but it was magic news today when the Club confirmed Peter Houston's new contract to manage the Terrors. If ever a man deserved the gig, that man is Houstie...given the torrid nature of his first (and almost last) game in charge and the mettle he and the lads showed to turn that into the blinding season we ended up having.
Houstie deserves a crack at Europe with the team and I know I'm repeating myself (yet again) but how fecking wonderful is it to have Heggy as co-pilot? Now we can only watch and guess over the coming weeks to see which of the players commit to more service at Tannadice and who, maybe inevitably, is allowed to leave to help put a dent in the debt. As has been discussed on the message-board, it's sad that we even have to consider letting anyone go but the current high stock of Dundee United may have to be capitalised on by selling to balance the books.
With Europe beckoning again, lets just hope Houstie has some decent replacements in his sights for any player we do have to lose. This season has been a revelation and next season could be even better...but we should always temper that thought with the memory of what happened to us after Ivan Golac led us to Scottish Cup glory in 94.
Enough reality checking though...we've still got AGES to enjoy the Hampden memories and to look forward to finding out who we're getting in Europe.