LUGGY AND NEALE COOPER SPEAK ABOUT TANNADICE JOB

Cooper has made his offer official this site is led to believe, but he is being considered along with the other applicants, amongst whom is the man currently in charge, Gordon Chisholm. He’s only had one game in charge so far, against Celtic, and whilst we lost 3-2, it was a strong performance by United. The big test though will come on Saturday, when we travel to Easter Road to face Hibs in the league, before we play them again the following Saturday at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi. If, after those two games, we have performed well and perhaps even got a result or two, Chisholm, in my opinion, will be the favourite to take the hotseat himself. If we lose and perform badly, then he may as well wave the position goodbye. It’s a sad fact, and one that Luggy hints at below, but managers need time. Chisholm hasn’t got time – he’s got pressure.

We simply have to play good strong flowing football on Saturday. The time for experimentation is over. The time for playing players out of position is over. We need our strikers striking, our midfielders tackling, winning balls and making telling passes, and we need our defence on full alert – tough, aware, focused, and NOT getting caught at silly set pieces, which means marking. Football’s a simple game – get the fecking ball and keep it. We need the points – which will mean running Hibs off the park, and running until we drop.

Luggy

Luggy isn’t coming – we knew that. And anyway – would we want him at the current time? I don’t think so. Here’s what he said in The Herald this morning….

"I'm a Dundee United fanatic, always will be," he says. "I still believe I'll be a Dundee United manager again at some time in the future, and I still have a bad taste in my mouth from my 18 months there as manager.

"The politics of Dundee United during my time there were very difficult. There was Eddie Thompson's takeover bid and there was pressure on the board. I wanted to build a young team and, since then, Aberdeen, Motherwell and Hibs have all done it, but the time-frame wasn't there for me at Tannadice. It needed to be a long-term job, but results were required immediately.

"Every defeat I suffered at Dundee United hurt me twice as bad as any defeat I've ever had at any other football club. I just felt, while trying to build a new team, together with the necessity of instant progress, that I was hitting my head off a brick wall.

"I wrote down 20 mistakes I made as manager of Dundee United. They were 20 mistakes, basic things, which I've lived by ever since as a manager. They were mistakes I made which any manager lives or dies by. That list has become my Bible.

"The pressure got to me at United to the extent that one of the things I did was I made some panic buys. That was one of my 20 Big Mistakes. I bought players that I didn't study enough and didn't give enough thought to. It was the pressure of life at Tannadice that made me do it. When I walked away from United – knackered, absolutely emotionally spent – I looked back and couldn't believe some of the signings I'd made."

And Eddie Thompson? Is it true that he and Sturrock have never quite got on? Sturrock, in replying to this, is both guarded and revealing.

"Eddie's okay," he says. "But he is learning now how difficult it can be to lead United out of the mire.

Perhaps the biggest mistake of Eddie's life was taking over Dundee United. Politically, the club has been on the slide for years, and I hear he's been paying incredible wages. Incredible."

Interesting point about politics there – and if there is any in-fighting at Tannadice it’s time it stopped – it’s points we need to climb the table not verbal victories across a boardroom table. The time is now.