Alan Pattullo on the turmoil at Dundee United

Tannadice club hit by double whammy from Hearts
Dundee United sporting director Tony Asghar. Picture: Ross MacDonald/SNSDundee United sporting director Tony Asghar. Picture: Ross MacDonald/SNS
Dundee United sporting director Tony Asghar. Picture: Ross MacDonald/SNS

Dundee United will have to hope that life back in the Premiership gets easier. These first few short weeks since they were conferred with the status of Championship champions – court case pending of course – are proving more problematic than the actual months spent gaining promotion, which were a breeze by comparison.

The Tannadice club have lost a managing director, Mal Brannigan, and now a manager. It was not so long ago Robbie Neilson was photographed toasting the title success with a lockdown-breaking beer with Tannadice sporting director Tony Asghar.

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Few could have imagined that this would prove a farewell drink as far as Neilson was concerned. The absence of speculation prior to his return to Hearts being confirmed on Sunday suggests it did not take him long to agree to a deal. Indeed, he pushed for the chance to hold discussions with Ann Budge after Asghar initially blocked the move by the Tynecastle club.

The aforementioned uncertainty about the validity of their promotion is another concern for United. Hearts, together with Partick Thistle, are challenging the Tannadice club’s right – and that of Cove Rangers and Raith Rovers – to move up a division. United were 14 points clear at the top when the season was curtailed with eight games left to play; Inverness, their nearest challengers, had nine games left outstanding.

While it seems impossible to imagine United failing to secure promotion, there was a marked downturn in form post-Christmas. Neilson won just one of his last nine games as manager. This run included a 1-0 loss at home to Arbroath and a 0-0 draw at Alloa, who had beaten United earlier in the season.

These are reasons explaining why the reaction to Neilson’s departure has not been one of fury among United fans. They do, however, have every right to feel let down. These supporters – who have backed United to the extent they have bought over 5,000 season tickets this summer – will recall that Neilson often spoke about the long-term nature of the project he had signed up for at United.

They will also note that Neilson hardly owes Hearts anything given the way their fans grumbled about his side’s style of play in the weeks and months leading up to his departure to MK Dons.

While the news he had left certainly prompted shock, it has not left United supporters feeling as bereft as, say, when Craig Levein switched United for Scotland 11 years ago. And if the club are getting money for Neilson in these uncertain times, then so much the better.

The prospect of their former manager coming back for striker Lawrence Shankland is infinitely more disturbing. But then it’s not as if he has been working with Neilson for years; their relationship only began 11 months and a lot of goals ago, when Shankland signed from Ayr United. It remains to be seen whether Hearts can access the funds required to lure the striker away from United; one would suggest not in light of what else is going on.

The Tannadice club held a board meeting last night to discuss the petition served by Hearts and Thistle last week. It seems certain the little matter of finding a new manager will also have been covered after what has been an unsettling few days for the club.

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Levein has been touted for a return to the place where he made enough impact for United to name a lounge after him. But that was a very different club. Levein became firm friends with owner Eddie Thompson and they worked well together. Levein was appointed director during his stint as manager, whetting his appetite for the boardroom role he occupied at Hearts. He had more conspicuous success while performing the dual role of manager/director at Tannadice, where he overhauled the youth system.

He was lord of the manor by the time he left for Scotland in 2009. It’s hard to see him enjoying such influence at United these days – certainly not within the current structure. At present, Asghar calls the shots on a daily basis, with owner Mark Ogren based in the United States.

Levein was nonetheless quick to confirm he would be happy to speak to United about the job vacancy when asked about the weekend events on a BBC Scotland Sportsound podcast yesterday.

Steven Pressley, a former United defender and one-time Hearts team-mate of Neilson, answered just as firmly in the negative when invited to consider the same question. Revealing he had spoken with Neilson twice in recent days, Pressley, pictured inset, said “there were concerns within the club”. He added that “not all can be right” if United are losing a CEO and a manager in quick succession.

That won’t stop a slew of other names being linked with the post, from the very commonsense candidate – the currently out-of-work former St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright – to the slightly more incredible, with Duncan Ferguson, the former United striker and Carlo Ancelotti’s current assistant at Everton, also featuring near the top of the latest bookmaker odds.

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