THIRTY three years after Dundee United made the short walk up Tannadice Street to secure the only top-flight title in their history, last night was payback time.
Amid ugly scenes at full time, as a number of supporters of both sides entered the field of play, this ill-tempered defeat against their city rivals confirmed the club’s relegation to the Championship after a 20-year stay in the Scottish top flight.
This was a Blue Monday for United and their followers, who will start the next campaign a division below Dundee for the first time since the 1959-60 season.
Read more: Dundee United could hit downward spiral and not return for years, says John Rankin
Manager Mixu Paatelainen said afterwards that this was the lowest point in his career in football, but admitted he was desperate to remain in charge to try to return them to the top flight next season. There was a call last night for early clarification on the Finn’s future, amid speculation that his services could be dispensed with in the next few days. Some clarity on the ownership situation, with chairman Stephen Thompson looking to sell up, would also help.
“Obviously the team need to make big changes personnel wise,” said Paatelainen. “They have to stop being so soft and slack. The players need more character, more discipline, to be more ruthless, be more decisive, more hungry.
We need a totally new angle on things. And I am desperate to do that – I love working hard, I don’t count hours, I don’t have days off.
“We have been here a few months now, working with this team and for the club,” he added. “We’ve got the necessary knowledge of what has to be done. To be honest, we did identify early on the things that needed to be done. The knowledge is there, the plan is there. Not only player wise but also off the field, football related. I think only a fool would put that to waste, the knowledge that we have.”
Midfielder John Rankin said the danger was that the club could find itself ‘stuck in a spiral’. “The club needs clarity on what’s happening, I don’t know if the chairman is trying to sell or keep a hold of the club,” said Rankin. “We now find ourselves in the Championship, which is difficult to get out of.
“You could be stuck in a spiral – in the Championship for one, two, three seasons and before you know it’s six. Seven, eight. It took Rangers two years. It’s taken Hibs two, maybe three, possibly four, we don’t know. When you get in that downward spiral it’s hard to get out of.”
From the high watermark of May 2010, when they were sweeping Ross County aside 3-0 in front of 47,000 fans in the Scottish Cup final, Dundee United’s decline has been something to behold. After back-to-back fourth place finishes in 2011 and 2012, the decision to part company with manager Peter Houston amid a contract wrangle in January 2013 now seems rash. While the club’s financial plight today would have been far worse without the big-money departures of Ryan Gauld, Andy Robertson, Stuart Armstrong, Gary Mackay-Steven and Nadir Ciftci, they ripped the heart out of the Jackie McNamara era.
The affair has been a personal calamity for chairman Stephen Thompson. The club were already rooted to the bottom of the table when Mixu Paatelainen arrived at the club last October but it turned out to be their final resting place.
From the moment a tangerine coffin was confiscated by police before kick-off, the atmosphere was on the boil. Dundee fans goaded their visitors by reminding them that they were going “down down” in the style of Petula Clark, and there was little in the way of sympathy from the United fans when Paul McGowan left the fray with a painful recurrence of his shoulder injury.
This was a tense, absorbing contest, albeit one with little chances of note at either end. Dundee shaded the first half but found themselves a goal in arrears early in the second period. Blair Spittal, one of United’s best remaining assets, fed John Rankin, whose clever cutback was finished low by Edward Ofere. The emotion was all too much for one member of the visiting support, who ran on, embraced Rankin, before returning to accept his fate at the hands of the police.
United might have got a second. But Dundee got the goal their supporters craved. Harkins swung over a corner from the left, Gadzhalov and Ofere contested it and Kane Hemmings, lurking on the goalline, just about got the final touch.
The closing stages were
predictably messy. Stewart and Kawashima were booked for one set-to, Paul Paton and Darren O’Dea followed soon after, before one last defensive disaster sealed United’s fate. A quick free kick from Harkins gave Wighton the freedom of the penalty box and the youngster swept in a low shot which seemed to take an age before finding the bottom corner.
“I am not here to celebrate Dundee United going down,” said Hartley afterwards. “It is not something you want to see, but someone has to go down, someone has to be the poorest team of the season. Thankfully it is not us. It wasn’t tonight that sent United down, it was the whole season.”
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