STEPHEN THOMPSON, the Dundee United chairman, blamed “the harsh realities of relegation” as he began preparing for life in the Ladbrokes Championship by confirming manager Mixu Paatelainen’s widely-anticipated sacking, releasing eight players and telling several more they are also free to leave.
Defeat to Dundee in Monday night’s derby confirmed the Tannadice club will be playing second-tier football next season for the first time in 20 years. Paatelainen, appointed only in October, was the first to pay the price for what he euphemistically described as “a difficult winter”, the Finn departing with immediate effect.
Thompson and general manager David Southern then met with each member of the first-team squad on a one-to-one basis before announcing that all but one of those players with expiring contracts – the Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima – would not be offered new deals. Among those going is John Rankin, the midfielder who has been with the club since 2011, and who also sat in the discussions in his role as a representative of PFA Scotland.
“I have had to explain the harsh realities of relegation to the squad,” Thompson said. “I spoke to them about cost cutting measures. It was not a pleasant thing to have to do, but it was better to do it face to face with them. John Rankin was there in his SPFA capacity and was very good about things. He was a great help.”
Rankin took to social media to confirm his impending departure and to apologise to supporters for the recent relegation.
“I’d like to thank everyone connected with Dundee United for their help and support over the last five years,” he wrote. “I would also like to apologise to all Arabs for our dismal performances this season and ultimately the lowest point of those five years. Unfortunately my time here is coming to an end, however, I have the privilege of pulling on the tangerine [shirt] three times more at most and I will give 100% in those games.”
Those also set to be released are Edward Ofere, Callum Morris, Guy Demel, Ryan Dow, Euan Spark, Joe McGovern and Florent Sinama Pongolle.
It is also understood that most of those players whose contracts extend beyond the summer have also been told they are free to find new clubs. That list includes Paul Paton, Charlie Telfer, Mark Durnan, Coll Donaldson, Henri Anier and Paul Dixon, although it is thought some including club captain Sean Dillon, Blair Spittal, Simon Murray, Scott Fraser and Luis Zwick will be kept on.
Kyle Knoyle and Billy McKay will return to their parent clubs once their loan spells finish, Chris Erskine has signed a pre-contract deal to return to Partick Thistle, while Gavin Gunning and Robbie Muirhead had already been released.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel