DUNDEE UNITED chairman Stephen Thompson has offered his backing to manager Ray McKinnon, but believes the boss was not aware of the size of the task he faces at Tannadice.
The 46-year-old took the reins at the Ladbrokes Championship outfit last summer following their relegation and has struggled to mount an immediate challenge for a return to the top-flight.
United currently occupy fourth place in the table, 14 points adrift of leaders Hibernian.
However, Thompson denied that missing out on promotion would make the former Raith Rovers manager a failure, telling BBC Scotland: "That's probably a bit unfair on Raymond. It's his first year at the club.
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"He had a huge task on his hands and we've got eight games left.
"The task was probably bigger than he thought it was, but we are where we are and we'll see where we go in the weeks ahead."
The Tannadice club lifted the Irn-Bru Cup last weekend after a 2-1 victory over St Mirren, a result the chairman hopes can be a pivotal moment in the club's domestic campaign.
"I know it's the Challenge Cup, it's not a League Cup final or Scottish Cup final, but it's still a trophy and there were over 3,000 fans there at the weekend and they were delighted," he said.
"A lot of fans were happy at the weekend just to get a bit of fun back again, a bit of success, and hopefully it's the turning point for Raymond and the players to push on for the remaining eight games of the season."
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