Inverness CT v Dundee United: Butcher 'surprised' by speculation about Houston

Saturday 29 September 2012

IF Terry Butcher ever gets tired of managing Inverness Caledonian Thistle then he might have a future as an agent.

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He was certainly doing a good job of talking up the strides that Dundee United have taken under Peter Houston, a manager who is out of contract at the end of the season but has yet to receive word of a new deal.

Should that have allowed doubts to creep into his mind then a few words from Butcher would be enough to chase them away again. The two managers will compete against one another this afternoon as United head for the Highlands but the Inverness manager spoke enthusiastically about the visitors' prospects for the campaign."I was surprised to see Peter Houston talking in the press about his job situation," said Butcher. "It amazes me because they are a club that really could be pushing Celtic this season. I'm sure they will be. They have an excellent team, some great people behind the scenes and it's a superb club."I know, as I've worked there myself and Maurice Malpas, my assistant, is – or was – Mr Dundee United. They have good people there, like Paul Hegarty, among others."We always look forward to playing Dundee United, even though we haven't had the best results against them lately. They are normally very good matches. It is a case of just looking to get through the game and take three points, no matter how. We haven't got extra-time and penalties in the Dundee United game but what we do have is 90 minutes to win it. At the final whistle, just make sure we have scored more goals than Dundee United – whether it is one, two or three."United adopted the same philosophy in their narrow Scottish Communities League Cup win over Queen of the South on Tuesday night. They will no look to address their league form, the Tannadice side limping to defeat at home to Hearts last weekend."We struggled last Saturday against Hearts so it was important to bounce back at the earliest opportunity," said John Rankin, the United midfielder. "Everyone was expecting us to get beat [by Queens]. It was a real banana skin but we came through it."I have spoken to players from other teams since and they were saying that we did brilliantly to get through. Now we have to go to another tough venue up in Inverness and that will be another real test."We have lost six goals in just two games so it seems that when we make a mistake it has an ongoing affect. Hopefully we can stop that happening and bounce back in the right way. We need to get the momentum going."

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Inverness CT v Dundee United: Butcher 'surprised' by speculation about Houston

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