Dundee United supremo Stephen Thompson last night admitted the controversial joint sale of Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven to Celtic was the WRONG thing for them on the park - but insists financially it was the right move.

Thompson opened his heart yesterday on the double departure of former fans' favoruites Armstrong and Mackay-Steven for £1.7m to the Parkhead club who they're preparing to face this Sunday in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tannadice as the first of three successive clashes with the Hoops.

United have struggled since the influential pair left Tayside and have suffered three defeats in their last four league outings to go off the boil at such a crucial stage in the season.

And Thompson has taken time out to concede the January Transfer Window business which saw midfielder Armstrong and winger Mackay-Steven leave the club wasn't the right move as far as matters on the pitch are concerned, sparking wild rumours of a bust-up between him and manager Jackie McNamara.

He said: "I think it probably does come on the back of those sales.

"There is no doubt from a football point of view it was not the right thing to do.

"I admit that and it's been hard for a lot of people to accept that.

"But we have to run the club as a board and we have financial obligations to do the right thing for the club.

"I know people have mentioned the players asking for transfers, but there are ways and means to do that.

"It's gone now and it's done. There are big games coming up. There is too much negativity when things are really positive.

"You can never look back and regret things. You make what you feel is the right decision at the time and you have to stick with them.

"It was the right decision and it was discussed with the board and with Jackie as well.

"It's done now and you have to move on."

Mackay-Steven has initially signed a pre-contract to move to Celtic in the summer before a deal was done to join the Glasgow giants at the end of January.

And Thompson, while ideally wanting a bigger fee for the duo, insisted it was still too much money for the Tangerines to turn down given the current financial climate in Scottish Football.

He said: "There was no other interest in either player.

"Gary had signed a pre-contract but you always want more money.

"I think any other club in Scotland would have done exactly the same thing.

"It's a lot of money for anyone. The financial situation in Scotland is not good at the moment.

"I need to make sure this cub is here for many years to come, that's what matters to me.

"It's about five, 10 years' time as much as it is for now.

"It's always harder for fans when players sign for the Old Firm clubs. I don't think it would have been the some if they had gone down to England, but it was Celtic who paid the money.

"We have to move on. It's five weeks down the line and we have a big period coming up."

Thompson also blasted internet suggestions last weekend that he'd had a bust-up with gaffer McNamara in the wake of their recent dip in form which had led to the manager being set to quit the club.

He said: "It's complete rubbish.

"Jackie and I have a great working relationship. We discuss everything at the club, whatever it is, and we speak two or three times a day.

"I don't know if this has come because of a couple of the results on the park recently, but that's football.

"We have a quarter final this weekend, the League Cup Final coming up and we are sitting fourth in the league.

"It might be on the back of what happened at the end of the transfer window but Jackie and I have a great relationship.

"We have a working partnership and a strategy as a club going forward.

"We put a five-year plan in place 16 or 17 months ago and we are working towards that.

"It's complete and utter nonsense.

"Everyone has high expectations, including myself. I expect to win every single game.

"We are in back-to-back finals and that is what it is all about. We have sold almost 18,000 tickets, so the fans are obviously looking forward to it.

"When you have expectations you lose a couple of games and it doesn't go down well.

"That's football, we have to stick to our strategy and do what we feel is right as a club.

"If you start to talk about social media, it rules the world these days."

Thompson cited United's healthy bank balance as proof that they're firmly on the right track.

He said: "We believe the club is in a good place. We have an operating loss each year of £500,000-£750,000 because we have football ambition.

"The club doesn't bring in enough money and that's why we need to sell players from time to time.

"Once all the transfer fees are in we will be down to about £1.3m of debt, so the club is going in the right way.

"Obviously it's not easy but things have been going well on the park, getting to cup finals and so on.

"All the fans care about is winning games and I can understand the frustrations. The same goes for the manager and players as well.

"We are not just one track. We are well ahead at the moment.

"I have always said I wanted us to be debt free - but I also want us to compete on the park, of course we do.

"Just look at the transfer window. We spent far more this year on our playing budget than we spent last year.

"We bough players to strengthen the team. That's football. Players will come and go.

"I wasn't happy when Kevin Gallacher moved on, but the club moved on.

"We have got a lot of young talent at the moment and we should build together as a club.

"There is bit of negativity around at the moment, I understand the frustration, I am frustrated as well, we all are.

"We want to win games but we have big matches coming up.

"It's a big few weeks. I went down and said to the players before the 2010 Cup Final, "this is what it's all about". This is what you dream of as a kid."