PAUL HEGARTY is pleased to see the blend of youth and experience that Tam Courts has assembled in his Dundee United squad as the Tannadice great hailed the contribution of Charlie Mulgrew.

Hegarty was a key member of Jim McLean’s United side of the 1908s – widely considered to be the greatest period of the club’s history – and endured his fair share of highs and lows after making over 700 appearances in tangerine across 16 eventful years.

It’s fair to say Hegarty knows a thing or two about leadership on Tayside. The former Scotland internationalist captained Dundee United to the Premier Division title and two League Cup triumphs and played alongside some of the best players to ever grace the Tannadice turf.

When he runs the rule over the current crop, he believes there is one player who stands out amongst the crowd: Mulgrew. And with promising youngsters scattered throughout the squad, Hegarty believes there are few better role models to learn from than the 36-year-old centre-half.

“They are aiming to bring young players through – as long as the standard is good and they can handle first-team football,” Hegarty explained. “That’s my only concern with youngsters at any club.

“Sometimes they play for three or four games and then come out again. I’d like them to stake a claim for their position and go on to bigger and better things. 

“But they’ve got a lot of experience at the club. Charlie Mulgrew has done exceptionally well. He’s definitely surprised me in terms of being a leader. He’s a good type on and off the park and he’s just done exceptionally well.

“Ryan Edwards and Ross Graham have definitely benefited from Charlie’s wisdom and his footballing ability. I don’t know Charlie, I’ve never met him, but what I see from this season he’s done very well.”

Hegarty continued: “I think if you ask most fans at any club, the most pleasure you get is seeing young local players coming through the ranks to the first team. In our day we had David Narey, John Holt, Graeme Payne, Davie Dodds, John Reilly – a host of local players.

“I know the game has changed a bit for getting players in but there’s nothing better than supporting the team and seeing local players on your doorstep playing first-team football. That’s probably their aim but I go back to what I said before: as long as they are quality.

“They have got to handle the pressure, they have to handle first-team football. If they can do that, good on them. The one that’s really surprised me, and he’s done really well, is Ross Graham.

“He was on loan at Dunfermline and he did reasonably well – he’s quite an old-fashioned centre-back. He clears his lines, he can play football when needed and he makes more right decisions than wrong decisions. When you do that as a footballer, you’re going to be successful.

“He's a goal threat as well, he’s decent in the air and scored a great goal a couple of weeks ago. He has probably benefitted from Charlie Mulgrew’s experience alongside him because Charlie pulls his ropes.

“Charlie is calm under pressure, he takes an extra touch or an extra second because his knowledge of the game is really good and that rubs off on Ryan Edwards and Ross Graham.”

Hegarty accepts that the odds will be stacked against Courts’ side on Monday night when Ange Postecolgou’s league leaders come to town but he believes that the one thing United cannot do is sit back and await the inevitable. Their only shot at victory, he says, is to take the game to Celtic – not to the extent that they leave themselves vulnerable at the back, but enough to make life difficult for the visitors.

It is a ploy that has reaped rewards for United in fixtures with both halves of the Old Firm this term and Hegarty reckons it is Courts’ best chance of progressing to the semi-final at Hampden, even if the last meeting between the two teams was a little one-sided.

“They drew with Celtic 1-1 at Parkhead, lost 1-0 at Tannadice and took a doing at Tannadice 3-0,” he recalled. “It was three going on seven or eight, if we are truthful. But they did really well against Rangers as well.

“With Celtic coming up on Monday in the cup tie they really have to go and put pressure on Celtic. If you allow them to play football they will pass you to death and they will score eventually. The boy [Tom] Rogic in the last game was exceptional, absolutely fantastic. One of his two goals was superb.

“When they beat Rangers 1-0 at Tannadice at the start of the season they closed them down. That’s what they have to do against Celtic. Just take a chance because if you don’t take a chance they will be out of the cup because it’s a one-off.

“Without being gung-ho or stupid about it, put them under pressure and ask them some questions and see if they can handle it. I think our fans would love them to have a go against Celtic on Monday night without being silly.”

Paul Hegarty was promoting exclusively live Premier Sports coverage of Dundee v Rangers this Sunday from 3.30pm and Dundee United v Celtic this Monday from 7.15pm. Premier Sports is available on Sky, Virgin TV and the Premier Player from £12.99 per month, and on Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.