Stand-in manager Dave Bowman has challenged Dundee United’s players to prove they can do better saying they cost Jackie McNamara his job.
The club legend has stepped in to take control of football matters after McNamara left Tannadice this week after months of poor results.
But Bowman made it clear that won’t improve United fortunes if the players don’t react in the right way.
He said: “I think the players know they have cost Jackie his job.
“There is no beating about the bush if a manager gets the sack it is because the players aren’t performing.
“Jackie never lost the dressing room at all.
“I’ve seen it before in the past when managers have lost the support of the players but that was definitely not the case.
“Jackie had their full support and the players were upset with what’s happened.
“The bottom line is, though, that the players have cost him his job by not performing.”
Nevertheless, Bowman has been pleased with the response from the squad this week on the training park.
He said: “There is a determination to put it right. It’s a results business so it doesn’t matter how good I think the players are it’s about proving it on the pitch.
“I don’t doubt them at all. If you ask any manager in our game to look at the players in our dressing room they would all rate them. If they became available they would get snapped up.
“I would be very confident that with the players we’ve got there will be no concerns about relegation at this club.
“But sometimes you need that wee bit of luck in football and for some reason it has just not clicked for them recently and then self-belief goes.
“So we have to get them back to believing in themselves.”
Bowman also expressed sympathy for striker Mario Bilate, whose season is over before it really began after he damaged his cruciate.
“It is a disaster for Mario,” he said. “He ruptured his cruciate on Monday in training.
“He fought hard to get back to fitness and came on last week against St Johnstone so it is a massive blow for everyone, most of all him.
“To fight his way back from all the problems he has had with his hamstring and to then rupture his cruciate is terrible news.
“He went down at the time with nobody near him on the pitch and you just knew straight away that it was something serious.
“He will do his rehab here and I think he is convinced that he wants to do the hard work and stay positive that he can come back, kick on from this and do well for this club.”