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JIM SPENCE: Dundee United were reeling over self-isolation blow – now they’ll be sweating over potentially costly team photo

Dundee United boss Micky Mellon and sporting director Tony Asghar.
United manager Micky Mellon and sporting director Tony Asghar.

Dundee United will be sweating after the punishments handed out to Kilmarnock and St Mirren for breaches of Covid protocols.

3-0 losses were awarded against both teams for breaches of social distancing rules, plus £40,000 suspended fines.

United may now be fingered for a recent team photograph in which the entire squad appears to have broken the rules.

The Tannadice side was already reeling from news that they would be heading to Livingston minus their manager and his first team coaches, plus nine players, who are all having to self-isolate.

The rules may be difficult to follow and arguably completely inconsistent, especially when you see players celebrate a goal by hugging and jumping on top of each other.

However, all clubs now know that eternal vigilance is a fundamental requirement in this current pandemic.

That means their efforts towards scrupulous and detailed thinking must be redoubled on every aspect of day-to-day organisation.

Mistakes are proving too expensive for clubs not to be completely rigorous.


Saints fans hope to see more scenes of celebration on Sunday.

St Johnstone are currently flowering on-field while Celtic are wilting, so there’ll never be a better time for Saints to cut them down than on Sunday.

Celtic are in free-fall by their usual high standards while Saints are playing impressively creative football and last lost at the start of October.

With Celtic Park shorn of baying fans there’ll be much less pressure on the referee and that gives Callum Davidson’s side a great opportunity to take three points.

These chances don’t present themselves often given the huge financial chasm between the clubs.

It’ll require character, belief and bravado, but Celtic are a family at war.

The Hoops fans are enraged, with their manager, players and board under attack as their ‘10-in-a-row’ season threatens to implode.

A house divided cannot long stand. Saints will never have a better opportunity to dig in and further undermine the foundations of the troubled club in Glasgow’s East End.


Dundee legend Bobby Wishart pictured in 1962.
Dundee legend Bobby Wishart pictured in 1962.

If the current Dundee players are looking for inspiration to lift their ailing season they can find it in the passing of Dens Park hero Bobby Wishart.

The left half was a member of the superb league winning team of 1962, played in both legs of the 1963 European Cup semi-final against AC Milan and scored a goal in the epic 8-1 annihilation of Cologne.

At the time, Dundee were still a major force in Scottish football, with matches at Dens pulling in five-figure crowds and 38,000 packing Dens for the game against Milan.

Admittedly, with supreme talents like Gilzean, Hamilton, Cox, Wishart and the like on show, it’s understandable that crowds then would dwarf those of recent times.

History proves the pedigree of player once proudly curated at Dens.

The current crop can surely draw inspiration from the fact they wear the shirt of a club with such an illustrious past.

They may not match the giants of yesteryear for ability but, if they can invoke a modicum of their spirit, that would be a fitting memorial in a week when a true Dens legend left us.