Dundee boss Neil McCann needs his men to start converting good play into wins, or face a relegation scrap.
With plans for a move to a new stadium, the prospect of Championship football can’t be countenanced.
The team is playing well, but results are grim.
The table doesn’t lie, a five game losing run, two wins from 13 league outings, and being bottom club in the pile can rattle the confidence of players and fans.
The board were convinced that their former player and Sky Sports pundit was the man for the job, so it’s imperative they hold their nerve, despite some supporter rumblings.
Any new manager takes time to find his feet: that goes with the territory.
It’s also where directors show their mettle.
Support and assistance and a clear message that his philosophy and ideas are being backed to the hilt are crucial.
McCann exudes confidence, insisting that his players are free to express themselves.
All managers lead from the front and set an example to the players. If he is unwavering in his belief in them then that should eventually become infectious.
Dundee as a club has long been bedevilled by change and turmoil. What’s needed now is a solid sense of stability.
* Tommy Wright was the man Dundee United wanted to replace Ray McKinnon, but too many obstacles, including the possibility, and timing of the Northern Ireland job becoming available, got in the way.Â
Wright has admitted that managing his country is his dream job, and when Michael O Neill vacates the post shortly, as he will, Wright is the ideal man and the front runner to fill his shoes.
There’s a time for everyone to move to pastures new, and this could be it for the Saints boss, to accept his biggest football challenge.
If he does leave, Saints fans will reflect on the most successful period in the club’s history.
If he doesn’t, then chairman Steve Brown may have to set aside some financial caution to strengthen the squad in January, to ensure top six status.
* Csaba Laszlo has wasted no time showing that he means business at Tannadice.
Cancelling the rest day of the players on Wednesdays clearly indicates that he is in determined mood, and that might mean that anyone who doesn’t like it can shape up or ship out.
I’m told that he turned down another job to take the Tannadice challenge on.
He has inherited by far the best squad in the league, but football seldom rewards those who don’t put the required graft in.
Laszlo knows how to make a team work in challenging circumstances.
Under the zany ownership of Vladimir Romanov, he took Hearts to a third-placed league finish and into Europe.
By now the United players will know that his apparently easy-going charm and bonhomie hides an iron fist in a velvet glove.
United have the squad capable of winning the Championship. They need to do that this season at the second time of asking.
Csaba Laszlo knows that it must be achieved to satisfy the ambitions of the fans, the directors, and himself.
