Sunday’s derby is far bigger for Dundee than United.
Jim Goodwin’s Tangerines hold a 13-point advantage over Tony Docherty’s Dark Blues and their Premiership status for next season is assured.
But while a home win for United would edge them closer towards a guaranteed top six finish, for Dundee, defeat would see them drawing ever closer to a disastrous drop.
This one game won’t settle anything, but it will reaffirm the direction of travel for both clubs.
United’s progress in their first season back in the Premiership has been stellar, while Dundee’s regression after a solid last season has been wretched.
The Dark Blues’ downward spiral is all the more frustrating since they possess undoubted creative talent.
Some fans think there are too many loan players and that some of them aren’t committed enough, and I’ve seen some fans complaining – I think churlishly – that, in fact, under Docherty, they only scraped into the top six last season.
The clear reality is that Dundee leak goals and have proved unable to maintain real defensive integrity in games.
These are worrying times at Dens Park.
With planning permission for Dundee’s proposed new stadium still unresolved and the very real possibility of relegation hanging over them, there’s restlessness among supporters as to the direction of the club.
A similar season to last would have seen Dundee consolidate and re-galvanise some of their latent support. Instead, fans feel they’ve been let down once again.
Instead of emerging from the shadow that United have cast over them for a long time, they’ve managed to undo last season’s good work and face the very real possibility of disappearing back into the Championship twilight.
They must grasp the opportunity on Sunday to make sure that doesn’t happen.
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