This weekend’s Dundee derby sees United closing in on a top six place and the possibility of European football while Dundee are scrapping for their league survival.
Mark McGhee’s television interview this week where he admitted telling his players that they wouldn’t win many games has drawn a bemused reaction from some fans and a very angry one from others, but while it may seem overly negative I’m tempted to the view that you can’t kid a kidder.
A dark blues side which has won just 5 of 32 league games is unlikely to harbour a serious belief that they’re suddenly about to beat all before them in the season’s remaining games.
Had the manager informed them blithely that he expected them to breeze through the rest of the fixtures with a mighty haul of points fans would’ve been calling for folk in white coats to come and collect him.
Managers aren’t miracle workers and while I’m not sure that McGhee’s grim assessment was the shrewdest of PR ploys, and is highly unlikely to motivate the troops either on or off the field, the statistics suggest that he’s simply imparted a very harsh truth, albeit in somewhat insensitive fashion.
Most Dundee fans that I know think McGhee’s appointment was a big mistake and his honest if brutal views on their chances for the remaining matches is only likely to aggravate their sense of outrage.
His opposite number in the Tannadice technical area is in a completely different situation.
Heading into the derby as hot favourites Tam Courts United side are on the cusp of finishing the season in very successful fashion.
I said last week that some supporters feel short changed by the enjoyment factor on show and while ultimately I think that results come first, I also think there is a requirement for Utd to entertain their supporters.
Football is about winning but it also should excite and thrill the fans who pay their hard earned money.
Losing the match won’t definitely relegate Dundee but it narrows their window to escape that fate, while a win for United opens the door to opportunities to increase income and prestige in the top half of the table with the very substantial carrot of a European place dangling before them.
St Johnstone’s two league wins on the bounce and their mini revival is testimony to how freshening up a squad, even in the January window which is a difficult one to deal in, can galvanise and re energise things.
Callum Davidson’s side have given themselves a fighting chance of avoiding the drop.
Freshening things up has had an impact with players who looked under par rediscovering their zest and spirit.
That happens when there’s competition for places and when new players refresh the appetite and hunger of those who may have been jaded.
It helps too that because of Saints solid sensibility in the boardroom, there was rightly very little chance of the managers job being in jeopardy.
Now a new found confidence is burgeoning with Callum Hendry leading the line and becoming a talisman for a renewed spirit at McDiarmid Park.
