Dundee United boss Csaba Laszlo dedicated his first league win in charge of the Tangerines to the club’s supporters, aka “the Arabs.”
Laszlo’s promotion push got off to a flying start as an outstanding United performance swept Falkirk aside 3-0 at Tannadice yesterday to move three points clear of St Mirren at the top of the Championship.
First-half goals from Scott McDonald, Jamie Robson and Willo Flood, who was replaced at half-time as a precaution because of a dead leg, had the match sewn up at the break. The Tangerines were then almost as dominant in the second period but just couldn’t add to their tally.
That meant the home support went home for Sunday dinner with smiles on their faces and that made the Hungarian very happy indeed.
Laszlo said: “Success for the team is success for the fans as well.
“I think the Arabs deserved to see this kind of football in their own stadium.
“They stood for 90 minutes behind us and that made the job for the players easier.
“To be honest, I am happy because I saw the fans and the players be together.
“I think one time at Ibrox (when he was Hearts manager) I talked about my team playing sexy football and this was talked about a lot. For me, it was good to see this kind of football again.
“You can enjoy the game together if you win and our mission is to bring the fans back to the stadium.
“I am not important,” he added.
“I stay, always, in the background and do my job but it is also my mission to get the fanbase growing and the confidence of the players growing.
“It is our mission to go forward together, hopefully to the Premiership.”
Laszlo believes victory will provide his players with a psychological boost but warned that they should not dwell on being leaders.
He said: “Football can be psychology and you see that when you win the three points and you move clear at the top of the table.
“It is a little bit tricky because the other teams didn’t play but the first thing I hear when I come into the dressing room is: ‘Gaffer, you know we are now top!’
“I told that player that it is now that we have to work and be more focused because everybody will want to push you down when you are at the top.
“Now we have to keep this position but do so with a lot of thought.
“We have to handle the pressure and I hope that today we took a little step in that direction.
“There are a lot of games to go so for us it is very important not to watch the table.
“We need to just go game to game. We have Brechin on Saturday and this is now our most important match.”
