John Rankin insists it will be grins not grimaces on the faces of the Dundee United players during tomorrow’s eagerly-anticipated League Cup Final against Celtic at Hampden.
The 30-year-old midfielder was in the Tangerines side beaten by St Johnstone in last season’s Scottish Cup Final and while looking back on that game is obviously a painful experience, Rankin believes lessons have been learned from the bitter disappointment of defeat chief among them, that the United players need to have a smile on their faces when they take on the Hoops.
Certainly, if the buoyant mood in the camp that was evident during the club’s press day at their St Andrews training base is carried over into tomorrow’s game, then Jackie McNamara’s men can be confident of lifting silverware at the National Stadium.
Rankin said: “People keep saying we have reached back-to-back cup finals but we let ourselves down in the last one. By letting ourselves down, I don’t mean by losing the final.
“I just mean it wasn’t the real United side from last season that turned up. The real United who so often got bums off seats and excited crowds and played with no fears. A team that cut other sides open.
“We just didn’t see that at all on the day and hopefully this cup final you will see a United side which resembles the one that you have seen more often than not this season.
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“I don’t think we spoke much about the cup final afterwards. It was a sore point. Nobody looks back on it with fond memories, because our performance wasn’t one that merited speaking about afterwards.
“We’ve got the chance to address that and put it right and if we put in a good performance a battling performance with pride, passion and desire like we did against Celtic last weekend the fans will be right behind us.
Rankin added: “The biggest thing is we need to enjoy ourselves this year. We never enjoyed ourselves last year. If you look back at the final, if you look at the DVD, you won’t see a United player playing with a smile on their face. There wasn’t one that day. We need to go into the game with a relaxed feeling and a determination that we are going to enjoy ourselves.
“If we come off the park with a smile on our face, having worked and fought tooth and nail, there’s no reason why we can’t be successful on Sunday.
“Why were there no smiles? I don’t think it was expectation. I think it was more a fear of going and winning a trophy. People talk about expectation but we handled the expectation of the league season and the semi-final of going to Ibrox and playing Rangers in a hostile atmosphere.
“I think we played with a fear that we weren’t going to achieve something. We need to play with a smile and be relaxed and who knows what can happen?”
There was certainly a relaxed feeling at St Andrews with several cheers emanating from inside the dressing-room prior to the players meeting the media.
And Rankin explained what the noise was all about.
He said: “I’ll tell you what the cheering was about. We had an empty water bottle and the game was to throw it into the bin. There were a few boys fined and rather than paying their £35, £30, £40 fines, we had a game of double or quits.
“So if they missed, their fine doubled. And we were that excited when people missed and the fines were doubling that we were cheering. We had 18 boys in there singing and dancing and shouting because their mate was getting an even bigger fine!”
Rankin revealed that there was certainly no laughing in the dressing-room prior to the final with Saints.
He is keen that atmosphere is not repeated at Hampden on Sunday, even if joker in chief Nadir Ciftci is suspended and will miss the game.
Rankin said: “People tipped us as favourites against St Johnstone but we didn’t see it like that. It was just a disappointing day.
“I keep going back to it, we never enjoyed ourselves. Even in the dressing-room we were uptight.
“Nadir is unfortunately suspended but he is one of the main jokers in the dressing-room. If he’s not worried about the game, hopefully he will be there to entertain us with his socks on the wrong feet and his boxer shorts on inside out because he hasn’t cleaned them. That sort of stuff relaxes you. It might do the trick but we need a bit of relaxation in the dressing-room.
“It was a quiet determination in the dressing-room before St Johnstone rather than the usual upbeat atmosphere. We need a joke, something just to get the boys to relax.
“I’m joking now but on Sunday I will be one of the serious ones. But we do need to have that camaraderie. You probably heard it while you were waiting here but the boys are absolutely buzzing.
“They are so excited. If we can have that laugh and carry on and treat it like a normal game, not a big occasion, then there’s no reason why we can’t be successful.”
Rankin believes that United are better prepared for tomorrow’s game compared to last season’s final in terms of the experience within the team.
He added: “It’s an old clich but it’s true. You have to play the game and not the occasion. But we are a wee bit more experienced this year.
“Ryan McGowan has come in and he’s won a cup before and he’s got experience of going to the World Cup last summer. And we’ve got a fair number who played in the final last year so there’s that wee bit more experience about us this year.
“There’s not that sense of the unknown that there was last season. We are really looking forward to it and the younger lads are not fazed at all. They are excited. And if we play the game then who knows what can happen.”