UP BEATS CUP
McLaren: Promotion the priority for United over Hampden glory
ANDY McLAREN reckons Dundee United would gladly swap Scottish Cup glory for guaranteed promotion this season.
The former Tannadice winger was part of a United side under Ivan Golac who lifted the trophy in 1994 to deny Rangers a double Treble.
Robbie Neilson’s team sit five points behind Ross County, who have played one game less, in a title race which McLaren is adamant will take priority despite his old side facing a quarter-final against Inverness on Sunday.
He said: “United will want to win because it is the chance to make a semi-final and that’s an impressive thing to have on your CV.
“They have put themselves into a half-decent position in the league.
“They have bought well in the January window and will want to push on.
“But if they had to pick one I think they would pick getting promoted over winning the Scottish Cup.”
The 45-year-old recalls that Hampden win 25 years ago and is convinced self-belief and the exuberance of youth seized the day.
He said: “Rangers were favourites and there was all this talk from outside about hoodoos for Dundee United. But there was no talk of that in the dressing room.
“Before the final Maurice Malpas turned to me and said, ‘Take this all in, it might never happen again.’
“I remember thinking he was daft because I expected to make a lot more finals than just that one.
“The way it turned out it was the only one I played in so maybe I should have listened more to Maurice. At 20 you don’t take in as much as you should.
“I got to play in one final and although I thought I’d get a lot more, that is still more than some people have.
“We had self-belief in that team at the time because Ivan Golac was big on that. We never went into the final thinking we were underdogs. Maybe it was my youthfulness but we were confident going into the game.
“When I look back now we had no reason to believe it because Rangers were flying. But at the time the way we were set up we were
relaxed and we believed. Even when we went to places like Celtic Park and Ibrox he set us up to win.
“We were never intimidated because we knew we had a good team and could be a match for anyone.”
McLaren admits there have been dressing rooms he’s been in when teams were beaten before a ball was kicked.
He said: “You look around and you see guys who don’t fancy it. They have a lack of confidence or belief in themselves that they could beat the likes of the Old Firm.
“You would look at these guys before the game and think we’ve no chance now.
“I was never like that – I always thought we could win every game. For me you wanted to play at places like Ibrox or Celtic Park, you always want to play in the big stadiums.”
McLaren was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.