Laszlo can guide Utd to Premiership

HOPEFULLY successful, probably playing a decent brand of football and most definitely colourful.

Those phrases pretty much sum up what Dundee United fans can expect from new boss Csaba Laszlo as he takes charge of their team from today.

A Romanian-born Hungarian, that complicated heritage gives a hint this is no straightforward character. He’s known for being able to talk the hind legs off a donkey and has a liking for a colourful quote.

He’s regarded by those who’ve come across him as a respectful character who prefers to talk up his own team rather than criticise others.

People who worked more closely with him will also say, affable as the 53-year-old seems, he’s not a man to cross. If he gives an order, the wise path is to make sure it’s carried out.

Most encouraging for Arabs, this man of many teams — he’s managed the Ugandan national side as well as seven clubs — is remembered by most as one who made their side better.

A central midfielder as a player, he moved into coaching at just 27 after a knee injury forced him to quit.

His progress was quick and a blossoming reputation in Hungary was enough to see him appointed assistant boss when German legend Lothar Matthaus took charge of their national team in 2004.

Later that same year he became a manager in his own right at topdivision level when he joined Ferencvarosi. It was during his time there he first came on Hearts’ radar when he beat them in a Uefa Cup tie.

Setting a nomadic pattern he’s maintained since, Laszlo quickly moved on to FC Sopron and, in a matter of months, left there for Uganda.

In two years i n i nternational football he took them to within goal difference of qualifying for the African Cup of Nations finals and, in two years in charge, moved the team into the top 100 in Fifa’s rankings.

That success saw Hearts come calling and the period that’s made his name familiar here in Scotland. With owner Vladimir Romanov at his most erratic, just the fact he managed to