Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Calum Woodger
Whatever happens Micky has Utd in a better place
IF you’ve come here looking for a definitive answer on whether Dundee United boss Micky Mellon will be at Tannadice next season – you’re in the wrong place.
Nobody but the man himself knows for sure where his future lies amid interest in his services from Doncaster Rovers.
What I can tell you for sure, though, is, if Mellon leaves United, he leaves it in a far better place than he found it.
Don’t get me wrong, the Tangerines weren’t in a bad state, far from it – they’d just cantered to the Championship title under Robbie Neilson and were looking forward to their first season back in the top flight since 2016.
However, Mellon’s work – which has been particularly evident in their recent four-game Premiership unbeaten run – has allowed the Terrors to quickly establish themselves back at the top table.
He’s not a young, fashionable, cardigan-clad, laptop boss, and certainly hasn’t won many fans over with his style of play, but Mellon is nothing if not effective.
His teams win by staying in games. And those wins have United staying in the top flight for another season.
Whether he stays or goes, Mellon has given the Tangerines a platform to build on for the new campaign.
He’s bought into the club, its culture and aims, and always leads from the front with a smile – or occasionally a bark.
His passion for the job has never been in doubt – and a fine job he has done leading the Tangerines to safety, currently sitting seventh with four games to go.
However, with that passion comes ambition – and the challenge of taking League
One Donny into the English Championship might just prove too much of a lure to turn down.
With his family still down south, where Mellon has spent the vast majority of his playing and management career, he could easily have his head turned.
I’d suggest he may well be headed for Yorkshire come the summer – and that would stick in the craw of some Arabs.
Although he’s not a big name up here and was never a popular choice among the fanbase, perhaps seen as a transition boss following Neilson’s sudden exit for Hearts, Mellon is highly thought of down south.
Now, I don’t think the
United support would be too bothered if Mellon jumped ship with a year left to run on his contract say for a Sunderland or an Ipswich.
What will hurt Arabs, though, if Mellon departs for Doncaster, is the idea of the manager’s office at the Keepmoat Stadium being a bigger job than a seat once occupied by Jim McLean.
In modern football, things are very different, and for most people’s money Dundee United will always be a bigger club than Doncaster Rovers.
What’s for sure, though – if they are ever to recapture those glory days – Mellon will have started them on the road.