A barking mad move to United excites Mellon
MICKY MELLON admits that relocating from England to his new home in Scotland has felt a bit like planes, trains and automobiles during lockdown.
And the Dundee United boss says the final touch will now be like Noah’s Ark as he welcomes the rest of his family and their impressive array of animals into their new home in the city.
Mellon has been living on his own since taking the job at Tannadice earlier this summer. But he’s looking forward to making it a family affair now that restrictions have eased slightly.
‘My family haven’t been up yet,’ he said. ‘They’ll all move up next week. It will be like Noah’s Ark with all the animals that we have.
‘We’ve got pretty much everything. We’ve got horses and dogs and all sorts. So it will be good fun trying to get the Ark up the River Tay!
‘We are looking forward to mooring that and getting them all acquainted with their new surroundings.
‘My missus is into all that. It will be great to have them up. That’s what makes it a family and a home, so we’re looking forward to it.
‘They’ll all be up. We’ll be moving into our new house and we’re looking forward to that.
‘In terms of myself being in and around the city, it’s been terrific. I’ve really enjoyed it and I’ve been able to speak to a lot of the fans, socially distanced of course.
‘You can see the appetite that they have to have a really strong football team in the city. So it’s important that I’m out meeting them and they can get to know me as a person as well.’
Mellon will take charge of United for the first time this afternoon as they host St Johnstone in their first game since returning to the top flight.
On the prospect of a limited number of fans returning to Scottish football stadia as of September, he said: ‘It is terrific, we all know what football means to fans. That is what it is all about.
‘Particularly here at Dundee United, to get the fans back in to celebrate their team being back in the Premier League again is huge.
‘It is a terrific step forward. We all love football with the fans and the atmosphere. It should be terrific.
‘Fans are the lifeblood of the club and it is important to see we are making progress against a terrible virus is pleasing as well. We must feel it is safe to do that and it is a great boost to everyone.’
Meanwhile, Craig Conway admits it will be a ‘little strange’ if he makes his St Johnstone debut at former club United today.
The 35-year-old attacker had been training with Saints for a number of weeks following his release from Salford and has now signed a one-year deal at McDiarmid Park.
Conway goes straight into Callum Davidson’s squad for the trip to Tannadice and it will bring back memories of his time at United between 2006 and 2011, where the highlight was scoring twice in the 2010 Scottish Cup final win over Ross County.
‘It’s been a mad few months for me but I’m delighted to be here,’ Conway told St Johnstone’s official website. ‘I think it’s been about ten years since I last lived in Scotland and I actually stayed in Perth while I was playing for Dundee United, so it’s great to be back.
‘The first game of the season will be against my old club and I just knew that would happen!
‘I’m looking forward to it if I’m involved, although it will be a little strange going back there.’
Conway, capped seven times for Scotland, also played for Cardiff, Brighton and Blackburn and is looking to use that experience to help some of the younger players in the Saints squad.
He said: ‘I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of games for some big clubs and I think I bring that experience in to help what is a young and talented squad here.
‘From what I’ve seen in training, there’s a lot of quality here and, hopefully, I can help add to that.
‘I’m feeling fit and I’ve been training with my previous club Salford up until about four weeks ago as well, so I’m raring to go.’ Conway claims manager Davidson’s vision for St Johnstone played a big part in his decision to join the Perth club.
He said: ‘I always go on my gut feeling and having spoken to the manager a lot, I got a really good vibe. I was very happy with the things he was saying about the club, his vision moving forward and how he saw me fitting into that.
‘It’s great to be a part of it and I’m just looking forward to being out there on the pitch and getting the new season started.’