A firebrand who took on the world ... and won
JIM McLean versus the world. It always seemed like that, anyway. With McLean winning more often than he lost. His death at the age of 83 is guaranteed to prompt both sadness and, once the initial grief and sense of loss has eased, a flurry of reminiscences about a character whose force of will, acumen and ability made him one of the best — and most talked-about — football managers Scotland has ever seen.
The stories about his famous authoritarian streak, tales veering from the apocryphal and exaggerated to the absolutely accurate, are bound to provoke well-practised smiles and nods, as all who ever dealt with him acknowledge just how maddening the man could be.
But to caricature McLean as no more than a hard taskmaster, obstinate to a fault, would be to capture only part of the public persona. And a fraction of what made him so impressive.
For what he did with Dundee United, overcoming the kind of odds that made Leicester City’s 2016 Premier League triumph seem ordinary by comparison, McLean more than deserves his place among the pantheon of greats.
If even his most ardent admirers occasionally had cause to cross words with or — more likely — quietly complain about a man who arrived at Tannadice from just across the road with rivals Dundee at the age of 34, none will deny his brilliance.
Under his guidance, United were transformed into a club capable of striking fear into the hearts of opponents, both domestic and European.
The ‘other guy’ in a New Firm partnership that saw his team and Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen shake up the established order back in the 1980s, McLean was every bit as innovative and exciting a coaching talent as his fellow firebrand up in the Granite City.
Winning the league at Dens Park in 1983 remains a favourite memory of United fans for obvious reasons. The League Cup was won twice on his watch, too, in 1979 and 1980.
For all those who witnessed McLean’s genius brought to life by a team of heroes, however, it is the European adventures that will always take pride of place.
Barcelona were beaten by United in the Nou Camp. Roma had to cheat and bribe their way through a European Cup semi-final to get past them.
United probably should have won the 1987 UEFA Cup after dispatching Barca, losing to Gothenburg in the two-legged final.
The results themselves don’t tell half the story. No more than anyone can fully explain how electrifying, how utterly spine-tingling, it was for any Scottish football fan to watch United in action back on those glorious Euro nights.
Fearless, swashbuckling, dismissive of reputations and armed with a knowledge that they were as good as anyone, McLean’s United rarely seemed troubled by an occasion.
That Barca side they faced in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 1987 were managed by Terry Venables, while their squad included such proven stars as Gary Lineker and Mark Hughes.
Yet a 21- year- old Kevin Gallacher scored the only goal in the first leg at Tannadice, before John Clark and Iain Ferguson each found the net in a 2-1 win in Catalonia. Even now, it seems utterly remarkable to think that this ever happened.
THEplayers who worked so hard for McLean back in the glory days, as much as they may have railed against his demands on occasion, each knew just how good he was.
Talk to them now and they’ll recall him talking more about what they would do to the opposition — yes, even Barcelona — than filling their heads with doom-laden warnings.
He understood the chemistry of a dressing room. Knew that occasionally the best ploy was to unite the team in protest against him, if that was going to get a performance out of them.
To say that his players all loved him would be stretching things. Many fell foul of his temper over the years, while his attempts to tie players to the club — lengthy contracts and keeping approaches from bigger teams quiet — created a degree of rancour.
But not one of the players doubted his ability, with his problem-solving ability during t he mayhem of a match obvious to all.
Paul Sturrock, of all former pupils arguably the closest to his old mentor, was clear on this point.
‘He was a tactical genius,’ said Sturrock, whose own forays into management gifted him an even greater appreciation of what McLean had done.
‘He could tinker with positions during a game, switch us or make substitutions which altered the course of a match.
‘ He had always done his homework, of course. But it was the improvisations he came up with which we came to utterly trust and respect, and which made al l t he difference.
‘And he built a great side. I mean, we got to the European Cup semi-final (in 1984) and then found out that the referee had taken a bribe. So we could have been in the final against Liverpool. I mean, Dundee United? It’s incredible really.
‘When you think about it, only two teams outside the Old Firm have won the Premier League since it started in 1975. Two teams.
‘ It was a special time in Scottish football history. If you speak to anybody of my ilk, they remember two teams — Aberdeen and Dundee United. Everybody remembers the New Firm. Everybody.’
For his part in that era alone, McLean deserves plaudits. Had he taken up an offer to manage Rangers or even been invited to take on the Scotland job, a post that always seemed to elude him despite assisting Jock Stein for four years, would he have built something else from scratch?
We’ll never know. Because stay at Tannadice he did, taking on a place on the board before eventually stepping down as manager in 1993. A full 22 years after he had crossed the Dundee divide.
By the time he left the club altogether, having stepped down as chairman following an on- camera assault on a TV j ournalist, t hen s old his shareholding in 2002, he was overdue a break.
Life out of the dugout had never suited him. Ask any of the managers who worked under him and t hey will undoubtedly agree; tales of him passing notes down to the t echnical area are most definitely grounded in fact.
Well, what did we really expect? After all, Jim knew best. He’d proven that time and again. By taking on the world — and winning.