NOW NO ONE IS DOUBTING THOMAS
They said Courts was too wet behind the ears to be a top-flight boss. But he’s confounded the critics by revitalising United, remains unrepentant over his anti-racism display... and doesn’t actually care a jot if the Press refer to him as Thomas or plain old Tam!
DUNDEE UNitED’s new manager was confronted with questions from day one. Winning over a sceptical support would take time, patience and a steady nerve. Drawing a smile from the face of Jim McLean’s statue might have been easier.
Beating Rangers on day two of the season helped to spike the guns of supporters’ groups asking why the head of the academy became first-team manager overnight.
Victory in his first Dundee derby quelled the naysayers who thought he was the cheap and easy appointment. A tactically astute draw with Celtic at Parkhead suggested that, after all the carping, the rookie in the technical area might actually know what he was doing.
With the Doubting thomases a little quieter these days, there’s just one tricky question left for the new man to answer. Why does no one call him tam any more?
‘this is something that has actually caused me a lot of angst,’ he tells Sportsmail, only half in jest. ‘i was announced by Dundee United as tam Courts. then i think the club felt it would be better to have my sunday name of thomas.
‘Even when i’m doing the pre and post-match interviews i still get people asking: “should we call you tam or thomas?”.
‘And i’m like: “Honestly, i really don’t give a s***”.’
Cutting his teeth at Kelty Hearts, there was no ambiguity. in the mining villages of Fife everyone knew him as Big tam from Lochgelly.
Appointed player-manager at the age of 32, Courts won the East Region super League and led the club to the East of scotland super League. By 2018, they were top of the Lowland League and cruising towards the senior ranks when he made a sudden, unexpected decision to quit. A proud Fifer, the Kingdom had offered Courts a home, an identity and an upbringing. the one thing it couldn’t give him was a vehicle to coach players at the highest level.
For two years he worked for a performance design company and came close to jobs with West Ham, sheffield United and NAC Breda before he was appointed head of tactical performance for Dundee United’s youth academy in October 2019. two years later, he sits as manager of the team sitting fourth in the Premiership. Despite the rapid upturn in fortunes, he still thinks of himself as tam, the father of four who lives in a small village
outside
Glenrothes. the only people inclined to call him thomas are his mother, confused journalists and the brains at Dundee United, who felt it might look better on the office nameplate of the first-team manager. ‘My mum is the only one who has a problem with tam,’ he admits. ‘she can’t stand it. ‘But i have been known as tam to my friends my whole life and i really don’t know why this has become “a thing”. ‘My biggest worry is that people might think i am the one causing the confusion over my name. i’m really not. ‘People can call me whatever they want. trust me. When you’re a football manager you get called a hell of a lot worse. thomas or tam is the least of your worries…’ His worries took on a new dimension last
December when a text arrived asking him to help manager Micky Mellon with first-team duties the next day. shortly after pitching up at the training ground, Mellon and his coaching staff were ordered to self-isolate. Days later he was taking charge of the first team for a 2-0 defeat to Livingston.
‘Events were turning a bit surreal,’ he admits now. ‘i turned up to help Micky not expecting much. By the end of that week i was taking the team for games. i suppose you might call it a unique learning situation…’
He never harboured an ambition — subliminal or otherwise — to be the manager of Dundee United.
As head of tactical performance in the academy, he focused his attentions on youth football. the plan was to learn his trade then, in time, realise his first-team ambitions at another club.
As rumours of Mellon’s uneasy relationship with the club hierarchy began to do the rounds, however, the Covid issue started to feel less like a baptism of fire and more like an audition.
‘A lot of my first-team managerial ambitions were suppressed when i decided to go into the academy
‘the unintended consequence of being pitched back in at first-team level was that it confirmed to me i could operate at that level. Not only that, but i felt ready to do it now.
‘When i first arrived at the club i think they had respected the fact i was making a bit of a left-field career decision by going into the academy when the easiest thing to do would have been to get another first-team management job here or abroad.
‘i was never trying to circumnavigate my way into position or trying to get access to other areas of the club. i was really committed to working with the young players and coaches. Being
associated with Dundee United and their network might give me the leverage to get an opportunity elsewhere if I did a good job. But the plan was never to move into the role I’m in now.’
When United handed one of the prize jobs in Scottish football management to a relative unknown, it raised eyebrows.
Yet Courts bristles slightly at the notion he was ever some kind of cut-price boardroom stooge.
‘I never wanted to set off on a journey at Dundee United where I was seen by everybody as a cheap or an easy appointment,’ he says.
‘Through the interview process it was important to me that I was treated the same as the other candidates.
‘I didn’t want them to view me as the board’s man. I didn’t want to be treated as a risk or as a brave, risky appointment — even if we all knew that was the case.
‘We all knew that perception was always out there. But don’t be in any doubt that I held the board to account and made sure they were compatible with my ambitions as well.
‘Anyone who knows me knows I have convictions and principles as a manager and a leader.’
He proved that the day he stormed on to the Tannadice pitch waving a Show Racism The Red Card hoodie after an alleged comment directed at key midfielder Jeando Fuchs by a Ross County fan. While the Highlanders vehemently disputed the claim, Courts remains unrepentant.
‘It was obviously a very bold action. It’s something which, in a lot of respects, I feel proud about,’ he adds.
‘It’s not something I want to sensationalise between the two clubs. I feel the tribal element should be put to one side with an issue like this. I have so much respect for Ross County.
‘We must strive to be better as a society and what’s been overlooked is the bravery of the Ross County fan who actually sent us an email to confirm what happened.
‘But what we can’t overlook is that when players are out on the pitch their families are in the stadium, their parents are watching and, from our perspective, we have the privilege of being white and sometimes we don’t understand the experiences of these black players and what they have experienced.
‘Jeando is the father to a young boy and naturally you want to be protective of his future as well.’
Ross County boss Malky Mackay described the actions of Courts as ‘interesting judgment’ and the subtext was obvious.
Some regarded his stance as the headstrong impetuosity of a newcomer yet to learn how to play the game. Exasperated by the perception that he was ever some wet-behind-the-ears managerial rookie, Courts disputes that.
‘I find that stuff quite frustrating. I’m fortunate at Dundee United because I have access to better staff, more professional staff, I have better resources.
‘But, in so many respects, managing Kelty was actually tougher because I was younger, I was more inexperienced and, for two years, I was playing as well.’
Taking charge of Kelty in 2013, he saved the club from relegation, won three league titles in five years and left the club on the cusp of senior football before Barry Ferguson’s arrival.
‘I racked up 300 or 400 games as a manager,’ he points out. ‘I had quite a high win ratio and I came to consider myself quite an experienced manager.
‘There are actually very few challenges in the Dundee United dressing room that I didn’t find at
I made sure the United board were compatible with my ambitions, too
Kelty. At United, there is more at stake, the players are more professional and naturally better players. But the actual job? That doesn’t really change.’
Six points behind leaders Rangers and only two adrift of Celtic in second, few would dispute he’s getting the hang of things.
‘My appointment wasn’t met with a great deal of enthusiasm or positivity,’ he admits.
‘So I knew I was going to have to turn quite a substantial fanbase around in a very short time.
‘Thanks to the performance levels of the players, a passionate fanbase have jumped on board.’
Travelling to Tynecastle to face Hearts today, United have sold their full allocation of tickets. No one is doubting Thomas any more.