The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Play-offs always the target for McKinnon
Boss praises ‘supportive’ board
Dundee United boss Ray McKinnon insists that he is under no pressure from chairman Stephen Thompson and the board of directors.
This follows a run of six defeats in their last 10 Championship fixtures which has seen the Tannadice club go from being table-toppers to lying behind Hibs, Falkirk and Morton – a period which also included a 6-2 William Hill Scottish Cup defeat by Ross County.
With fifth-placed Queen of the South nine points adrift of United, a top-four finish seems certain and McKinnon revealed that that was his remit at the start of the campaign.
“The board have been supportive,” he claimed.
“They knew what we took on in the summer when we put a team together in just six weeks.
“What we’re doing is building this club for the future and trying to bring in a recruitment strategy for next season to take the club forward.
“We don’t have that yet and identifying players is massively important. We’re getting that done behind the scenes, putting things in place which will benefit us in the long term.
“So there’s no pressure being put on me. All that was asked of me was that we would be in the play-offs with a chance of going up.”
The very fact that McKinnon is putting plans in place for next season indicates the confidence he has in the security of his position.
“We haven’t had a chance since we’ve come in to go down to England and watch teams or individual players who are coming out of contract,” explained McKinnon.
“That’s being brought in and it’s going to be implemented very soon and that will allow us to do our homework on players.
“You need to have your finger on the pulse everywhere if you’re going to get value for money. It’s easy to make mistakes.
“We’ve looked at a couple of players up here and thought: ‘Yes, he’s all right’ but, now that we’re getting our structure in place, we’ve been able to have them watched on more occasions and now we won’t be making moves for them.
“After multiple viewing, we decided that they weren’t quite good enough for us after all. So we’re hoping to drive on with the scouting network.
“When we came in we were competing with teams like Barnet. It’s hard to try and get people to relocate their families up here when you are competing with the wages on offer down there.
“It’s tough and you have to work really hard to find the nuggets, the people who will improve your team. That’s going to be the key to our success – finding good players on our budget.”
However, while McKinnon is convinced he will still be at Tannadice next season, some of the current first team might not be.
“The fact is we have a bunch of players who are out of contract and it’s important that they play well enough to earn a new one,” he said.
“Nothing will be decided until the end of the season. Their fate is in their hands but everyone else is in the same boat – you can’t do forward planning until you know which division you’re going to be in.
“I won’t know what my budget for next season will be until that’s decided. That’s just a fact of life.”
This weekend’s Irn Bru Cup final against St Mirren at Fir Park at least gives United the opportunity to collect some silverware this season and McKinnon believes success on Saturday could provide his players with the fillip they need.
“After the kind of run we’ve been on in the league, playing in a cup final should give everyone a lift,” he said.
“That gives us a different perspective and gives us something else to play for. We’ve had a frustrating time of it but everyone is looking forward to Saturday.”
However, McKinnon concedes that his side must defend better if they’re going to collect the trophy.
“We’ve lost five goals from set-pieces recently,” he winced. “The two goals we lost against Raith Rovers on Saturday… you couldn’t make them up.
“It was a game we should have won but we gave ourselves a mountain to climb and we were punished. The guys are feeling it, we’ve had a few injuries and we’re a bit stretched in terms of resources so it’s been a tough period.
“But this is the same team, apart from those injuries, who took us to the top of the league a few months ago so the quality is there – it’s just about picking up a victory and getting that confidence back.
“The togetherness is still there. We had a meeting this morning and the guys are disappointed because we’ve given away a few slack goals recently and it’s given our opponents something to hold on to.
“When you’re playing teams who are fighting to stay in the division and you gift them a goal it increases their determination.”