Tannadice chairman trusted to get it right

Neilson confident Martin and his board will make the best decision for the club

Dundee United boss Robbie Neilson is placing his trust in chairman Mike Martin to do the right thing for the club as the takeover saga rumbles on.

Martin, who owns approximately 43% of the shares in the Tangerines, is believed to have agreed to sell his holding to an American-based buyer.

While the prospect of having potential new owners and/or investors would grab the attention of any manager, Neilson has learned through his previous experiences at Hearts and MK Dons to keep all his focus on what happens on the pitch and leave the rest to the board.

Neilson said: “Other people will know more than me because it has been going on a lot longer than I have been here.

“I know what these things are like. I have been through it with clubs before.

“Everyone thinks it’s going to happen and it doesn’t then the next thing you know it’s happened.

“Like a lot of things in the background of football it can take your focus off the most important thing, which is a Saturday.

“However, I have kind of learned that my job is to win on a Saturday.

“The chairman Mike (Martin) and the board have been brilliant with me since I came in and I trust them to make the best decision for the football club. I’m sure that’s what they will do.”

Neilson added: “I have been through that at Hearts and seen people laid off, which wasn’t nice, so to have it that someone wants to come into the club and buy it is great because it shows that the stock of the club is still really high.

“From my perspective, though, I just have to wait and see what happens.

“It’s not my place to do that (speak to potential buyers).

“I got involved in a lot of that stuff when I was at MK and you realise that ultimately as a manager or coach you are an employee of the club and your job is to win on a Saturday.

“I learned to focus on that and not get too involved. You have to trust the people who are making the decisions – Mike and the board – and I know they have the best interests of the club at heart.

“They will set the timescale and (decide) whether it does or doesn’t happen.”

Meanwhile, Neilson has been left playing a waiting game after being sent to the stand at Morton by referee David Munro.

Neilson’s crime was using foul and abusive language but he argued that his words were directed at his players not any match official.

He revealed he has had a chat to SFA head of referees John Fleming about the incident.

Neilson said: “I spoke to the referee after the game and asked him what I got sent off for.

“He said it was for foul and abusive language.

“I basically asked him what was foul.

“He wouldn’t tell me.

“I asked who I was abusing. “He wouldn’t tell me.

“I asked him what the rules were and he wouldn’t tell me.

“He then asked me to leave. “I spoke to John Fleming and he said he (the ref) should have told me the reason behind it – everything behind it – but for some reason he didn’t.

“So I’m just waiting for the report to come in.

“I know what happened and I’ll fight it to the hilt.

“It’s just a distraction at the moment.

“Now I’ll probably need to spend a day at Hampden.

“The players get fast-tracked but for managers it just drags on. We’ll wait and see.”

Robbie Neilson: focused on playing side.