Court ruling should not deflect United’s search

It was always likely that a judge would rule that SPFL clubs must follow the rules they agreed to as members. Lord Clark, in deciding that the fight against relegation by Hearts and Partick Thistle should go to the SFA and their independent arbitration panel, has delivered sound reasoning.

Both clubs have been treated harshly, since there was still a chance that they could have escaped relegation on the field of play.

However, these are unique times and, while few clubs could have envisaged a global pandemic leading to normal football practice being turned on its head, the rules appear to allow for the initial decision taken by the SPFL.

Now an independent group will have to deal with the matter.

At this stage we will not know what, if any, ramifications there are for the three clubs who had been promoted under the original ruling of the league.

Whether that will affect the naming of the new Dundee United boss is debatable.

The new man should be in place at Tannadice early next week after a circuitous route, which has seen the bookies change their favourites as often as I change my shirt on a hot day.

Steve McClaren’s supposed rejection of the job threw up more questions than answers.

His excuse that it came at the wrong time for him, after apparently being interested in the first place, seems bizarre.

It’s an explanation which explains nothing.

Why was it the wrong time for him? What happened in the very short time between his seeming interest in the job, and his realisation that it was the wrong time for him?

Was he ever actually offered the job? Like many things in football I suspect we’ll never find out the real truth.

Micky Mellon is the current favourite with the bookies, who seldom lose money whoever is appointed.

Malky Mackay originally seemed to be in pole position and folk close to him saw no impediment to the deal being done.

Some fans have expressed misgivings over his baggage concerning the 2014 text scandal – might that prove too concerning for the American owner, or might he yet accept that everyone is entitled to a second chance?

In today’s censorious climate, even the fact that he has been employed for three years by the SFA, the governing body, might still not be enough to overcome complaints from angry supporters – and that’s before factoring in any possible alarm from sponsors.

Hiring football managers is an area which is replete with danger.

It’s an imprecise science with opportunities for things to veer off at a tangent at any given minute.

Candidates, agents and clubs alike play folk off against each other for extra money, or to stir up interest where often none previously existed.

With so many parties involved in deals the scope for miscommunication and backbiting is enormous.

Craig Levein suggested that Mackay might face problems in living down his previous behaviour, but with the former United manager hinting at his own interest in a Tannadice return, his comments may just have had the whiff of a fishmonger’s shop.

“Hiring football managers is an area which is replete with danger

Picture: PA.