Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Daly nearly quit United twice early on in career
FORMER Dundee United hero Jon Daly has revealed he nearly left the club twice in his early days at Tannadice.
Daly, who scored 73 goals in 203 appearances in tangerine, saw his first two seasons at United plagued with injury and struggled to score on a regular basis.
The Irish striker soon rectified that and went on to achieve fans’ favourite status among Arabs, captaining the side and winning the Scottish Cup in 2010.
However, speaking to Open Goal, the 37-year-old said he was consigned to leaving the club in 2008 despite hitting form, which included scoring his first goal for the club against Celtic, the season prior.
“When you go to any club, it seems to always take me time to settle and get going,” the former Rangers and Raith Rovers man said.
“One of the first training sessions I had at Dundee United, we did 11 v 11 and I scored a hat-trick in eight minutes.
“All the boys were probably thinking: ‘Who’s this guy?’ and then you go into a game and you can’t hit a barn door.
“In such a big game for the club and myself, it was a great way to get off the mark and get going, the following game against Aberdeen we went up to Pittodrie and won 4-2, scored a penalty in the first minute or so.
“I felt I was on a bit of momentum, on fire, starting to find my scoring form and then two or three games later I get injured at Inverness.
“I ruptured my posterior cruciate ligaments and ended up out for about seven months and then I did my ankle at Hibs so the start to my United career was plagued with injuries.
“Not just little niggly ones but major injuries that are going to keep you out for a substantial amount of time.
“At the end of that season I got a phone call from my agent saying Craig’s bringing in other strikers and if you can find another club you can move on.
“I knew the players they were bringing in were different, Roy O’Donovan and Warren Feeney, but they didn’t offer the same qualities I can to the team for all they were good players in their own right.
“I just bided my time, waited for my opportunity, played away to Cowdenbeath and scored a hat-trick.
“That put me back in the thought process of the manager and gave me an opportunity to kick on at United.
“You kind of think: ‘I could be on the way out here’ because I was told I’d be like fourth or fifth choice striker.
“That’s football and that happens but I understood the mindset and thinking behind it because I’d only played something like 17 games in two seasons and had two major injuries.”
Daly found his scoring touch in the 2008-09 campaign and was offered a new deal, one he was happy to accept.
However, haphazard negotiations by his agent almost inadvertently sealed his exit under then-boss Craig Levein.
Daly continued: “I came back from my injuries, done really well and the club then decided they wanted to keep me.
“There were negotiations the agent was dealing with. He rang me up, told me the offer and I thought it was brilliant and was happy to sign.
“He told me to hold fire because he thought he could squeeze a little more money out of them but I said: ‘Look, as the agent that’s your job but I’m happy with that deal’.
“The phone rang 10 minutes later and it’s the agent saying: ‘Craig’s not happy with you’.
“I was like: ‘What do you mean he’s not happy with me? I’ve done nothing wrong, I said I’m happy with my deal’.
“So I ended up basically not sleeping that night, went in the next morning and I said: ‘Gaffer can I have a word?’
“I knew he wasn’t happy with the way he responded but I said: ‘Look, the contract offer, I don’t know what’s been said but I’m extremely happy with it and happy to go down to Tannadice after training and sign the contract’.
“I was really happy with it and appreciated the offer because