The pressure is always there, but I won’t quit

FOR Jackie McNamara, pressure has been a constant c o mpanion t hr o ughout almost 25 years spent in professional football. From making his way at First Division Dunfermline Athletic in the early 1990s, sampling the unbearable tension of a two-legged promotion play- off against Aberdeen as a raw 21-year- old, to the never- ending scrutiny that came with spending a decade at the top with Celtic.

His rich and varied experiences as a player, which latterly included spells at Wolves, Aberdeen, Falkirk and Partick Thistle, have all helped to inoculate the 41-year- old against the stresses and strains that come with being the manager of Dundee United.

However, at present all McNamara needs to do to be reminded that his job is under real threat is look at the sympathetic gazes and worried eyes of his nearest and dearest. No more so than after setbacks like last weekend’s 2-1 home loss to then-bottom side Kilmarnock that left some United fans openly baying for the manager’s head.

Yesterday, at their training base in St Andrews, McNamara was admirably open, r efl ective and upbeat in his assessment of his current plight.

Ever the realist, though, while he appreciates the support network he has, he knows that ultimately his parents, friends and coaching colleagues are all powerless to save his skin.

‘ I’ve grown up with pressure,’ said McNamara. ‘It’s always there and I’m not naïve enough to think that everything is fine.

‘The spotlight is on me. But I feel pressure more from the people around me rather than myself. I see it in friends, family, colleagues, the media — how they react around me.

‘They will be asking: “Are you OK?” and: “Is everything OK — I watched the game!”

‘As a manager, you are very isolated. I’ve got a great support network around me with my staff and my family, but they can’t put the ball in the net.

‘I am human and obviously I hurt when things are not going the way I want them to. I know it’s a results business and if results are not there, then I won’t be here.

‘This (kind of pressure) is a first for me, but I’m not a quitter. If I was, I would have done it long before now. As a player, I was a fighter and it’s the same as a manager.

‘There’s two ways of doing it. You either feel sorry for yourself or you keep doing what you believe in. It’s not a nice situation, but it will make me stronger.’

United, who are a point above bottom si de Partick in t he Premiership, have two vital two home games coming up that could make or break McNamara.

First to Tannadice is Inverness Caley Thistle tomorrow, before a League Cup banana skin on Tuesday against McNamara’s old club, Dunfermline — conquerors of Dundee in the last round.

For now, the United boss insists he retains the support of his chairman, Stephen Thompson, but he accepts that a few more defeats and that may no longer be the case.

‘I speak to the chairman all the time — he’ll be under pressure, too,’ said McNamara.

‘If things don’t go well, then the chairman will feel it and it will trickle down to me. If we keep losing, then I’m sure we’ll have that chat, but I don’t look at it that way.

‘ I saw enough l ast weekend against Kilmarnock to say it’s coming together for us. I’d be more concerned about us if we hadn’t been creating so many chances to score goals.

‘I said before the match that the way we had been playing, someone was going to be on the end of a good scoreline from us. That s hould have happened l ast weekend against Kilmarnock.

‘It didn’t happen because we were not clinical enough and we paid the price. But it was hard to fault the players otherwise. I certainly could not fault their bravery in taking the ball. When things aren’t going your way, one or two people can hide, but I’ve not see any signs of that.’

The beleaguered McNamara has not been helped by the fact former Scotland left-back Paul Dixon needs a hernia operation and faces a spell on the sidelines. And experienced striker Chris Erskine needs surgery on his groin and will be missing for several weeks. But new signing Billy McKay looks like recovering from a knock to face f ormer club Caley Thistle at Tannadice tomorrow.

McNamara admits he will look at his opposite number i n the Inverness dugout, John Hughes, as proof that a football manager’s fortunes can change swiftly.

The bookies’ favourite to be the first top-flight sacking last season, Hughes ultimately ended the campaign as a Scottish Cupwinning Manager of the Year.

‘Yogi has been through a lot,’ said the United boss.

‘I worked with him at Falkirk and then he went on to Hibs and things didn’t work out for him there. It didn’t work at Hartlepool and then it was difficult for him at Inverness last season.

‘But he changed a lot of things round and he got his rewards. Things hadn’t gone the way he wanted this season, too, but he got his first win against Hearts last Friday. He got through that and is back to winning ways.

‘I know I’m not the first, or the l ast, manager to come under pressure. Every single boss in the league has had it at one time or another, so I’m no different

‘Luck in games can play a part. Every manager and player can talk about little bounces, like in the Aberdeen game when their goal went in off the underside of the bar.

‘Or in the Dundee game where we hit the underside of the bar and they went up the park to get a stoppage-time equaliser.

‘But it’s easy to blame things on bad luck. I know that at the end of the day, I’m in charge. The buck stops with me.’