D-DAY LOOMS FOR OWNER AS UNITED SPIRAL FURTHER INTO CATASTROPHE
THE messages given to Dundee United chairman Mark Ogren on his return from the States were clear. No shortage of punters want sporting director Tony Asghar binned. What appears to be a growing number want manager Liam Fox out too.
It’s the messages Ogren gives out himself over the coming days, though, that will give the greatest indication of where this erratic, fragile-looking outfit are really heading.
In essence, can he trust Fox and Asghar any longer? And can he be trusted to keep investing in this project or is the lack of spending in the January window a sign that the five-year plan put in place on his arrival in December 2018 has run out of steam and he is now looking towards running for the door?
Few would blame him. Ogren has put an estimated £13million into United. He must have sat in the gloom on Saturday, watching this underwhelming and disjointed side lose their fifth game on the trot to stay bottom of the league, and wondered why exactly. What is there to show for it all?
Steven Fletcher, 36 next month, through the middle on his own with the untested Sadat Anaku and some kids the only other strikers at the club? A 21-year-old in Jack Newman now the only fit keeper after Mark Birighitti went off with a suspected shoulder dislocation in the wake of the brainless foul-up that gifted a 2-1 win to St Johnstone? A midfield lacking presence?
Fox is responsible for the poor performances of late. Asghar must take the blame for a squad that looks ill-equipped for a relegation battle following the decision to let striker Tony Watt and back-up goalkeeper Carljohan Eriksson leave on loan.
It is easy to understand the chants aimed at both men at the weekend.
Even then, you wouldn’t have described the stadium as a flamepit of anger and retribution. It didn’t feel like sackings were imminent.
It’s almost as if a large part of a disaffected fanbase are either resigned to relegation or simply shellshocked and in need of reassurance and guidance.
Ogren certainly needs to level with them. Is he at the point where is open to bids, just like Hibs chair Ron Gordon and St Johnstone’s Geoff Brown? Is it time to cut his losses rather than throw good money after bad?
The replacement of Jack Ross, bulleted after seven games at the start of the campaign, with his assistant Fox did feel like a cheap and easy option. That grim January window just heightened suspicions the pursestrings have been tightened.
It certainly crystallised opinion within a fair section of the fanbase over Asghar. With the club AGM taking place tomorrow and a meeting with the DUSG fan group pencilled in at some point, something has to give. Ogren has to plot out a route forward in public and show he knows what he’s doing. If he is still all-in and willing to throw more cash at this — because it will need more cash — he does need to be ready to get rid of Fox and Asghar. Particularly with Saturday’s trip to second-bottom Ross County carrying the definite potential to be one of those afternoons where major decisions cannot be avoided. If he isn’t, and he really is prepping for a sale, Lord knows where United go. The season isn’t a write-off, largely because the sides just above United in the table are incapable of stringing results together either, but this is nowhere remotely close to where Ogren expected to be at this stage of his reign. Midfielder Arnaud Djoum expressed the view United ‘don’t deserve’ to be where they are in the Premiership. Nice a guy as he is, it felt like another example of someone at the club offering words that don’t make any real sense. Asked to expand, the 33-year-old former Hearts player said: ‘Because of the quality of the group we have. ‘I have experience of different countries, including Scotland before. ‘I know my team-mates and what we need to turn it around. Everybody saw today that we played good. ‘The fans aren’t happy. We are bottom of the league and it is frustrating for them. I have looked at the table, though, and one game could take us to ninth. It is too early to talk about bad things because there are still a lot of games to go.’
As for fans shouting for the heads of the manager and the sporting director?
‘It is a hard one,’ said Djoum. ‘When we are on the pitch, we don’t really listen to what people are saying. On the pitch and in the changing room, we don’t really talk about it.
‘We are all human beings. I understand the supporters’ frustration.’
Fox comes across as perhaps too mild-mannered for the challenges ahead, but Djoum, who knows him from his days on the coaching staff at Hearts, disagrees.
‘After the game, he shouted at us a bit,’ said Djoum. ‘He has the temperament and can be hard. We believe in the staff and him.
‘What he has done since he has taken the job is much better than before. There has been an improvement. It is just about results in football.’
And this was another sore one. Dylan Levitt had just cancelled out Stevie May’s first-half opener when United — and the error-prone Birighitti — hit the self-destruct button with eight minutes to play.
The Aussie keeper rolled a goal-kick to Charlie Mulgrew, the defender knocked it back to him under pressure and a heavy first touch was followed by panic and paralysis — allowing May to slide in and convert.
‘It was a different type of goal and I haven’t ever scored one from pressing the goalie,’ smiled May (left). ‘I must have done it about a million times and it finally paid off.’
Djoum, meanwhile, refused to turn on Birighitti, saying: ‘I don’t know how to explain that goal. Everybody makes mistakes and I don’t want to blame someone.
‘He has saved us in some games as well and it is easy to be negative about the goalkeeper, but we are a team and we need to protect each other.’
Standard answers, really. The kind of thing Ogren can’t indulge in this week. He needs to win hearts and minds. Or, failing that, just tell the truth. Otherwise, it’s going to get messy.