The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Departure never an option for United boss
Rumours over manager’s future at Tannadice shot down
Jackie McNamara never once thought of quitting Dundee United and insisted he was completely unaware of speculation that he would be doing so.
As he returned to Tannadice to make Queen of the South central defender Mark Durnan his first signing of the summer, McNamara dismissed the notion that his United future was ever in doubt.
The fall-out from the club’s sale of Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong to Celtic in the final hours of the January transfer window cast a shadow over the club for the remainder of the season.
Details of McNamara’s contract agreement reached the public domain and with that came the revelation that he was entitled to a percentage of the profits from transfer deals.
That arrangement was neither unusual in football nor did it influence the actual decision to sell the duo to the Hoops – that was done at boardroom level.
With his private employment details common knowledge and the team’s form suffering, that sparked rumours that he and the club may not still be united come the new season.
However, McNamara said: “There was never any consideration of that, not from me.
“We live in a world of rumours, social media, Twitter.
“I am not on any of that and I think it’s probably a good thing because I hear things about myself before I know about it!
“I can’t control that. I can only control what goes on here and how we carry things forward.”
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“To be honest, I try not to let things get to me,” added the manager. “I feel as committed as ever to the club.
“There is a lot of spin going around and maybe that’s something we’re not good at, promoting what we’ve done.
“We have achieved a lot in the last wee while. That is without trying to buy it because we have created it. “Nothing has changed for me. “From one window, when we have had a few bad results, people have jumped on the bandwagon.
“It hasn’t changed my philosophy, my vision, what I believe in, what I’m doing, from the first window, from last January.
“For me, losing Andy Robertson was my biggest loss but that didn’t change my job.
“I take great pride in what I’ve done here in just over two years, how we have changed things around and tackled a big problem for a club like United, ie how to get out of millions of pounds of debt. “I have been part of that. “Now I am looking forward to a new season and we have the fixture list out, the new strip, a new signing. The only thing missing for me is being able to play but managing is the next best thing.”
A problem McNamara would rather not have is the Nadir Ciftci case but he is determined not to let it overshadow United’s summer.
Ciftci has been issued with a notice of complaint by the SFA for allegedly biting the leg of Dundee player Jim McAlister during the final game of last season.
With the case not to be heard until July 20 that will mean United going through their trip to the Netherlands before knowing whether or not they will have their star striker available for the opening match of the Ladbrokes Premiership campaign at home to Aberdeen on August 1 and beyond.
Adding to the uncertainty is the Turk’s rejection of the contract extension offered by United, meaning he will definitely be off this time next year.
All the while, McNamara has to look at the bigger picture and get all his squad fit and ready for the restart.
Asked for his reaction to the SFA charge, McNamara said: “We will just deal with it when it comes.
“I didn’t know about it (the alleged bite) at the time and I got a call on the morning after the game.
“There have been a lot of things over the last few years that he has faced. “We will go and fight it again. “He has told us he hasn’t done it and as a club we have backed him and we will until something happens otherwise.”
McNamara was then asked if keeping Ciftci was worth all the bother.
He responded: “Well, he scored two goals for us in the game against Dundee.
“Obviously, the day after when it all came out that maybe took the gloss off another great victory over our rivals.
“Like I said at the end of last season, I want to keep everybody here and build.
“I don’t make decisions about who gets sold so everything stops with the board.”