Despite alarm bells, McKinnon admits he couldn’t turn down his beloved United
THE alarm bells are ringing for relegation, said Mixu Paatelainen when appointed Dundee United manager last October.
By the time his replacement received the call to take over, even a pair of industrial-grade earmuffs would not have spared Ray McKinnon the deafening blare of the sirens emanating from Tannadice and warning off any manager who cared about his career.
United dropped a division with a group of players branded as compliant losers.
Chairman Stephen Thompson was prepared to listen to offers for the club. His sister, Justine Mitchell, had resigned from the board. The relationship between the club and the fans was toxic.
There was no cash to spare because that had been squandered on ill-advised recruitment in an attempt to scramble to safety. All but five of the first-team squad had been told they could leave.
Perhaps only a severe dose of selective hearing could have prompted a coach with McKinnon’s burgeoning reputation to take a plunge that was all wrong for Tommy Wright when the St Johnstone manager was approached following Jackie McNamara’s dismissal last September.
The turmoil was a pointer to United being mired in the second tier for some time.
When asked if he feared the club could not be fixed, McKinnon said: ‘No. The club had been relegated, no money, no players. But expectations are still high and the fans still believe this is a top-six club.
‘The reason I took my time deciding was that, to rebuild the club in a year, I needed resources and guarantees.
‘I was putting my career on the line. If you go in and six months down the line you bomb, then you’re out of a job.
‘I was putting myself under massive pressure. As a local boy, living in the area, kids at school. All that adds up. So I wanted to know I was getting the time and the resources for a proper overhaul, so it took a while.
‘I grew up with the club. If I’d turned it down, I’d have regretted it for the rest of my career.’
How McKinnon nurses United back to health will be one of the fascinating tales of this Ladbrokes Championship season.
Rangers required two shots at promotion, Hibs won a Scottish Cup, yet begin year three in the division — and both of these clubs were in far better condition this time last year than United find themselves now.
Still, McKinnon has changed things behind the scenes to create an environment he believes is essential for United.
The squad revamp is in full swing. In the Betfred Cup against Dunfermline today, he expects to start at least seven of his signings.
He is certain that the culture of failure is disbanded. ‘I think that’s because we’re setting standards on the training ground,’ he said. ‘The atmosphere here is great.
‘Everything needed to change. I can’t speak for people who were here before, I just know how I like to run my club. We expect standards from top to bottom.
‘When I came in, people were sitting eating breakfast at 10.20am, then dashing out to train at half-past.
‘We had to change the mentality of the coaching staff who were already here, but we’ve done that. We had to change the losing mentality. ‘You can’t overhaul a club overnight. I’m still looking at everyone right through the whole place and their roles.
‘But my priority right now is getting the first team right, then we can start looking at other layers in time.’ In getting the first team right, McKinnon ‘cashed in favours’, his relationship with Willo Flood helping to land a top-flight midfielder on United’s new wage stipulations. Cammy Bell was described as a marquee signing for the goalkeeping position.
Lewis Toshney, he knew and trusted from Raith Rovers. Nick van der Velden brings class from Holland. Cammy Smith, on loan from Aberdeen, could turn out to be a perfect piece of business for all parties. ‘We had no room to make mistakes like in the past when boys came in and were off again in three months,’ said McKinnon. The 4,500 season tickets sold suggests McKinnon has persuaded plenty of fans to at least come back on board with the team’s targets, if not providing a seal of approval for the club’s hierarchy.