UNITED STILL IN SECOND FLIGHT FOR A REASON, ADMITS SCOBBIE

TAM SCOBBIE reckons it is time Dundee United dropped the pretentions.

Sick of hearing how the Tannadice outfit are a Premiership club in all but name, the defender believes the first step to redemption involves dropping the act.

‘We are a Championship club,’ he declared. ‘Listen, we are in this division for a reason. The team wasn’t good enough for the Prem when it got relegated and we have not been good enough since.

‘On history and fanbase we would probably enhance the Premiership but we can’t just hope it happens. We need to go out and earn it.’

United are facing up to a third year outside the top division after two botched attempts at promotion.

Ray McKinnon was entrusted with getting the team up but lost out to Hamilton in the play-offs last year before being sacked after an unconvincing start to last season.

Former chairman and still majority shareholder Stephen Thompson might reflect that he would have been better to stick with McKinnon than twist on the subsequent appointment of former Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo, who presided over a muddled few months that ended in another play-off loss to Livingston.

Laszlo is under contract for next season but the landscape at Tannadice could change quickly if Thompson is able to conclude a deal with prospective foreign investors.

Thompson stepped down as chairman in March and is eager to sell his stake in the club. His successor, Mike Martin, confirmed in March that a deal was in the pipeline but that the club was being modelled as a ‘standalone club in the Premiership’.

The failure to gain promotion may be stalling a sale and so both Martin and Laszlo have pushed on with preparations for next season. Laszlo’s former assistant at Hearts, Werner Burger, is set to come in as No2 and work has begun on recruiting a different profile of player. ‘The more years you are down the harder it gets,’ said Scobbie (left). ‘The chairman has said he will change things from top to bottom and I think he is doing that at

the minute.

‘Obviously the manager has also made some changes with the players he has let go and brought in.

‘He will have a long time to get his plan in place and for people to know what he wants them to do.

‘Then it is up to the players to go out and perform, something we didn’t do well enough this season.’

The signings of Fraser Aird, Nicky Clark, Sam Wardrop and Callum Booth suggests Laszlo is bringing in players tailor-made for the Championship.

‘Livingston worked hard for each other and fought for every point,’ agreed Scobbie.

‘That needs to be installed in us so we can go out and earn it in the same way. We need to roll up our sleeves.

‘Once we are back in the Premiership you can say we deserve to be there — not before.’