Satellitedishprovedthat he was ahead of his time
It is fair to say I will never forget my first encounter with the man who deserves his place alongside Sir Alex Ferguson, Bill Shankly and Jock Stein as one of the greatest football managers Scotland has ever produced.
The year was 1992. Jim Mclean – whose death, aged 83, was announced last night – was still in place as manager.
I had just switched from being a news reporter in Aberdeen to working for the Courier’s sports desk in Dundee.
This was back in the halcyon days when football clubs let journalists through their door on a daily basis, and a central part of the job was the often-lengthy lunch-time spin down to Dens Park and Tannadice with the rest of the “local lads”.
You would get a bit of news for the next day’s paper and, as often as not, about three times as much gossip about what might, or might not, be going on in the game.
My introduction to the man who led Dundee United to the Premier Division title, the European Cup semi-finals, the UEFA Cup Final and two League Cup triumphs, though, was even more revealing than I expected.
The door to the Manager’s Office was chapped. “In you come,” was the shout in reply, and in we trooped – to the sight of a naked man standing towelling himself down!
Almost equally-surprising was the fact the four or five other journalists in the company did not bat an eyelid, but settled into the seats arranged around Mclean’s desk and cracked straight into a bit of chitchat.
This was the days before the use of voice recorders was standard.
The second shock for me was the breakneck speed that, having got dressed from his regular work- outs, Jim would race though news of injuries, squad call ups, games past and games to come and his opinions on pretty much everything he was asked.
As you might expect from a man who turned down the chance to manage Rangers in the 1980s, he was a man who knew his own mind. His knowledge on all football was incredible. This was a man who got a state-of-the-art satellite dish fitted in his garden, so he could watch games from all over the world decades
before it became the norm for fans at home.
He was near-obsessive about United’s youth teams of all levels, and could get just as het up watching the Under-15s.
To those who dealt with him on a regular basis, that could be a good thing. Local papers and nationals alike were served with a regular supply of back-page splashes.
It could also be quite the opposite. Pretty much all the journalists were banned from Tannadice at one stage or another. Even the local legend that was the late Dick Donnelly of Radio Tay, a man who could charm the birds from the trees.
I certainly had my turn. In fact, after phoning him once too often at night to try to check the truth of a tale, he suggested that the next time I tried, he would hang me from a tree in his garden!
You would have to serve your sentence, aided by the colleagues Jim continued to give daily briefings.
He absolutely knew the score, but never pulled them up on it. And after enough time had passed, he would inquire of your well-being to the lads, and tell them to tell you to come up and see him.
And, just like that, it was all forgotten about.
To the men who played for him, Mclean was a larger-than-life figure. Someone who had almost as much fame for the anecdotes he spawned.
Members of the all-conquering 1983 Premier Division winners talk fondly of the time he got his foot stuck after kicking a hole in the dressing room kit hamper – and tried to continue pointing out their flaws, all the while trying to free his leg.
In the end, though, his players will remember him fondly, and do so for the incredible triumphs under his charge.
The capture of the title in 1983 at a time when Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen were a force of nature, the home and away wins over Barcelona in the run to the UEFA Cup Final four years later, and coming oh so close in the controversial European Cup semi-final against Roma in 1983-84.
The title of the Jim Mclean story, published in the late 80s – Jousting With Giants – suggested a manager punching above his weight.
The club might have been, given their finances, but the man himself was right up there with the best Scotland has ever produced.
He was the architect of the modern Dundee United, and for those fortunate enough to have witnessed the likes of Paul Sturrock, Eamonn Bannon, Ralph Milne and Dave Narey at their best, he will never be forgotten.