McLean is still United's main man

JIM REYNOLDS

15 Mar 1993

JIM McLean, Dundee United's chairman, manager, DIY man, you name it, is meant to be winding down, contemplating the joys and serenity of retirement from the everyday running of one of the country's leading clubs.

After all, didn't this very newspaper only last week carry an advertisement inviting applications for the job of managing at Tannadice.

Anyone who was at Tynecastle on Saturday, seeing United go down 1-0 to Hearts and making their job of qualifying for Europe next season extremely difficult, surely would have doubted the man's intentions of letting go of the reins.

The match itself produced many fine moments and some commendable effort from individuals, but for entertainment value, McLean was the tops.

Hearts goalkeeper Nicky Walker won the sponsor's man-of-the-match award, but Jim should have got it.

With less than 20 minutes to go and Hearts leading through an Ian Baird first-half goal, the man left his seat in the directors' box and suddenly appeared in the dugout.

Only for a moment, however.

Soon he was on his feet, restrained only by an advertising board, flapping his arms, clapping his hands, and pointing an accusing finger as United tried to break down the Hearts defence.

He even leapt on to a sandbag to shout his instructions, as if the extra elevation would help to get his message across.

Think what you like about McLean, but his sheer enthusiasm and love of the game is something to behold.

As it turned out, United failed to score -- it's the seventh time in the last 10 matches they have drawn a blank -- and Hearts, who had been forced to make wholesale changes because of injury, set themselves up nicely for a demanding programme which includes a derby match against Hibernian and a Scottish Cup semi-final tie with Rangers.

Said manager Joe Jordan: "This is a very difficult spell for us.

We lost to Celtic during the week when I felt we deserved to take something from the match, but we bounced back today.

The injuries meant that certain players were given a chance to stake a claim for first-team places and they all did well.

We showed a lot of character."

McLean said: "It's not often I agree with those who choose the man of the match, but in giving it to Nicky Walker today they summed up the match perfectly."

Those who see McLean only as a dour, crabbit individual have got it all wrong.

The man does have a sense of humour.

He said: "If I believed what was in the newspapers, I would go out tomorrow and buy one to see if this result really happened.

With all the chances we had, I can't believe we lost.

But if you give away the kind of goal we did and then miss the chances we did, then I don't suppose we can complain."

The goal, coming after 20 minutes, was the result of a mistake by United keeper Alan Main, who, quite rightly, is being tipped as a possible in Andy Roxburgh's Scotland squad.

It was a rare lapse by the man who flapped at a corner and managed only to parry the ball towards the back post where Baird forced it home.

Hearts took a lot of confidence from that and even though they did give United a few chances, they generally coped well with shutting out the twin menace of Duncan Ferguson and Paddy Connolly.

Graeme Hogg and Craig Levein take a lot of credit for that.

Said Levein, who also is a strong candidate for a Scotland call-up: "We were a bit disjointed at the start, but I think that was down to all the changes that had to be made.

In the end, however, I thought we were worth the two points."

Taken from the Herald