Wilkie is 'amazed' after SPL force United and Hearts to fulfil fixture

The traumatised United central defender frantically tried to save O'Donnell's life last Saturday evening as the tragic events unfolded in Lanarkshire.

But yesterday, a plea from Wilkie and his team-mates for a postponement of today's Tannadice fixture was rejected by the SPL hierarchy as their compassion ran dry on New Year's Day.

"I find it quite amazing that we are being forced to play against Hearts by the SPL," Wilkie told Sportsmail, as a post mortem confirmed O'Donnell died of heart failure.

"We gathered at Tannadice on Tuesday with all the players and the staff and spoke about what had happened to Phil.

"A number of the players just felt it was too soon to be getting back to playing football after our own involvement in events at Fir Park. We are even hearing now that his heart may have stopped on the pitch when the likes of Noel Hunt and myself were around him.

"So it has been very hard to turn your mind around towards a game of football.

"We will have to get on with it and, during a football match, there's always the chance you can shut things out for the 90 minutes. But I still don't know how I will react, because I've never been in this kind of situation in my life."

United made their request after their staff summit but, incredibly, SPL office-bearers Iain Blair and Lex Gold rejected the plea immediately - despite having called off today's scheduled Old Firm game at Celtic's behest on Monday lunchtime.

And while Levein and his chairman, Eddie Thompson, declined to publicly criticise the verdict, there will be widespread disbelief that the decision-making process ran from Sunday to Tuesday and finally displayed no uniformity.

United striker Hunt caught O'Donnell as he collapsed on Saturday evening, while Wilkie desperately sought to give him immediate treatment.

United chairman Thompson last night said: "I had asked Craig Levein to assess the players after training before the Hearts game and there were lengthy chats from everyone involved.

"The manager spoke to every player individually and, finally, a number of the them said they felt it would be better not to play on Wednesday so soon after what happened to Phil O'Donnell.

"I contacted Hearts and they were willing to go along with our request, as the home club.

"But, after speaking to the SPL, it quickly became clear that the match should go ahead. In fairness to our players, all of them said that if they were told to play, they would do so."

Levein said: "My players indicated to me they would rather not play the game because they felt it was too soon after last weekend's tragic events. I don't want to have a go at the SPL, now is not the time for things like that, but I want to let people know my players and everyone at Dundee United have great sympathy with Phil's family and those who knew him.

"It's a very difficult situation for everyone involved, including the SPL."

United will hold a minute's applause today and will also fly the club flag at half-mast. O'Donnell's widow, Eileen, issued a statement yesterday and said: "Phil achieved so much in football, but the most important thing for him was his family. He would like to be remembered as a family man and we were all so proud of him.

"We are all devastated by what has happened. We hope we will now be given peace and time to grieve, but we are overwhelmed by the messages of support we have received."

Meanwhile, Celtic and Scotland defender Gary Caldwell has called for widespread health checks and investigations into sports supplements in a bid to prevent the deaths of apparently super-fit footballers like O'Donnell.

Caldwell is alarmed by the increasing regularity of such cases, with this latest tragedy coming just six months after the death of Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta.

Noting that O'Donnell was renowned for his fitness even at the age of 35, Caldwell said: "The fitter you are, it sometimes is a bigger time bomb waiting to go off, so I think there should be some studies done. They should be looking at supplements and stuff that people take to try to improve and get the best out of themselves."