I'm not snubbing Ibrox directors box......

[ian1964 10,826]

.......but I'll be happier sitting among our fans, says Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson.

 

THOMPSON talks to HUGH KEEVINS as he stands firm in the face of the latest controversy over Scottish Cup semi-final tickets.

 

 

 

DUNDEE UNITED chairman Stephen Thompson has paid a heavy personal price for holding strong opinions.

 

Assailants have done community service for their threatening behaviour. His mobile phone number is changed as soon as it falls into the wrong hands.

 

And even the salubrious surroundings of the Old Course Hotel at St Andrews were recently unable to provide him with a sanctuary from the problems connected with being the high-profile chairman of a successful football club.

 

The glib summary of anti-social behaviour as it relates to people in the public eye is that abuse “goes with the territory”.

 

Thompson sees it as the cost of defending his club’s position, which is why he was again thrust into the limelight with his protests over the choice of Ibrox as the venue for Dundee United’s Scottish Cup semi-final with Rangers on April 12.

 

It’s not that the man who succeeded his late father Eddie as Tannadice chairman six years ago, having been a board member for five years before that, goes out of his way to look for trouble.

 

When you’re in charge of a club that’s eaten up £6million of your family’s money, you don’t look for a show of gratitude that will never arrive.

 

However, you do feel entitled to have your say if you feel aggrieved about something relating to the object of your highly expensive affection.

 

As we sat in the boardroom at Tannadice, Thompson said: “I would have had a different, less stressful life if the club hadn’t been my dad’s passion, which I have inherited.

 

“The money devoted to Dundee United could have set my family up for generations to come after the sale of the Morning, Noon and Night business we ran.

 

“Now it’s millions of pounds that will never be seen again. But that was years ago and I don’t even think about it any more.

 

“I know I’ll never get gratitude because that’s not how football works and I’m not in the game for gratitude in any case.

 

“But I do love the club and I still go to the game with my scarf on, the way my father did.”

 

But when United go to Ibrox for their cup tie, Thompson will sit in the Broomloan Stand housing the bulk of the club’s travelling support.

 

It’s what you might term a strategic withdrawal in the interests of good order since Thompson is still, wrongly, held up to be a leading protagonist in the move to have the Ibrox club relocated in Scottish football’s bottom tier after they went into liquidation.

 

He said: “I didn’t put Rangers in that position. I wasn’t even the first person from another club to speak out about what should happen when the newco asked to be allowed to stay in what was then the SPL.

 

“I think Vladimir Romanov at Hearts was the first one to do that but he lived in Lithuania and I lived in Dundee. And people need to take their anger out on someone.

 

“It hasn’t been funny over the past couple of years and when I got verbal abuse at the Old Course Hotel recently I did find myself wondering again why I’m in this business.

 

“There’s been a price to be paid on a personal level but when Rangers’ situation was being discussed by the SPL clubs I had to listen to my team’s fans.

 

“They were telling us they wouldn’t buy season tickets for Tannadice if United voted to let Rangers stay in the SPL. And pre-season sales that would normally have been around 4000-strong were reduced to 1500 tickets sold. The fans had made their intentions clear.

 

“But that was two years ago and we have to move on.

 

“I’m not snubbing the directors’ box at Ibrox on April 12. There will be a representative of the club in the boardroom before and after the match.

 

“I’ll be in with the United fans because it’s something I do from time to time. I think I’m a down to earth man in that respect. I’ll be happier there on the day.”

 

Winning the Scottish Cup is something Thompson experienced against Ross County at Hampden in 2010.

 

And his memory of that time allows the listener to understand why the chairman this week campaigned to give his team the best venue and the most substantial backing he could in order to help them reach another final.

 

He said: “My father saved this club. When he took over in 2002 we were shedding money at a frightening rate.

 

“At our agm on Thursday night I was able to stand up and announce a profit for the third time in the past four years. We had a debt that peaked at £7m and now stands at £2.1m. Dundee United are in control of our own destiny and one of my ambitions is to be in charge here when we owe nothing to anyone.

 

“For the first time in my 11 years as a board member I’m not worried about money but the game isn’t just about the club’s accounts.

 

“When we brought the Cup back to Tannadice after beating Ross County my wife and I were the last two people to leave the ground following the open-topped bus drive through the city.

 

“We put the Cup in the front seat of a taxi and the driver happened to be a devoted Dundee supporter. He asked me if he could touch the trophy and I said, ‘Yes, of course.’

 

“The Cup went to every primary and secondary school in the city. It was in every ward of Ninewells Hospital because just seeing it had this effect

of making people happy.

 

“You can forget the way football does that to people.”

 

But even if United win access to another final at Rangers’ expense it won’t allow the chairman to exit the consequences which are attached to success.

 

For the first time, Thompson has spoken about the possibility of losing his much talked-about youngsters and his manager, Jackie McNamara.

 

He said: “My father would have loved watching this team with Andrew Robertson, Gary Mackay-Steven, John Souttar and Ryan Gauld.

 

“We sold 650 half-season tickets because they were so good in the first part of the championship and people wanted to see them. That’s unheard of for us.

 

“We’re not under any pressure to sell players because there’s no bank debt at the club any more and therefore no need to reduce borrowings on an annual basis.

 

“But if the right offers come in then players will inevitably go because they’ll want to broaden their horizons and we’ll have a responsibility to the United fans who gave the club ‘friendly’ loans to see they get their money back in a percentage of the transfer fees.

 

“Jackie’s a managerial talent and he’ll move on one day as well, although hopefully not for a few years yet.

 

“We’ve never talked about it between us but if Jackie does move it will be because he has continued to be successful with Dundee United.”

 

And what about the chairman who freely admits to having been turned into an insomniac by the demands of high office?

 

The man who went to see Manchester United play Liverpool last Sunday with a ticket bought in a charity auction and suddenly realised he was enjoying himself because the final score didn’t matter to him.

 

He said: “I don’t sleep properly because I’m always thinking about the future of the club. Uptight is the norm for me.

 

“At the end of my father’s first season in charge we had to avoid defeat to Inverness to stay in the top flight while knowing relegation would have cost the club £2m. That’s the pressure you live under.

 

“My belief is there will be some form of regionalised European league within the next five years and I want United to be ready if that opportunity arises.

 

“There’s no given right to be anywhere and no rightful place for any club. You have to earn whatever you get.

 

“I’ll keep going until we are debt free and have money in the bank.

 

“I’m like my dad because I’m all or nothing and I stick to what I believe in.

 

“I could keep schtum about certain things but I won’t because I need to be true to myself when I’m the majority shareholder at Tannadice.”

 

That’s 53 per cent of the action and 100 per cent of the hassle when it comes to the events of this week.

[Ser Barristan Selmy 222]

High profile chairman of a successful football club

[ian1964 10,826]

It is a snub despite him trying to deny it!, he is a disrespectful excuse of a man, he is also denying a DUTD fan a ticket

[andy steel 0]

Bit economical with the truth, there - United debt was shifted from the bank to individual rich people who have agreed to write it off, hardly a business model likely to figure in many 101's any time soon.

 

They could easily have gone the same way as us, they just got lucky.

 

And btw, wasting your family's millions is nothing to be proud of.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

What would a tine club like utd bring to European league. Or does he mean he will be in a group of clubs from Wales and Ireland.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

Karma is coming for this c@nt trust me.

 

Karma's singing the Johnny Cash song, can you hear it?........

 

Go tell that long tongue liar, go and tell that midnight rider

Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down

Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down

[ian1964 10,826]

[bluebear54 0]

I detest the way that Shug knowingly helps Thompson to airbrush history. It's quite shocking actually.

With thanks to D'Art for reminding us of the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18365480

And by the way, how does Shug know what "Rangers fans" have been thinking?

It's a bloody disgrace how he uses innuendo to paint Rangers fans as anti-social yobs, and without a shred of evidence, whip up a confection of opinion such as this.

[calscot 0]

I take it that the lamb was particularly succulent?

[der Berliner 4,034]

The Dark Blues seem to "like"

*. I just wonder whether it's Scots or "hardcore" Scottish English ...

 

*Ware the foul and expressive language.