The Dundee United Thread 22/23

[arab_joe]

On 16/08/2020 at 12:24, Tannadeechee said:

Isn't it amazing what happens when players are actually allowed to get over injuries rather than having to take injections before every game, being rushed back early from injury etc.

It is.

A similar point was made in @stumigoo's blog this week.  Mellon has a refreshing habit of promoting the second-choice in a given position, rather than rushing someone back from injury or shoe-horning in someone completely inexperienced in that role, i.e. picking Kieran Freeman instead of roping in a winger, midfielder or centre-half to deputise.  Long may it continue.

On 16/08/2020 at 13:04, coppola said:

Still early days but it really does feel like Ann Budge has done us a massive favour. 

I was one of the few that regularly backed Neilson on here, but I'm in total agreement with this - it is really, really early days but so far Mellon looks to be getting a lot more out of these same players than Neilson ever was.

On 16/08/2020 at 13:13, Granny Danger said:

Neilson was/is fucking useless.

He played dull football and certainly did not over-perform, but he won us the league when other managers were nowhere close to doing that.  He won't be inducted in the Hall of Fame any time soon, but he was not "fucking useless". 

On 16/08/2020 at 14:22, ArabFC said:

 That said you can't sack a manager who just won you the league.

This.

Neilson did us a huge favour by leaving, because if he had been sacking after winning the league we would have looked like a laughing stock.

23 hours ago, big al said:

If! Motherwell keep Turnbull there’s no way they will finish 3rd bottom.

I still can't quite believe how well we coped against Turnbull and Campbell last week.

[FifeArab]

You're apparently signing Jamie Murphy. 

Very good signing If It happens.

[Derry Alli]

Would be a very decent signing if he remained fit. Would also put to bed the "Rangers won't deal with United" line repeatedly pedalled. 

[ArabianKnight]

Think we would only be signing him if he's been released and we've offered him a contract. 

Decent signing if it turns out true. 

[stewartyftd1]

Sun reporting it will be a cut price fee. Maybe circa 200k will get him. Will be on a hefty wage though.

[mishtergrolsch]

Would solve our left sided issues i reckon. If hes got any semblance of quality in his delivery it would be tremendous business. 

[Twinkle]

Betfred fixture out. Cant help but be disappointed at how theyve panned out

Wed 7/10 away to Brechin
Sat 10/10 home to Peterhead
Tues 13/10 home to Kelty
Tues 10/11 away to St Johnstone

Would have rather had the fixtures the other way around to be honest

[gannonball]

46 minutes ago, stewartyftd1 said:

Sun reporting it will be a cut price fee. Maybe circa 200k will get him. Will be on a hefty wage though.

I would imagine the fee will go towards paying Murphy off and you don't break your wage structure much. 

[Loemba90]

42 minutes ago, Twinkle said:

Betfred fixture out. Cant help but be disappointed at how theyve panned out

Wed 7/10 away to Brechin
Sat 10/10 home to Peterhead
Tues 13/10 home to Kelty
Tues 10/11 away to St Johnstone

Would have rather had the fixtures the other way around to be honest

Doubt there will be fans at the games anyway so probably doesn’t matter

[Szamo's_Ammo]

Not sure if Murphy is United Class and he is coming up for 31.

Saying that, he did score 7 goals in 10 games in the England League for Burton at the end of last season which seems to be the best form of his career.

If he isn't going to break the bank and Micky thinks he's worth it for a season or two then it could work out. Or it might not.

[ArabianKnight]

Murphy and Stewart won't be coming Tannadice way. 

Norwood us apparently still on and the club are looking at a couple who are currently on holiday. 

I'd be pretty surprised if we landed Norwood on loan though and I'm kind of hopeful we don't because it's a big chunk of wages for a guy recovering/looking to get game time after a serious injury. 

Finding it odd the club are looking at a couple of players 30ish rather than up and coming youngsters who we could maybe sell on in the future. 

[mishtergrolsch]

7 minutes ago, ArabianKnight said:

Murphy and Stewart won't be coming Tannadice way. 

Norwood us apparently still on and the club are looking at a couple who are currently on holiday. 

I'd be pretty surprised if we landed Norwood on loan though and I'm kind of hopeful we don't because it's a big chunk of wages for a guy recovering/looking to get game time after a serious injury. 

Finding it odd the club are looking at a couple of players 30ish rather than up and coming youngsters who we could maybe sell on in the future. 

Could be that he's looking to add some experience to the forward line.

Youths are all well and good but we have a few of them, Mochrie, Glass, Appere, Chalmers but not so many first teamers with the kind of top level Premiership experience to add real depth for this season. Even long termish United players in McMullan and Clark have had more or less no time in the top league.

If they were (as Norwood is i believe) to be loan deals for the season while blooding the youth I cant see too many problems though.

[ArabianKnight]

7 minutes ago, mishtergrolsch said:

Could be that he's looking to add some experience to the forward line.

Youths are all well and good but we have a few of them, Mochrie, Glass, Appere, Chalmers but not so many first teamers with the kind of top level Premiership experience to add real depth for this season. Even long termish United players in McMullan and Clark have had more or less no time in the top league.

If they were (as Norwood is i believe) to be loan deals for the season while blooding the youth I cant see too many problems though.

Wouldn't disagree with that tbh. Wasn't considering it that way. 

[Pull My Strings]

34 minutes ago, ArabianKnight said:

 

Finding it odd the club are looking at a couple of players 30ish rather than up and coming youngsters who we could maybe sell on in the future. 

All about balance though. It's difficult to get good quality young players from other clubs without paying a silly fee as there's a perceived value to their potential (even if it never gets fulfilled. Charlie Telfer, nuff said). Bringing in a couple of older guys who have already peaked might make more sense in the short term as their clubs recognise there's no sell-on value and are just happy to get their wages off the books. 

We've got plenty of good young guys coming through. It's established first team players where we might be a bit short.

 

[Granny Danger]

5 hours ago, arab_joe said:

 

He played dull football and certainly did not over-perform, but he won us the league when other managers were nowhere close to doing that.  He won't be inducted in the Hall of Fame any time soon, but he was not "fucking useless". 

 

Fucking useless.  Totally fucking useless.

[ArabianKnight]

2 hours ago, Pull My Strings said:

All about balance though. It's difficult to get good quality young players from other clubs without paying a silly fee as there's a perceived value to their potential (even if it never gets fulfilled. Charlie Telfer, nuff said). Bringing in a couple of older guys who have already peaked might make more sense in the short term as their clubs recognise there's no sell-on value and are just happy to get their wages off the books. 

We've got plenty of good young guys coming through. It's established first team players where we might be a bit short.

 

Yeah I get that. Just spoiled by Gauld, Robbo etc getting hefty fees for them

I'm still certain Appere will go for a similar fee to Gauld in a season or so. Shankland probably will make us a couple mill if he gets back in form this season after his injury. 

[mishtergrolsch]

Never liked Neilson and thought it was, for the most part, absolutely fucking horrible to watch. 

He did the literal bare minimum in winning the league. 

We had some of the worst results and performances I've seen at Tannadice under him.

We somehow got £200 grand for a bloke that I would have thought would be punted by Halloween. Hes gone now and been replaced by Micky Mellon. Micky has since managed here for 4 games and has already shown hes far more tactically astute than the Moron Mumbler, err, i mean Maroon Mumbler.

Let us not speak of the dark times of the Banter Years.

Let us look to the Mellon Years for joy.

[ArabFC]

2 hours ago, ArabianKnight said:

Finding it odd the club are looking at a couple of players 30ish rather than up and coming youngsters who we could maybe sell on in the future. 

Nah.

The gaffer is just in the door and has had to quickly prepare us for a new season and judge what he's got.

Right now what he needs are a few players he can bring in that he knows will deliver.

Planning for the future can wait a window.

Edited August 17, 2020 by ArabFC

[Sarto Mutiny]

2 hours ago, ArabFC said:

Nah.

The gaffer is just in the door and has had to quickly prepare us for a new season and judge what he's got.

Right now what he needs are a few players he can bring in that he knows will deliver.

Planning for the future can wait a window.

This.

[arab_joe]

16 hours ago, stewartyftd1 said:

Sun reporting it will be a cut price fee. Maybe circa 200k will get him. Will be on a hefty wage though.

I'm never comfortable when we make "big" signings - with the exception of Shankland (who was, technically at least, a free signing) I can't off the top of my head remember the last time that a big name worked out well.  I'm thinking back to the days when we spent 100k on Collin Samuel, 275k on Lee Miller, 6k a week on Derek McInnes, ex-Champions League winner Sinima Pongolle etc.  And don't even get me started on Alex Mathie. 

15 hours ago, ArabianKnight said:

Norwood us apparently still on and the club are looking at a couple who are currently on holiday. 

Micky Mellon was on the BBC English football podcast the other week, and cited Norwood as one of his biggest success stories at Tranmere - that he had given up on a bumper contract but turned things around and got himself a lucrative move to Ipswich.  He obviously didn't expand on what lucrative was, but he implied that it was life-changing. 

With an already over-inflated salary structure, there is no way that we should be trying to compete with that... 

13 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

Fucking useless.  Totally fucking useless.

Let's agree to disagree, my friend, because...

12 hours ago, mishtergrolsch said:

Let us not speak of the dark times of the Banter Years.

Let us look to the Mellon Years for joy.

Great idea!