Jim McLean

It is telling that the one man who would disagree that today is the saddest day in the history of Dundee United would be Jim Mclean himself. He'd be much more likely to say it was either of our relegations because they fell way below the standards expected of Dundee United Football Club. Standards he set and as a boy had me feeling like you were entering an almost mythical environment when you went to Tannadice because you always believed you could be away to witness a team that on its day could match ANY team out there, at home or abroad. When you watch Scottish football matches today, exciting as it still is, you know that it is virtually a different sport from the games you watch in the English Premiership, La Liga, Serie A or the Bundesliga in terms of technique, fitness, tactical know-how and yet in my lifetime, with no significant resources Jim McLean created a team which was a match for all of these leagues. I was still in nursery school when we won the league but, remember watching the game away to Manchester United when the eyes of the whole country were on us. The Barcelona games especially the away game which saw me, my mum and dad jumping around the house in unbridled joy as first Clark and then Ferguson scored, the Borrusia away game which was in my opinion, our greatest ever performance and one of the top five Scottish European performances of all time and then of course going to see us in the UEFA Cup Final. It still gives me chills thinking about it. I can pick myself out on the photo below. You'd see Jim getting interviewed on Sportscene and he'd always say something that had you thinking. Every interview was a learning experience. A lot of managers today try to sound clever about football when most of the time they end up sounding like second-rate psychologists. Jim McLean just spoke about football, and how the fans should never be short-changed. It is nice to know that the trophy above sits in the Tannadice trophy room once again. Reading the tributes on Twitter earlier, I had to go into the toilet to try and compose myself before I told the young lad that Jim had passed away. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I never met Jim McLean personally. The closest I got was on one occasion when I was a ball boy at a United v Rangers reserve game at Tannadice in 1989 where I almost got knocked over by Jim as he charged out of the executive box at 100mph to give advice/a bollocking to the players (reserve football was a serious business in those days with a crowd of over 1000 there and past and future internationals playing) then later got a telling off because I was blethering to the late Charlie Adam Snr. (RIP) who I knew from his time at Downfield Juniors with my dad when he was supposed to be warming up (my fault, Charlie was a great guy).

His quest for perfection would at times leave some serious casualties as players could be torn down in a way that many, even in a much harder generation of the 70's and 80's would object to such as a young player who played for United in a friendly up at the Whitfield astroturf who was simply told where to go (and never come back) by Jim and Walter Smith at half-time in a midweek friendly game and forced to make his own way home, still his United kit, no idea if he was even from Dundee, due to a performance that to others playing in the game didn't even think was that bad, but did not meet the standards that Jim McLean had set for those in his club.

However, his propensity for warm gestures for fans and good advice to aspiring coaches and managers will I'm sure be shared repeatedly by many over the coming days and weeks.  Jim was good enough to invite my dad and his assistant Mel Irons up to his office at Tannadice a few days before Tayport played in the Scottish Junior Cup Final in 1993 for lunch and a chat. My dad told me about how of course Jim joked that he should just do the opposite of everything he did in cup finals and he'd be ok! He also spoke though about how as a young manager he tried to make every training session different but that this wasn't working. He said he realised that players weren't picking things up as quickly as he wanted and by keeping on moving to different things each time they weren't picking anything up. It's astonishing that a man who it could be argued virtually invented a fair chunk of modern coaching alongside Rinus Michaels, Johann Cruyff and today, Pep Guardiola would firstly, invite a Junior manager in his first managerial job, then actually talk about his own initial weaknesses (dare I say insecurities) in the role. He said that he decided to change and started sticking to the same key routines over and over again until they became second nature to the players. Only then would he move on. My dad said the advice stuck.

"Repetition is the key Davie."  

"And do know what? If any players complain about it or say that it is boring, tell them to fuck off."

Words to live by.

Rest in Peace Jim. You're a genius. 🧡🖤