Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson has revealed he didn’t sleep a wink the night before his club’s Ibrox victory.
With a William Hill Scottish Cup final date with St Johnstone at Celtic Park on May 17 now safely in the bag, Thompson can finally catch up on some shut-eye.
It will make up for a restless Friday night/Saturday morning which was spent wide awake as the Tannadice supremo pondered what may or may not happen when United faced Rangers in the semi-final.
He need not have worried as goals from Stuart Armstrong, Gary Mackay-Steven and Nadir Ciftci secured a 3-1 win over the Light Blues.
He wasn’t to know that in the wee sma’ hours, though.
“I couldn’t believe how nervous I was on the night before the game and I did not sleep at all,” he said.
“I wanted to reach the final so much and, even though I have great confidence in our manager Jackie McNamara and the players, I just couldn’t settle down.
“I went out walking in the early hours to see if that helped but it didn’t. I was even knocking on the door of a coffee shop at 7 in the morning to politely ask them to open up and let me in.
“Perhaps it was all because there was just so much at stake.“It was better when I got to Ibrox and I was sitting right in the middle of my fellow United fans, who gave the team such great backing. I seemed to relax then.
“I have to say we didn’t play wonderfully well but we took our chances and won the match with a couple of goals to spare.”
Reaching a final should never be underplayed as an achievement and the chairman noted that this will be the fourth of the Thompson family’s reign.
United made it to the Scottish Cup final in 2005, losing to Celtic. Then they came within a whisker of collecting the CIS Cup in 2008, with Rangers edging it in a penalty shootout.
Of course, then came the famous Scottish Cup victory over Ross County in 2010. Now the Perth men await this year at Parkhead.
“I was thinking about how it will be our fourth final in nine years and that is a fine achievement for the club,” said Thompson.
“Obviously, the Ross County game was special and memorable for so many reasons. Four years on, we want to experience those things again.
“We took over 28,000 supporters to Hampden for that final and it would be fantastic if that we could get close to that figure again. We have such a young team and it will be so good to see them play on such a stage.”
Planning has already begun for the final, with Thompson and his directors having held talks among themselves ahead of a formal meeting of both clubs’ officials and the SFA later this week.
“It has been straight down to work to plan for the game and we hope to get things like ticket allocations sorted out as soon as possible,” he said.
Thompson also sent his congratulations to Saints in general and his fellow chairman Steve Brown in particular.
“I am so happy for them and getting to their first-ever Scottish Cup final is a great achievement,” he added.
“Steve and I get on really well and have often travelled through to Glasgow together for meetings. I watched their game against Aberdeen on TV and it was a terrific result for them.”
Meanwhile, United are the bookies’ choice to collect the cup.
Tournament sponsors William Hill have installed the Tangerines as 4-7 favourites to lift the trophy, while Saints fans can get odds of 5-4 on their team.
Hills spokesman Tony Kenny said: “United are our favourites to lift the cup but as St Johnstone showed against Aberdeen they have the determination and the quality to match anyone in this competition.”
Outright betting: United 4-7, Saints 5-4. To win in 90 minutes: United evens, Saints 11-5, draw 11-5.