The love affair between Stephen Thompson and Dundee United fans has turned very sour.
This is not so much a lovers’ tiff as full blown marital mayhem.
A messy divorce settlement seems a likely outcome at some future stage.
Love was very much in the air when United were winning the Scottish Cup and flying high in the league, but affections for the chairman have turned to bitterness as top players have been sold and the team has tumbled towards relegation.
Thompson’s dalliance in an ill-thought out affair with an Australian club also cooled the jets of the United faithful, who until recently had been warm in their affections for him.
Yet Thompson has generally been a reasonably attentive and caring partner.
The household debts, once peaking at several million pounds, have been reduced to just over one million pounds, albeit the outgoings at the club need reined in as the purse strings get tighter.
When the club was flying high and all was domestic bliss, supporters’ concerns that the chairman was being overly generous to himself were mere background noise and general chatter.
Now though, an angry cacophony reverberates through the Tannadice house as fans rage at their reduced circumstances.
Toleration of a straying chairman is acceptable to supporters only when the finery of success can be worn by them for others to admire.
United fans should be careful what they wish for though.
Thompson is worn down by the relationship, but in his heart doesn’t want to end it.
For supporters, any new partner may seem desirable amid the present hurt, but will he or she have the same concerns and passions as them?
Throwing the marital love child out with the bath water could be a big mistake.
Things are fractious, but all marriages need worked at.
With a dollop of honesty, openness, and wise guidance and counselling, this ailing relationship might just be rekindled.
It’s a kinda magic!
A bit of football magic still remains.
This is Scottish Cup weekend and that provides the kind of magic that league football can’t match.
It is traditionally the best chance for clubs outside of Glasgow’s big two to grab some silverware and write their name in the history books.
I’ve been on the open top buses with Dundee United, Inverness and St Johnstone as the Champagne has fizzed and spumed as the cup was paraded to thousands of ecstatic supporters thronging the streets.
Last year as I interviewed John Hughes on the delirious Caley Thistle bus we were almost decapitated by an overhanging branch, so lost in the celebrations was everyone. The moment summed up the excitement and exhilaration of cup victory on a city and its people.
This year the juniors of Linlithgow Rose will joust with Ross County of the top league while lowland league East Kilbride Thistle’s collection of plumbers, teachers and van drivers offers the David v Goliath tie of the tournament, when they meet the cup’s most successful side, Celtic.
Scottish football has its fair share of problems, but on weekends like this, the old dog has the energy and vitality of a new puppy.