Jim McLean stunned Scottish football in July 1988 when he tendered his resignation as Dundee United manager after 17 years in charge.
Run-ins with the SFA had left him shattered and the bolt from the blue came days after McLean received a record £4,000 fine and three-year touchline ban.
McLean felt the weight of the SFA’s wrath following a touchline incident during the Scottish Cup semi-final replay with Aberdeen at Dens Park in April 1988.
The United manager sprinted to the edge of the pitch at the half-time whistle and had a stand up row with Aberdeen captain Willie Miller, whom he believed to be responsible for the earlier dismissal of Paul Hegarty in the 40th minute.
McLean was previously fined £500 and banned from the touchline in 1984 which also forced him to resign from his part-time post as Jock Stein’s Scotland assistant.
The Referee and Disciplinary Committee considered the April 1988 matter but decided to defer any decision until McLean made a personal appearance to give evidence.
McLean left SFA headquarters in Glasgow ashen-faced following the ruling before returning to Tannadice where he took the drastic action in protest and resigned.
United chairman George Fox refused to accept his manager’s resignation.
Fox declared the announcement had “plunged us into the biggest crisis in my 33 years as a director of the club” and would attempt to persuade McLean to reconsider.
Little wonder.
McLean’s domestic achievements included three major honours – consecutive League Cup wins in 1979 and 1980 and the Premier League title in 1983.
United also reached the European Cup semi-final in 1984 and the 1987 Uefa Cup final.
‘Appalled and extremely concerned’
“The board of directors are appalled and extremely concerned at the severity of the sentence yesterday on the manager, Mr James McLean,” said Fox.
“Mr McLean was provoked into his action by an initial provocation which occurred on the field of play and the instigator was not even asked to be present at the meeting.
“Secondly, Mr McLean twice asked the chairman of the Referees Committee what he was found guilty of and still awaits an answer.
“It is probably not appreciated that the fine is net after tax has been deducted and the actual fine is in the neighbourhood of £6,700, which represents a substantial percentage of the manager’s salary.
“Mr McLean does not feel he can continue to operate under the present legislation and the sentence reflects on the future of Dundee United Football Club as well as the manager, who has tendered his resignation.
“It should be pointed out that, of a committee of seven members, only four participated in the meeting, one of whom was an Aberdeenshire official, another from the Southern Counties and one from each of the lower divisions.”
McLean was “adamant” that he would stand by his decision despite being urged to change his mind by the chairman, the supporters and some of his fellow managers.
He was also considering taking the matter through the courts after speaking to a lawyer.
The fine and ban from the SFA had hit the Tannadice Parkers so hard that George Fox admitted he had thought of resigning as chairman following McLean’s shock decision.
The Courier highlighted some of the candidates which could have replaced McLean after Jimmy Bone and Gordon Wallace took the first day of pre-season training.
Were Bone and Wallace in the frame?
“Jimmy Bone is already at the club,” the newspaper stated.
“He and fellow coach Gordon Wallace have both been managers and have had extensive coaching experience at the top level.
“If the resigning manager maintains his interest in the club as the second biggest shareholder and doesn’t, as he threatens, disappear to foreign parts like England or abroad, either could carry on with the option of regular consultations with their former boss as they settled in.
“Or might a newcomer be brought in? It has been the avowed McLean intention for some time now to move out of the managerial chair.
“In fact, he admitted in one weekend interview that, had Walter Smith still been at Tannadice, he would have been manager by now.
“Walter is number 2 to Graeme Souness with Rangers.
“Could he be persuaded to return?
“And what of another McLean – brother Tommy? He has done a great job at Motherwell – bringing them back to respectability from the brink of disaster.
“There are all sorts of other names that could be mentioned, but the fact is that the apparently outgoing manager has indicated his intention to quit the job long before the present crisis, the board will have discussed successors and will have a good idea of their short list.
“The bottom line is that there can’t be too long a delay in establishing whether manager McLean, is, or is not, ex-manager – and, if he is ex-manager, appointing a replacement.
“Training at Tannadice starts today and the season is only weeks away.”
McLean decided to make a U-turn
Odds were also being quoted on United’s chances in the 1988/89 European Cup Winners’ Cup with 33/1 being given before the first round draw was made on July 12.
Bookies were keen to stress those odds would lengthen if McLean was no longer manager although United received a favourable tie against Maltese minnows Floriana.
Would McLean be in the hot seat when they flew out to Malta in September?
Talks continued behind the scenes with the board of directors and McLean agreed to withdraw his resignation.
“In the last week, the chairman and I have had several conversations and his advice, which I have always respected, has been to withdraw my resignation, but I have made my decision to do so not only on the advice of the chairman but of my lawyer as well,” he said.
“The Dundee United directors have reiterated that they won’t accept my resignation and I am now delighted to be back as manager of Dundee United.
“The fine will definitely not be paid by me.
“The club have backed me 100% at all times and will continue to back me on this issue.
“I didn’t think that I could fight it through the courts so I had to fight it in the only way I could, which, I thought, was to quit.”
The seemingly endless row continued through July and McLean refused to pay the fine and threatened legal action before a tabloid newspaper agreed to pick up the bill.
The publicity stunt was rejected by the SFA.
McLean called a news conference in Stirling on July 25 where he announced that he would now pay the fine imposed – but only if it was “reduced to a reasonable sum”.
It wasn’t.
Heysel accusation levelled at McLean
The £4,000 fine and three-year ban was ratified by the SFA’s council meeting in Glasgow on September 5 which brought more unwanted headlines.
SFA president David Will suggested McLean’s confrontation with Miller could have sparked a pitch invasion and led to a repeat of the 1985 Heysel Stadium tragedy.
McLean was in Malta for the match against Floriana but was besieged by journalists and TV crews looking for his response when the team returned to Edinburgh Airport.
Things got worse when McLean head-butted a BBC cameraman after he became ambushed during the scrum and he ended up in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
McLean was ordered to be of good behaviour for a year.
As for the £4,000 SFA fine?
It was eventually paid up in full and McLean remained in charge until 1993 when he finally stepped down, moving to become chairman, after 22 years at Tannadice.
