Dundee United manager Robbie Neilson is resisting the temptation to compare this promotion campaign with his record-breaking Hearts season.
The Tangerines stand tall at the top of the Championship, 21 points clear of second-placed Inverness Caley Thistle after beating the Highlanders 2-1 at Tannadice on Friday night.
Given United’s dominance of the division and the fact that he is the gaffer, it perhaps inevitable that people are looking back to the remarkable success Neilson enjoyed as Tynecastle boss in season 2014-15 when he took the Jam Tarts back up to the top flight ahead of runners-up Hibs and third-placed Rangers.
As things stand, Neilson’s current side do boast a bigger lead at the 25-match mark than Hearts had five years ago but the Edinburgh club had amassed 66 points compared to the Tangerines’ 57.
For impatient United fans, it is perhaps worth noting that the league was wrapped by the Jam Tarts on March 22 that year – with seven games to spare.
Neilson is, though, sticking to his mantra of “game by game” and is neither looking back to the good old days with Hearts nor forward to a potential flag day with United.
He said: “We are in a really good position but I will leave it to others to speculate about this and that.
“It was a huge win for us and I am not going to deny that it was really significant but there is still so much of the season left.
“We did have a blip recently but the Inverness victory saw us bounce right back and now I am looking for the lads to kick on.
“It may be boring but we have really benefited this year from purely looking at the next match so we won’t be changing now,” added Neilson, who takes his team to East End Park to face Dunfermline on Saturday.
“The players have all bought into it and been brilliant in staying focused.
“My job is to get us back where we want to be – in the Premiership.
“I do sometimes look back at that season with Hearts but it is to remember what worked for me in getting the most out of my players not about how many points we had or anything like that.”
Neilson revealed he won’t be signing either Joshua Perez or Manoubi Haddad, with the two trialists told they won’t be getting deals.
The United manager confirmed: “After a lot of consideration, I have decided to let both players go and hopefully find other clubs.
“They weren’t quite what we were looking for and we are hoping to see more of the likes of Declan Glass and Chris Mochrie before the end of the season.”
One player Neilson is delighted to have at the club is Rakish Bingham, who laid on both of United’s goals against Inverness.
Neilson said: “He has fitted right into the team.
“He has skill in abundance.
“I think everybody at the game on Friday saw his quality when he had the assists for Louis (Appere) and Lawrence (Shankland).
“He has played in the top flight in Scotland with Hamilton and I think that comes through in his play.”
Another bonus from the ICT game was that fit-again Paul McMullan got a runout for over half-an-hour.
Neilson revealed that McMullan was in with a chance of starting against Inverness, saying: “He was raring to go.
“I did consider starting him on Friday but we decided that it was maybe just a bit early.
“It was great to give him some game time, though, and he can be a key player for us in the closing stages of the season.”
The Tangerines’ remaining league games are: Dunfermline v United – Saturday, February 29; Ayr v United – Tuesday, March 3; United v Partick – Saturday, March 7; Morton v United – Saturday, March 14; United v Alloa – Saturday, March 21; Arbroath v United – Friday, March 27; United v Queen of South – Friday, April 3; Inverness v United – Friday, April 10; United v Dunfermline – Saturday, April 18; Dundee v United – Friday, April 24; United v Ayr – Saturday, May 2.
