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Dundee United favourite Jon Daly reveals he nearly left club twice in his early days at Tannadice

Former Dundee United striker Jon Daly.
Former Dundee United striker Jon Daly.

Former Dundee United hero Jon Daly has revealed he nearly left the club twice in his early days at Tannadice.

Daly, who scored 73 goals in 203 appearances in tangerine, saw his first two seasons at United plagued with injury and struggled to score on a regular basis.

The Irish striker soon rectified that and went on to achieve fans’ favourite status among Arabs, captaining the side and winning the Scottish Cup in 2010.

However, speaking to Open Goal, the 37-year-old said he was consigned to leaving the club in 2008 despite hitting form, which included scoring his first goal for the club against Celtic, the season prior.

“When you go to any club, it seems to always take me time to settle and get going,” the former Rangers and Raith Rovers man said.

“One of the first training sessions I had at Dundee United, we did 11 v 11 and I scored a hat-trick in eight minutes.

“All the boys were probably thinking: ‘Who’s this guy?’ and then you go into a game and you can’t hit a barn door.

Jon Daly celebrates scoring against Hibs in 2012.

“In such a big game for the club and myself, it was a great way to get off the mark and get going, the following game against Aberdeen we went up to Pittodrie and won 4-2, scored a penalty in the first minute or so.

“I felt I was on a bit of momentum, on fire, starting to find my scoring form and then two or three games later I get injured at Inverness.

“I ruptured my posterior cruciate ligaments and ended up out for about seven months and then I did my ankle at Hibs so the start to my United career was plagued with injuries.

“Not just little niggly ones but major injuries that are going to keep you out for a substantial amount of time.

“At the end of that season I got a phone call from my agent saying Craig’s bringing in other strikers and if you can find another club you can move on.

“I knew the players they were bringing in were different, Roy O’Donovan and Warren Feeney, but they didn’t offer the same qualities I can to the team for all they were good players in their own right.

“I just bided my time, waited for my opportunity, played away to Cowdenbeath and scored a hat-trick.

“That put me back in the thought process of the manager and gave me an opportunity to kick on at United.

“You kind of think: ‘I could be on the way out here’ because I was told I’d be like fourth or fifth choice striker.

“That’s football and that happens but I understood the mindset and thinking behind it because I’d only played something like 17 games in two seasons and had two major injuries.”

Daly found his scoring touch in the 2008/09 campaign and was offered a new deal, one he was happy to accept.

However, haphazard negotiations by his agent almost inadvertently sealed his exit under then-boss Craig Levein.

Daly continued: “I came back from my injuries, done really well and the club then decided they wanted to keep me.

“There were negotiations the agent was dealing with. He rang me up, told me the offer and I thought it was brilliant and was happy to sign.

“He told me to hold fire because he thought he could squeeze a little more money out of them but I said: ‘look, as the agent that’s your job but I’m happy with that deal’.

Jon Daly (right) won the Scottish Cup with United in 2010.

“The phone rang 10 minutes later and it’s the agent saying: ‘Craig’s not happy with you’.

“I was like: ‘What do you mean he’s not happy with me? I’ve done nothing wrong, I said I’m happy with my deal’.

“So I ended up basically not sleeping that night, went in the next morning and I said: ‘Gaffer can I have a word?’

“I knew he wasn’t happy with the way he responded but I said: ‘Look, the contract offer, I don’t know what’s been said but I’m extremely happy with it and happy to go down to Tannadice after training and sign the contract’.

“I was really happy with it and appreciated the offer because the club stood by me with my injuries.

“He said: ‘That’s good because you weren’t going to play on Saturday and now you’re back in the team.’”

Daly had respect for United boss Levein

Despite how it seems, former Hearts coach Daly enjoyed a good relationship with Levein and respected his management style.

Even if it meant training sessions sometimes came to blows.

He added: “Everyone was fair game, even big Lee Wilkie. I remember the day before the League Cup Final against Rangers (in 2008) we went down to train at Hearts’ training ground.

“I’d just come back from an injury so I was trying to get in the squad, in training I was running about doing things that I probably wouldn’t normally do.

“I was running channels, never done that in my life and big Streaky (Wilkie) was like: ‘What are you doing?’

Jon Daly (right) spoke highly of his former boss Craig Levein.

“I told him I’m just trying to get back in the squad and then something happened at a throw-in where I’ve done something and ran away from him.

“Craig was up in the stands watching and he’s stopped the game and gone: ‘Streaky, do it right!’ and big Streaky’s gone back at him.

“I’m standing there thinking: “S*** I’ve stitched Streaky up here’ and the big man, I’m not going to take him on because he’d knock me out.

“He’s a big boy but Craig would go for anyone.”

A Streaky slap fractured Kovacevic’s eye socket

Daly insists, for all his tactical attention to detail was superb, Levein enjoyed seeing training conducted at full pace.

The former Terrors forward recalled an incident where giant centre-half Wilkie and Mihael Kovacevic went head to head.

He revealed: “You trained as you played, everything was done to a tempo and if the standards dropped you had boys like Baz (Barry Robson) and Streaky that would demand.

“It came to blows a couple of times. I remember big Lee Wilkie and Kovacevic had a coming together.

Lee Wilkie and Craig Levein in their Dundee United days.

“It wasn’t really a fight, to be honest. Big Streaky just gave him a slap and fractured his eye socket.

“It was a five-a-side game or a seven-a-side game and it got a bit heated and the two of them came together.

“I was like: ‘If that’s what he can do with a slap, imagine what he can do with a proper punch.’

“I don’t think Craig was there that day.

“I think Houstie (Peter Houston) took training so he was probably panicking thinking: ‘Oh my god, I’ve been asked to take training and now we’ve got a boy with a fractured eye socket!’”

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