Dundee United captain Jon Daly has stressed that the uncertainty over manager Peter Houston’s contract situation has not adversely affected the players.
The Tangerines sit second bottom of the SPL table and are on a run of five league games without a win.
The 4-0 hammering at Inverness Caley Thistle on Saturday came just days after Houston revealed his agent John Colquhoun was still awaiting contact from chairman Stephen Thompson to discuss a replacement for the deal that will run out at the end of the season.
However, Daly insisted that the issue has not been a factor in the dip in form.
He also argued that if results do improve then it can only help Houston’s cause.
”I don’t think it has any affect on you when you go out on to the park,” he said.
”You are not thinking about contracts and which ones are up at the end of the season.
”You are playing for your team, yourself and your family so you need to make sure that you concentrate on the game. You don’t let things like that bother you.
”Obviously, the manager and the chairman have to sort out what happens there but if we are getting results on the park then it will help him (Houston).
”We need to do our bit to help him out.”
Daly argued that United can’t afford to wait for a Christmas bonus this time.
The Tangerines have come alive over the festive season in recent years, making up ground following faltering starts to SPL campaigns.
They have a track record of recovery that has taken them up the table and put them on course for European qualification.
However, the experienced frontman is not naive enough to expect things just to go right again and wants the turnaround in form to start as soon as this Saturday’s match down at Motherwell.
”For whatever reason, in recent years we have started the reason really poorly but picked things up going into Christmas then gone on from there,” he said.
”But we can’t rely on that happening every year. If we do then it just might not happen for us.
”So we need to try to pick up our form as quickly as we can.
”The game against Motherwell is a good one for us to have this weekend and we will be going all out to get the three points.”
Daly admitted the loss to ICT was an ”eye-opener” and promised that the players will be doing everything they can to get a much-needed victory at Fir Park.