The departure of Derek McInnes from St Johnstone will have no impact on Dundee United’s preparations for Saturday’s Tayside derby, Tangerines’ boss Peter Houston has insisted.
The clock would appear to be against Saints chairman Geoff Brown getting a new man in place in time for the trip to Tannadice.
All Houston is concerned with, however, is sorting his own team out after suffering heavy back-to-back league defeats.
He said: ”If Derek does go then St Johnstone will be looking for a new manager. They might have one by the weekend or they might not, but that’s not something we will be thinking about.
”The outcome of the game on Saturday will depend on what we do and that’s all we are focused on.
”Everyone knows we have been losing too many goals and putting an end to that has been a major part of what we’ve worked on in training this week and will continue right up until the game.
”We went through the video of the last few weeks with the players on Monday so we know where we’ve been going wrong.
”The players here are an honest bunch and everyone has been working hard.”
United will have to wait a bit longer to discover the extent of Danny Swanson’s knee injury, with Houston now expecting to receive the results of his scan today.
Regardless of what is revealed, there will certainly be no quick comeback for the Scotland midfielder.
Houston said: ”We will get the results of Danny’s scan on Thursday so the doctor and physio will take a look at it when it arrives.
”Hopefully it brings good news, although there’s no way he will be fit for the weekend.”
United also hope defender Sean Dillon may be able to step up his training today after five weeks out with a calf tear. If he does then he could be in contention for the derby.