Peter Houston has revealed that his future at Dundee United won’t be settled until after the Scottish Cup final.
Houston is only in charge until the end of the campaign and while it is certain following the semi-final win over Raith Rovers and with United destined to finish at least third in the league he will be offered the chance to remain at the helm, there are issues to be resolved between the parties.
United have concerns about the impact Houston being number two to Scotland manager Craig Levein might have on discharging club duties, while he wants to weigh up the possible impact of the financial cuts the Tangerines, along with the majority of SPL sides, will be making.
The manager revealed he and chairman Stephen Thompson have agreed to let matters rest until the campaign is over.
“People have asked about my situation,” said Houston.
“Well, we’re in the cup final and could finish second or third so I’d be surprised if the chairman didn’t ask me if I wanted the job.
“But what we’ll do is make a decision at the end of the season.
“We have a meeting planned for May 18-19 which was arranged before we knew we were in the final and we’ll have a look at things then.”
By the time the pair sit down United could have ended their 16-year wait to lift the Scottish Cup and qualified either for the Europa or even Champions League.
With the upcoming weeks having so much riding on them, Houston is more concerned with success on the field than sorting his own situation out.
“We’ve given ourselves a chance to win a trophy and we’ll do our damnedest to do that,” he said. “But it’ll be difficult. Ross County were magnificent against Celtic.
“When we played them in the CIS Cup this season it was a very tough match, even though we won 2-0.
“They’ll come into the final with nothing to lose. I can assure you we’ll give them every respect. Between now and May 15 I’ll make sure we have some-body at every game they play.”
“But the cup final goes on the back burner now. We’ll enjoy tonight then tomorrow start planning how we get something off Rangers on Wednesday night at Tannadice.
“We could finish second, third or fourth in the league and we’ll have a pop at catching Celtic who we still have to play at our place.”
Meanwhile left-back Paul Dixon was sweating over whether he’ll make the final after limping out of the semi amidst concerns he might have suffered a serious foot injury.
“Dicker may have a wee broken bone in his instep,” revealed Houston.
“We don’t know if that is the case so it’s too early to speculate whether he’s in danger of missing the final.
“It may just be bruising. Let’s hope so because he brings a lot to the team.”