Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson last night insisted that Jackie McNamara is the right man to take the club forward.
While the Tannadice chief may have moved swiftly to appoint Peter Houston’s successor, Thompson revealed that McNamara quickly emerged as the “outstanding candidate” for the role and spoke of his delight at securing the services of one of the country’s best young managers.
McNamara left the hotseat at Partick to put pen to paper on a three-year contract with United, and was joined by his assistant Simon Donnelly who also moves from Firhill on a three-year deal.
But while United’s seemingly annual aim of a top-six finish has been made clear from the outset, Thompson has refused to set far more grandiose targets for the new management team despite being convinced McNamara will bring success back to Tannadice.
“We chatted earlier on and he knows how important top-six in the SPL is financially, cashflow-wise, but apart from that we just want him to do the best he can,” Thompson told Courier Sport.
“I think our squad is capable of being further up the league, but there’s no pressure to be any position. He is a very ambitious young man and he’s like me, if you aim to be the best you’ll get somewhere close to being the best.
“That’s exactly what he is: he wants to be the best at everything he does and I don’t need to set targets because he’ll set his own targets. He’s under no pressure that way.
“It was important that we moved quickly to appoint a new manager, but it was equally important that we undertook extensive homework to ensure the correct appointment.
“It’s been a hard couple of weeks we’ve been through as a club and I’ve been through personally but that’s football.
“People don’t realise you are still on the phone at 10.30pm or 11pm at night, but that’s football and any other chairman in the league will tell you that. But I think we’ve got a really good manager to come into this club.
“It’s hard to pinpoint any single one thing about him, it’s a host of things and sometimes it’s tiny little things like how he handled the press last week.
“It’s about results on the park, what he’s done at his last club and bringing young players through. It’s the sport science side. It’s the modern way he looks at the game. It’s just a whole host of things that just make him quite exciting.”
While the total financial package to replace Houston and pay Partick compensation for the loss of their management duo is unlikely to be small fry, Thompson reckons the sums involved which have not been divulged will be money well spent.
“At the end of the day it’s about getting the right person to run the club,” he stressed. “If you don’t get the right person it can cost you.
“You’ve just got to balance everything up in the right way and we feel that going out and getting Jackie was the right thing for this football club.
“Finance is tight, and it’s tight for every club, but if you decided to go with someone based on money you might not end up with the right guy and you might end up relegated.
“We believe as a board we’ve done the right thing.”
Thompson revealed that he “quietly” spoke to others involved in football about the vacant manager’s job and it became apparent that McNamara has earned the respect of his peers.
“It was all very positive and very upbeat, and I’ve had some interesting texts from other people saying ‘you’ve got a great man there’ and wishing us all the best,” he continued.
“He’ll have the full support of the board and it will be a very open and honest relationship.
“We’ve discussed budgets and everything else for next season. He knows exactly where we are as a club and he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t think it was the right thing.
“I’ve never been a player but he’s certainly had a very successful playing career so I’m sure he’ll gain respect.
“He was captain of a big club at one point but being a successful player doesn’t make you a good manager at the end of the day.
“He’s got his own way of doing things I know that and I can tell that. He has very strong beliefs and I’m sure the players will enjoy working with him.”
Falkirk boss Steven Pressley had been strongly linked to the vacant post in recent weeks and Thompson admitted he had been impressed with the former United player during a “rigorous interview process”.
“I spoke to Steven on the phone and thanked him very much I’ve got to say he was a true gent on the phone,” Thompson went on. “He wished me all the best, as I did to him, and I would really like to thank Falkirk for letting me speak to him.
“But I’m not going to enter into much about that because it feels like I’m putting somebody down versus somebody else, I’m just delighted Jackie’s here to take Dundee United on.”
Meanwhile, Thompson also confirmed that there have been “no inquiries” about any players, amid speculation that Crystal Palace are set to move for Johnny Russell and Gary Mackay-Steven.