Dundee United manager Mixu Paatelainen claims he will enjoy fighting his derby misconduct charge at Hampden – just as he savoured his injury-time celebrations against Dundee.
The deadline has now passed for Paatelainen to respond to a Scottish Football Association charge for “shouting and gesticulating at away supporters”.
Paatelainen cupped his hands behind his ears and pumped his fist in the direction of the visiting fans – who had been heckling the Finn when Dundee were 2-0 up – after Billy McKay netted an injury-time equaliser at Tannadice on March 20.
The former Finland manager does not accept that he did anything wrong and will travel to Glasgow for a hearing, which is pencilled in for April 13.
“They want to have a chat about what happened and I’ve got no problem with that at all,” he said.
“There was no harm, there was no offensive stuff, there was nothing – just football banter.
“I quite enjoyed the moment. I’m sure everybody there did as well. So there is no problem at all.”
Paatelainen will return to Hampden three days later for the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against Hibernian and he is adamant he should face no touchline ban.
“I will gladly go there and say exactly what happened and what the feelings were,” he added.
One consequence of the game is that United may move visiting supporters, some of whom were positioned behind the dugouts during the derby.
“We must make sure that we have full concentration throughout the match as coaches in the dugouts,” Paatelainen said.
“That’s something we need to look at and take measures on.”