stumigoo

Stop it dad, you’re embarrassing me.

We thought about waiting to make this announcement or keeping quiet a little bit longer but yes, he is my father.

Bizarrely my dad announced the other week that he and Legzdins are quite friendly and that Legzdins is a brilliant guy. They used to live near my parents (I don’t think so anymore). He has been telling me how much Legzdins and his partner love living here and really enjoy the area so I’m sure he will be delighted with the news. My dad also said he was talking to McPake last week about Legzdins and that McPake was very honest about how good Legzdins is for the squad and how vocal he is. For a United fan my dad seems to spend far too much time in the company of people working for Dundee FC.

Mellon talked an incredibly good game when he arrived and he’s clearly a decent guy. I’m disappointed it didn’t work out for him but I’m not that bothered given the football we’ve seen this season. My big concern is what happens next. I don’t have a huge amount of confidence.

We haven’t heard much from Asghar or Ogren recently. With the speculation that has followed Mellon for weeks, it would be good to get an end of season reflection/looking ahead to next year type update from the club. Seems fairly common across the country for fans to be getting something like that now the season has ended. We’ve had a very brief squad update about released players, but that’s it.

The Reynolds chat regarding Cove - two years ago he blamed their pitch for his bad injury. Not sure if he would fancy heading to Cove to play regularly. I get the idea that it would suit him and his family but he has been gaining qualifications for the Oil and Gas industry and has spoken about that as a career beyond football. Imagine he’ll stay with us until his contract ends and then head off to work. Feel really sorry for Connolly, and it does leave us light at the back. I hope Graham, Neilson and/or Smith can be used within the squad next season, would be great to have one or two young defenders breaking through into regular first team football (all three are highly thought of).

Smith and Robson being our only wide players is down to Mellon. I have sympathy for both because they are playing roles beyond what their capabilities are, and in a system that relies heavily on them being able to deal with overloads down each flank (which they can’t). Smith is competent enough that I’m not desperate for him to be replaced but he does need competition. Robson does need to be upgraded but that has been that case for a number of seasons and we still haven’t addressed that. Ultimately though, we need width and the fullbacks need support on each flank, something Mellon has refused to acknowledge this season.

Brilliant goal, and all credit to Harkes there. Great stuff!

Neither can Aberdeen.

It’s been an open enough game so far. Both teams could have a number of chances. Deniz did well with that double save but he gives me the fear.

Siegrist out for the rest of the season. We’ve signed Doohan on loan from Celtic.

Media reporting on Twitter this morning that Pawlett will sign a new two-year deal at the club.

As I’ve seen pointed out on Twitter, when you compare these new away tops (that do just look like pre-match training t-shirts) to the previous away top for each nation it is an embarrassing step backwards in terms of design. Italy and Switzerland in particular -

I definitely noticed his passive demeanour on Friday night. DC Thomson seem to be pushing the idea that Mellon and the current Youth Development plan don’t seem to marry up very well and that this will ultimately lead to Mellon leaving. Suggestions that United are keen on a number of youth players to be used but that Mellon hasn’t really bought into that. He said when he arrived he would use youth, and in early weeks we did see him do that, but then it all changed and he has been very hesitant to give meaningful time to some of the higher rates youngsters at the club, leading to a few leaving on loan. I remember the game in Dingwall back at the start of the season where Smith was out and he simply brought in Kieran Freeman, a natural right-back, which had me pleased that a manager (especially after Neilson) would always just move down the line if a certain player was unavailable. Mellon has been guilty of just forgetting that and doing what his predecessors did and shoehorn players into roles that they are maybe not comfortable with. I would think that there will be pressure on Mellon (or whoever is in charge next season) to use Neilson, Mochrie, Chalmers and some others (Fotheringham, possibly Glass, possibly Graham and Smith) so that we can increase the value of our young players for then selling them on. I’d be happy for a policy like this, as long as we also recruit well, and if a manager doesn’t buy into the club’s philosophy then it normally doesn’t end well for them.

I’ll (hopefully) be in my seat at Tannadice next season watching Premiership football, which is the main thing and the staff/players deserve credit for navigating the club through a difficult season. However, if Mellon is still here, and he starts next season playing with the same style he has deployed for most of this year then he will very quickly find out how United fans feel about overly defensive football (that’s if we are allowed to boo).

I’ve hardly watched any wrestling since last year, and for the novelty of just seeing fans and the full stage/pyro setup it was a reasonable enough couple of nights. Four, maybe five decent matches that held my interest but a huge amount of fairy bog standard, pretty boring, stuff in between. Forgot how much I like Cesaro and Zayn, two of my favourites in recent years (delighted for Cesaro on night one). With Raw and Smackdown back to just virtual crowds (and them maybe still holding back on any big returns or surprises) I’m not sure how much I might watch in the next few months. Having a crowd (even a terrible one) and a full stage makes the whole thing so much better and for that alone, Wrestlemania this year gets a pass from me.

This has been on my ‘maybe’ list for a while. Based on your review it will be getting watched this week.

No chat about the accounts published? If you haven’t read it yet, don’t worry - essentially we are turning a very healthy profit and looking ahead to the long term, we are in a very secure position.

Yeah it’s been a really good twist to the narrative. I think (it’s maybe been mentioned here already) that F&WS was meant to be the first spin-off but they swapped the order? Would have been a great natural follow-up given the focus on the problems caused by the sudden return of half the population.

I must say, the standard of spin-off shows so far has been superb and if the trailer for Loki is anything to go by, it could be another cracker. Be interesting to see how the next set of movies will go but so far I’m more than happy post-Infinity War/Endgame as to where things are going.