Jack Ross admitted Dundee United were transformed into training ground dummies in a nine-goal hammering from Celtic. But the Tannadice boss insisted he’s determined to stay and fight to turn around the club’s fortunes despite the Hoops making history by inflicting the biggest away win in SPFL history on his hapless Tangerines.
Ross delivered a brutal assessment of the latest instalment to what has been a shambolic start to the season for his team and conceded the champions made his defence look as if they were frozen to the spot. He said: “We conceded goals that were akin to training-ground exercises against mannequins.
“That’s an accurate description. It’s not a good description to have against your team or players individually but that’s what it was like. In terms of me describing it, it was humiliating and embarrassing for me, personally and professionally - because of the pride you have in doing your job properly. The players should feel the same way.”
A Celtic goal rush just before half-time had hundreds of United fans heading for the exits and Ross admits the manner of this defeat leaves a lot of making up to with the home support. He added: “We should never be beaten by that scoreline at any level and for the fanbase of the club, I know they’ll feel that way and the responsibility for that falls on my shoulders.
“We owe the supporters an apology because of the manner of the scoreline and the manner of the goals we concede. And large aspects of the performance were not reflective of wearing a jersey in professional football. Secondly, my determination to put this right will remain consistent. I’ve done this for a long time and worked in a consistent manner.
“So when I talk about being humiliated and embarrassed, I want to fix that. You need to have faith in your managerial ability through previous experiences and the challenges I have overcome in my football and coaching career. It’s not in my character not to believe I can do it and not to want to do it.”
Ross also insists there’s been no suggestion his job may be at risk and vowed to get things at United back on track and urged his players to man up. He said: “I suppose you would have to ask other people at the club that.
“Just because I can only affect the bits I’m in control of, which is getting more from the players. How other people perceive it I don’t know as yet. I can understand them not being happy, I have no issues with that.
“What the last few weeks have given us as a football club is miles short. It’s a period I’ve never experienced at all in football so I can understand any heat or speculation.
“If you look back through my managerial career and speak to players I’ve worked with, I own a lot of responsibility and I’m very protective of my players. But you also can’t shy away from individual ownership of personal performances. Players need to own theirs. You can protect and shield them but they need to find individually whether they have the stomach and the heart to put that right.”
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