Hurt. Anger. Frustration.
Steven Fletcher wore all three emotions like a shroud in the immediate aftermath of the match that all but consigned Dundee United to Championship football on Wednesday night. A 3-0 defeat to relegation rivals Kilmarnock means, in Fletcher’s own words, a miracle is needed at Fir Park on Sunday where confidence-shot United will need to batter Motherwell while Derek McInnes’ men do the same to Ross County at Rugby Park if Jim Goodwin’s side is to climb into the play-off spot.
The Tannadice captain has been around this business long enough to feel in his gut that it isn’t going to happen. Dundee United are going down and while much will change - and there is no guarantee he will be even be there to see it - he sincerely hopes that another managerial sacking does not happen. United have had three bosses this season in Jack Ross, Liam Fox and Goodwin. Fletcher believes the club hierarchy - and owner Mark Ogren who flew in from the States to watch Wednesday’s debacle - has to keep faith in the latter’s ability to get the club back into the big time at the first time of asking.
Ogren calls the shots and having pumped £13m into the club in his five years at the helm, has every right to expect a far bigger bang for his buck than he’s had. But Fletcher is convinced that adding Goodwin to the list of cast-aside managers would be yet another catastrophic decision to add to the catalogue of them on and off the field during the Minnesota businessman’s tenure.
“That’s why he is an owner and that’s why he’s got to make the decisions at the end of the day,” Fletcher said when asked if Ogren has a big decision to make in terms of the manager’s role.
“But I think he (Goodwin) has been fantastic since he came in. I feel like, as a group, we have let him down to be honest. He came in and it was what we were crying out for, the way he was on the training pitch.
“We got what we wanted but we still didn’t do it. I feel like we have let him down. He will probably say it is a group, collective thing, him as well.
“For me, we were the ones who crossed the white line, we were the ones who needed to do the job. I don’t think it makes sense to change again.
“I’m not upstairs so I can’t dictate what goes on up there and the decisions that they make. It is down to them but they have got a really, really good manager there and a really great guy as well.
“He wants to win. He was probably what we needed in the team, the way he was as a player. He had a bit of bite about him and he’s like that as a manager and I really respect him for that. But we will have to wait and see what comes in the next few weeks.”
Goodwin did, indeed, have a bit of bite about him as a player and punching his right fist into his left palm, Fletcher insisted this current United team needs exactly that quality.
He added: “Sometimes, without overstepping the line, you need a bit of nastiness in your team. We’ve got such a good group of lads, there is no one who just wants to...it’s frustrating.
“They’ll all go home and think about it. It’s quite a young group and it’s going to hit them.
“I’m an older, experienced lad, I kind of know how to take it but some of them, it might not hit them for a week or two, it is going to hit them that ‘I’m not going to be playing in the Premier League anymore, I’m going to be in the Championship’.
“They are going to need to get over it real quick because this club shouldn’t be down there, it should still still be in the Premier League. All the lads need to go and have a hard look at themselves and see where they want to be in their careers because it is definitely not down there.”
That includes himself. Dragging his 36-year-old body around Championship venues was not in the brochure when he signed up after a superb career down south and with Scotland.
“I didn’t see this coming,” he admitted. “I’ll sit down with the family but I’ve still got another year here at the end of the day. I’m contracted to the club.
“We’ve still got another game to go in this league so I’ll take each day as it comes just now.”
He’s looking for a reaction on Sunday, even though in all probability it will be too late. And he’ll do all he can to make the game, even though he played 90 minutes on Wednesday with a groin tear.
The striker said: “I found it hard enough at the weekend sitting in the house watching it. It was a risk and it didn’t pay off because I didn’t do much in the game. I couldn’t just sit at home and watch because I’m not that kind of guy.
“Look, the boys are gutted. We weren’t good enough the full season. The table doesn’t lie, the goals for and goals against is just not good enough.
“We come in every day, work hard, but it’s all good doing that on the training pitch and us leaving the training pitch every day and saying ‘we’ve got a good squad’.
“I’ve said it all season, it’s a good team, a good group of lads. Sometimes it is not enough. When you cross that white line you need to roll up your sleeves and work hard for each other.
“We’ve got a great group of individual players who will probably have a great career but when you cross that line you need to work as a team and need to push each other. We’re not officially relegated but it will take a miracle at the weekend.”
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