Soccer: Smith saddened as McLean quits after fracas
Sunday, 15 October 2000 15:41Dundee United manager Alex Smith has admitted his sadness at chairman Jim McLean's decision to quit the club. The Scotland under-21 boss was brought into Tannadice by McLean and the board in August after the resignation of Paul Sturrock. "I'm very sad about Jim leaving the club, especially as it was the board with him at the head of it, who offered me the job," said Smith. However, Smith refused to comment on the incident involving McLean and BBC reporter John Barnes.
Chairman of the Federation of Dundee United Supporters Clubs Mike Barley has called on the Tannadice club to re-instate chairman McLean. The Tangerines' supremo resigned as chairman and managing director of the club after an altercation with Barnes after the 4-0 home defeat by Hearts. McLean immediately quit the club in the aftermath of the confrontation which occurred during a post-match interview with the Tannadice supremo. Former England striker Mark Hateley found himself as a key witness to the altercation between McLean and Barnes after commentating on the game himself at Tannadice. But the ex-England forward conceded that the incident happened too quickly for him to judge what had happened. "John Barnes was in an interview and the next thing I saw was someone jumping in between the two of them and Mr Barnes walked away holding his mouth," said Hateley, "I can imagine it was something to do with an after-match question about how his team had played." McLean appeared to have been angered by Barnes' question of how long he would give United manager Smith to turn around the fortunes of the club.
Filed by Pat Nugent
