31 October 2020

Micky Mellon reveals Dundee United wage cut but insists ‘no big drama’

31 October 2020

Dundee United manager Micky Mellon insisted there were “no big dramas” after the club asked its players and staff to take a 20 per cent wage cut.

Owner Mark Ogren had said the club would have to make savings to cope with the likelihood of having no fans at matches for the foreseeable future.

Speaking after his side’s 2-1 victory over Ross County courtesy of Nicky Clark’s double, Mellon said the news had not come as a surprise.

He said: “There’s no big dramas. Trust me. There’s a pandemic on and every industry in the world is dealing with a tough time. Football is one of those.

“We will sort it out and continue to play football and hopefully pick up results. We said right from the start we can’t allow it to become any bigger drama than what everybody might make it out to be. It’s no surprise to us.

“People have to cut their cloth accordingly. There’s no fans coming through the door. The boys know that and know we have to keep grafting for the club to pick up results and keep moving towards the Dundee United we all want to see.

“They deserve a lot of credit but not just for today. I keep saying they’ve only just come out of the Championship and are being asked to adapt to the Premiership. They are fighting really hard to do that and this win moved us a bit closer to being that team.”

Mellon said there was no rush for the management and players to respond to the request to reduce their wages.

He added: “There’s no deadline. Nothing has been forced on us. There are no fans and every club is suffering.

“Some clubs went early to try to sort out a way to get through this without fans and now it’s come to a stage where we have to do that. And we’ll do it in the right way to sort it out.”

County scored their first league goal since September through Oli Shaw but could not claim a draw despite a late rally.

But manager Stuart Kettlewell felt their performance was not too bad.

He said: “I really didn’t feel under any pressure in the game at all and some of our football was really good.

“But I need to avoid saying again that we played well but lost – we need to change that.”

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