THE BOURNEMOUTH ULTIMATUM
The Fiver wasn’t particularly shocked when Dundee United announced they’d defenestrated Jack Ross and thrown all his stuff into the Tay. True, his time in charge at Tannadice had started, exactly one month ago, with promise, as his 10-man team came within a minute of securing an opening-day league win at 1965 champions Kilmarnock, then went on to beat AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in Tin Pot. But things quickly spiralled out of control after that, United losing their next five straight, to the cumulative score of 24-1. Having been gubbed at home 3-0 by St Mirren and then 9-0 by the Queen’s Celtic, a quick extrapolation of the trend suggested Hibs would rack up 81 goals when they visit a week Saturday. That’s positively Sierra Leonean, and the end was inevitable, Ross’s 72-day reign falling just short of Jim McLean’s club record by 21 years, three months and six days. Oh Jack! We hardly knew ye!
