Dundee United sporting director Tony Asghar has insisted that supporter frustration towards his job and position at Tannadice is not helpful for manager Liam Fox and his playing squad.
United fans unveiled an “Asghar Out” banner at a recent away fixture at Rugby Park against Kilmarnock that saw the Terrors hit rock bottom of the Scottish Premiership.
In recent times the current relegation scrap, the disastrous appointment of Jack Ross as manager and the loss of star player Liam Neilson to Hearts for zero compensation has left supporters pointing the finger.
Now a controversial January transfer window has added to anger in the stands, and supporters felt they had to make their feelings known to the Tannadice hierarchy.
Asghar can understand the outcry of emotion, but he is determined to show his worth as he detailed his hopes of turning things around in the City of Discovery.
He explained: "Firstly, the team is bottom of the league so I can understand the frustrations of the fans. Any team that’s not performing week in, week out at a club this size is going to be venting at games.
"I do think sometimes we have to understand where we are as a team and what we’re trying to achieve. We’ve had some very good performances since the World Cup. The team here is strong. We have a load of very good players but I understand they’re venting.
"Fans at this club have an opportunity to speak up. We have the Dundee United Supporters Group meeting coming up, we have the AGM, the owner is going to be over so there’s going to be plenty of time to discuss what the issues are.
"It’s always disappointing when someone is putting your name up on a banner. If I’m the problem they’re keeping it away from others. I’ll take it on board and I’ll take it on the chin and I’ll try and get things right. We all want the same thing, we want success for Dundee United.
"I hurt just as much as everyone else. I’ve got to go home when we’ve lost games and I get it. There’s been a number of fans contacting me to give me support personally and for the club.
"I can’t disagree or share issue with any form of venting. I will say it doesn’t help the players and sometimes gives the opposition an advantage but my door is always open for anyone who wants to come in and ask what we’re doing.
"Hopefully with this platform we’ll let people know what we’re doing to come out of it."
Asghar and the United board were criticised for allowing Tony Watt to leave on transfer deadline day as he linked up with St Mirren on-loan until the end of the season.
The decision to allow the former Celtic, St Johnstone, Motherwell and Hearts striker to leave means United are left with just youngster Rory MacLeod and the unknown quantity of Ugandan Sadat Anaku as back up to the ageing Steven Fletcher.
On the window itself, Asghar continued: "I understand it and nobody is more unhappy with how we ended up coming out of the window than myself. A transfer window doesn’t just act on the last day, our recruitment strategy is even looking for next summer and who we’re trying to recruit.
"We looked at a number of possibilities. We’re trying to sign targets who are potentially on a financial scale we can’t reach because of the quality we’re trying to bring in. We’re also now having other clubs who are in competitive measures with us. The players we used to pick up in the January windows were free agents or players people didn’t traditional want now we’re trying to go against who other teams want and therefore things change during it.
"One of the big things was why we let a striker go out on loan when we didn’t replace him and I’ve heard people say it was a gamble. The reality is if a player is here and is not getting game time we have to make a decision for the good of the group.
"Tony wanted to go and play football. He wasn’t getting that here so we had to make a decision near the end of the window to attain that.
"We were still looking to bring players in. Unfortunately we hit the bar with a few but if we look round any club in the UK, trying to get a striker in was difficult.
"It was very disappointing. We never stop and we’re looking to see who we can bring in. We feel the squad is strong. Myself, the manager, the board, the owner. We feel it’s a strong squad. Are we going to get light in certain areas? Potentially in certain areas with injuries but that’s why we have the structure we have at this football club.
"We want young players to be playing and throw them in. We saw on Saturday against Hearts we brought back guys like Imari Nilskanen and Peter Pawlett and they made big impacts.
"We have young players on the bench we also want to make impact. We want to look long term. Short term we have to get off the bottom of the table that’s imperative.
"January was disappointing for us all, not just the fans."
Asghar was also quick to defend his appointment of current manager Fox, which was labelled, at the time, as ‘the easy choice’.
He added: "It’s a cheap thing to say. The same thing was said when Tam Courts was appointed that it was an easy option. Liam wasn’t expected to get the job but I think when we’ve built a squad of players in the eyes of the manager who bought them and one of the coaching staff who knows who they are and doesn’t need radical change then I think it’s a smarter move than having a new manager who comes in and says in January we need to empty 10 players to get another 10 of his eyes in. That’s not workable.
"We have succession planning and Foxy and bringing in Stevie Crawford, Dave Bowman and now Charlie Mulgrew, we’re trying to have a more sustainable view point of it.
"When you look at Foxy’s CV, he hasn’t managed but he’s been in the coaching staff for two top six finishes at the last two clubs he’s been at in Livingston and Dundee United. For me, if you want someone with experience and knowing where we’re going then it’s Foxy.
"Supporters can vent at me but there’s a lot of people who want the same thing here and there’s got to be a process. There’s got to be a belief that we can get out of this position we’re in and we can build. We have some very good players here and good people. I would say to the supporters to vent to me all they want, I’ve no problem with that. I’m a big boy but I want the best for the club. I hurt just as much as they do so give us support."
