Stuart Bathgate: Houston’s handling of ‘crisis’ to be applauded

IT did not take Craig Levein long, once he was in his first big post in football management, to come to terms with the ludicrous short-termism of parts of the industry. “You’re only ever three games away from a crisis,” the man who is now Scotland boss said shortly after taking over at Hearts.

The kind of crisis Levein had in mind was not the genuine sort which might ensue if a team loses a few matches heavily and there is obviously a falling-out between management team and playing staff, but the manufactured kind. The type of “crisis” which tends to be conjured up out of nowhere when, after a lengthy period of relative success, a club has a short spell of less satisfactory results.

Levein is not the only man to have made such an observation, of course, but it was appropriate that his remark should come to mind over the last few days given the turn of events at Dundee United. It was his departure from Tannadice at the end of 2009 that led to his then assistant, Peter Houston, being promoted to succeed him, and it is the kind of mini-crisis of which Levein spoke that led to last week’s speculation that Houston’s own departure from Tannadice was imminent.

After Houston and United chairman Stephen Thompson met yesterday, the club’s board of directors issued a statement offering the manager their “unanimous and unequivocal support”. That support may not have been quite so wholehearted before Saturday’s 4-1 win at Dunfermline, but of more importance now is the fact that the board have come to the correct decision.

After an unsteady start to his spell as caretaker manager, Houston quickly got up to speed at United, winning the Scottish Cup, taking his team to third in the league, and being rewarded with a three-year contract. Last season United came within a couple of points of claiming third again after an impressive end to their league campaign saw them all but abolish Hearts’ once-sizeable lead.

This season has been less successful so far, but there is one good reason for that. Not Houston’s tactics or team selection, but the financial state of the club, which forced them to release several of their most important players last summer.

In implementing the cuts which saw players such as David Goodwillie and Craig Conway leave, Thompson was doing no more than acknowledge economic reality. He and his family have put millions of pounds into United since his late father, Eddie, assumed control in 2002, and they cannot be expected to keep doing so indefinitely. The books must balance, and if the club’s squad is weakened as a consequence, that fate is at least preferable to the one which befell their city neighbours when they failed to rein back their spending.

But, if it would be wrong to find fault in Thompson for his decision to cut the budget, it would be a far greater error to blame Houston for the relative decline in results which has followed. Most people with even a passing knowledge of Scottish football are aware of that, which is why the manager received widespread support when he offered a calm and confident defence of his work in response to the speculation about his future.

In calling for his employers to give him their public backing, Houston was able to bring the issue to a head. In doing so with such equanimity, he showed that the organisation of a football team may not be the only kind of tactics he has learned from Levein.

Still, although in the short term Houston has won the backing of his employers, it is hard to believe that all at Tannadice will now be sweetness and light for years to come. No matter if the dissatisfaction with the manager was misplaced, it cannot have dissipated overnight.

Houston’s role as a part-time assistant to Levein as Scotland coach caused Thompson some disquiet during the discussions which culminated in his installation as United manager, and it seems inevitable that it will become a bone of contention again sooner or later. Houston has faith in his assistant coaches’ ability to look after the squad during his short absences, and is in constant contact with them in any case, but that may not be enough next time United suffer a three-game “crisis” which threatens to undo 22 months of solid work.