United last night left the door open for a new chairman to step in after Doug Smith was named as stand-in. Smith, whose connection with the Tannadice club goes back even further than disgraced departing chief Jim McLean, steps up from vice-chairman. Fellow director Bill Littlejohn will be in charge of executive duties at the struggling club. The appointments are on an interim basis until McLean decides how he will dispose of his 41 per cent shareholding. Local businessman Eddie Thompson, who has been involved in supporters pressure group United For Change, has thrown in his lot in a bid to join the board.

But Smith, who played for the club as a centre-half, was captain from 1958 to 1976 and became a director in 1983, wants to keep him out. Smith said: Eddie Thompson has wanted a place on the board for quite a while now and been turned down by the directors-and that position has not changed at this moment," stated Smith. "United for Change have been no help whatsoever to Dundee United over the last few years. "Instead of getting behind the team they have undermined the whole club-and he (Thompson) has been part of that." ©Daily Record