Stephen Thompson admits he is hopeful that Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara will be in the dugout for the Scottish Cup final against St Johnstone on 17 May. McNamara was found in breach of the SFA's Disciplinary Rule 203 last week in respect of misconduct at United's Premiership game against cup final opponents St Johnstone at the home game on 12 March. This was McNamara's third breach of the rules in three seasons which brought about the resulted in a five-game sanction, two of which were suspended until the end of the season. However, United's appeal against the decision allowed McNamara to take his place in the Ibrox technical area for the 3-1 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Rangers.
United chairman Thompson said: "We appealed on Friday and I will sit down with Jackie and his lawyer in the next few days to see what we are going to do next. Obviously you want him in the dugout in the final, it's very important. So we'll have a chat, take some advice and we'll decide in the next few days where to go from there."
Two of United's top midfield talents Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven were on target in the game against Rangers and Thompson is keen to make it clear he will rebuff any summer interest in any of his young players. He added: "There's been no formal bids, we had one or two enquiries back in January, (but) we'll have to see. They're all under contract, under good contracts, so we'll have to see if clubs do or don't come in. I'd like to keep this team together and try and be more successful next season obviously."
Thompson joined the United fans in the Ibrox stands after reportedly asking for 20,000 tickets for the Ibrox cup-tie and receiving only 10,500. He enjoyed the atmosphere though and said: "It's nice to win obviously, it's nice to win any semi-final and get to a final. I do it (sit with fans) from time to time anyway and enjoy being in with them and we had great support at the weekend. I think they caught me on camera a few times. Things have gone quite well in the last 18 months or so. They shake my hand and tell me what a good job we're doing at the club, so that's great."