Dundee United don’t need to fear a trip to Ibrox

“United should be heading into this tie full of confidence and focusing on the positive.”

I can’t get my head round Steven Thompson’s outbursts.

The Dundee United chairman has attacked the SFA over the use of Ibrox as a “neutral” venue for the Tangerines’ Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers and has been vociferous in his call for a 50/50 split of tickets.

Not for a second would I question his right to stand up for the interests of his club. That is a given.

In this case, though, his arguments just don’t stack up.

The decision to host the semi-finals in Govan was taken back in October.

United didn’t complain then, perhaps because they didn’t expect to find themselves playing Rangers in the last four.

Would we be hearing the same complaint if we were talking about them meeting Celtic at Celtic Park in the Final?

And do United really have to fear a trip to the south side of Glasgow anyway?

This, remember, is the side who blitzed Premiership Inverness Caledonian Thistle 5-0 AWAY from home to reach the semi-finals.

Rangers certainly didn’t find home surroundings that helpful when scrambling to a replay with League Two outfit Albion Rovers at the same stage.

In an ideal world it would be nice to see our showpiece games watched by a crowd split equally between supporters of both participants.

That is not the situation we are talking about here.

As I understand it, United initially indicated to the authorities they’d expect to sell far fewer than 50 per cent of Ibrox’s capacity.

Nothing wrong with that. No-one minded that the Inverness support at the League Cup Final was heavily outnumbered by fans of Aberdeen.

The sad thing about this episode is the potentially detrimental effect it could have on United’s chances of winning the Scottish Cup.

It almost appears as if the excuses are being rolled out before a ball is even kicked.

‘We had to play at their ground’! ‘We had to play in front of a minimal travelling support’!

That is a mistake.

United should be heading into this tie full of confidence and focusing on the positive.

They have some terrific young players and on paper have every chance of beating a Rangers team yet to meet Premiership opposition in the competition.

As Rangers midfielder Nicky Law conceded, there’s a huge difference between the tempo of games in Scotland’s top flight and in the lower leagues.

Ally McCoist’s team are far from the finished product. The same is not true of Jackie McNamara’s side.

Steven Thompson would do well to remember that.