CRAIG Levein yesterday reflected on the human cost felt at Dundee United, as the club mourned the loss of chairman and chief benefactor Eddie Thompson after a long battle with cancer. He was 68.
The manager led the tributes to a man he said he wished he had known for longer than he did. Levein was keenly alert to the level of personal grief being endured by the Thompson family, following the tragic death on Sunday of Ken Mitchell, husband of Thompson's daughter, Justine. The weight of sorrow became a greater one to bear in the early hours of yesterday morning, when Dundee United released news that Thompson had passed away. He was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003.
"Right now, our thoughts are with Eddie's family," said an emotional Levein. "This is a terrible time and the death of his son-in-law at the weekend only makes this more heartbreaking.
"The most important thing at this moment is supporting them through a terrible time. This is not a time for thinking about football.
"We have lost someone I would call a decent guy and, as close as we've become, he is someone I wish I could have known a lot longer."
Levein was the fifth manager appointed by Thompson since the businessman's protracted takeover bid reached a positive conclusion in 2002. On-field success had proved hard to attain until Levein's arrival in October 2006, with Alex Smith, Paul Hegarty, Ian McCall, Gordon Chisholm and Craig Brewster all having served as managers under Thompson. Levein provided Thompson with succour as he continued to battle illness, leading United to a CIS Insurance Cup final in March and also back into the top six of the Scottish Premier League.
Levein was promoted to director of football in January as Thompson attempted to set his affairs in order. "Hopefully I am around long enough to get as much out of what Craig can do as possible," Thompson said at the time. Cathy, his wife, and Justine were also added to the board. Stephen, his son, has since been named chief executive as the family bolstered their presence at the club. But Thompson was always the driving force, and it is his name which adorns one of the stands at Tannadice.
"As a chairman, he could not have backed me any more than he did, but it is as a good man that I think of him," added Levein yesterday. "Over the next few days a lot will be said about him and what he achieved, but I really will remember him as a decent guy. We knew how ill the chairman was and we have been expecting this. That means in some ways you can steel yourself for it, but when it happens it is still terrible news."
Others paid tribute to Thompson, highlighting his contribution to Scottish football. Thompson was also an active member of the Scottish Premier League board. "He was very proud of his association with (Dundee United] and always fought their corner with honesty and integrity, doing his best for Dundee United while always having the wider interests of Scottish football at heart," said Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive.
Bob Brannan, chairman of United's city rivals Dundee, also expressed his sympathy, and said probity was a mark of the man. "I knew Eddie Thompson as a good man, a determined character with firm convictions and a strong sense of right and wrong," said Brannan.
Thompson was in with the bricks at United, literally. A project designed to raise funds for the club invited fans and well-known figures to decorate the walls of the entrance at Tannadice with pithy messages, expressing their love for the club. Thompson chose a line taken from an Olivia Newton John song – 'Hopelessly devoted to United'.
"Nothing could say it any better than that," he explained in March, at a reception following the official naming of the Eddie Thompson stand, beneath which yesterday were strung strips, scarves and poignant sentiments – the familiar tribute to one of football's fallen.
Trip to Ibrox postponedTHE Scottish Premier League has postponed the game between Rangers and Dundee United on Saturday in the wake of Tannadice chairman Eddie Thompson's death.
Thompson died in the early hours of yesterday morning after a long battle with prostate cancer.
The Tannadice club made the request yesterday and the top flight immediately agreed to the postponement, with the game to be arranged at a later date.
The decision follows on from the tragic death of Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell in December last year, where a number of SPL matches were called off after the midfielder collapsed during a match against United at Fir Park.
Last season, Rangers had complained about the number of rearranged fixtures being forced into the final weeks of the campaign, but with the current campaign being just eight matches old, the Ibrox club agreed to the postponement.
The SPL, however, maintains such requests for a postponement in the wake of any tragic event at a club is looked at individually.
An SPL spokesman said: "There is no hard-and-fast ruling on postponements (in the wake of significant deaths] and we work on an ad hoc basis. We deal with individual requests as and when they occur."
There will be one minute of applause before all the other Premier League games on Saturday and Sunday to enable the SPL clubs and their fans to pay their own tribute to Thompson.
IAN RODGERS•
WHAT THOMPSON DID FOR UNITED•
OBITUARYThe full article contains 932 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
