| The New Zealand international had been expected to sign on a short-term contract after impressing in the reserves yesterday, but an 11th-hour offer from Coventry City changed all that.
“They’ve offered him about three times what we could come up with, so the deal won’t be going ahead. It came out of the blue, but that’s football,” said a philosophical Craig.
“After yesterday, I had thought that, with him not having a club, it was going to be straightforward and Coventry were not even represented at the reserve game.
“Someone has recommended him to them, though, and there is not much we could do about that.”
This afternoon, Craig was trying to add to his squad and his one big consolation about the Bunce affair was that decision to hold on to McCracken.
“With Lee Mair and Alan Archibald out injured for a while, if I had let David go just now it would have been a disaster, so I’m happy I didn’t.”
McCracken will still be moving on when his contract expires in the summer and there has been interest from within the SPL, England and even Norway.
“It’s unfortunate for David because there are two or three clubs interested. I was trying to help him by telling him about his contract situation early and would have liked to have been able to let him get a two or three-year deal somewhere else now,” added Craig.
“However, I have a duty to Dundee United and, if I let him go, I just would not have enough options. We’ve been told Lee Mair is out until March, but, right now, I can’t say how quick or slow his healing process will be. David understands the situation and, as I showed last Saturday, he knows that, if he is the best defender in training, he will get games. Between now and the end of the season he’ll have opportunities to show other clubs he is worth taking.”
Any offers for full-back David Proctor will be considered, but, with his old club Inverness Caley Thistle wanting him for free just six months after getting £35,000 for him, he might not be moving on today.
And, the Bunce episode apart, the manager is more than happy with his January transfer business.
“At this minute, it is unlikely I will sign anyone else before the deadline, but we have Morgaro Gomis, Jon Daly and Sean Dillon already here, and there have been no departures,” said Craig.
“Hats off to the chairman for that, because he has had to dig deep into the budget and he’s done a great job coming up with the funds.”
Tomorrow at Tannadice, United are expected to confirm that skipper Barry Robson will be signing a lucrative new contract. |
