Dundee are due to face Partick Thistle that afternoon in the final round of SFL fixtures and their neighbours accept that is a game that should not be switched.

In an amazing blunder, though, the SPL have paired United with their Europa Cup rivals at Tannadice that day, leaving them with a major and possibly costly headache — and that has left chairman Stephen Thompson and manager Craig Levein angry.

“This is just a farce. We made a point of raising this with the SPL to avoid this kind of problem, and the result is they’ve asked us to play what could virtually be a European decider on a day when we can’t be at home,” said the chairman.

“We told them Dundee were at home and we understand, as it is the final day in the Scottish League, the SFL will want them all kicking off at

“There’s that, the fact Dundee’s fixtures have been known since July and Partick could also still have a chance of promotion. So though it’s probably Dundee’s turn to change if there’s a clash, I don’t see how we can ask them to.”

Just to complicate matters, United are due at Celtic Park the following Tuesday and that would seem to rule out switching the New Firm derby to the Sunday — a tired team facing the Hoops would not impress their title rivals Rangers.

“There’s no way I’ll be willing to move to the Sunday when we are at Celtic on the Tuesday. I’d like to say this surprises me, but it’s the SPL so I can’t. I’m not impressed,” was how Craig put it.

Police already object to Friday night fixtures because they stretch resources, so that would seem to point to one of the most important fixtures of United and Aberdeen’s year taking place on Thursday, May 7. If that was the case, United would be looking at a revenue loss of close on six figures.

“Over the last couple of years, the difference between our best crowd against Aberdeen and our worst works out in financial terms at around £75,000,” explained the chairman.

“Add to that the reduced business we would have in our hospitality lounges and you are up over £95,000, so we would be missing out on a lot of potential income if we had to play on a Thursday.

“It’s a mess and it all seems so unnecessary because the SPL were informed of the problems of giving us a home fixture that day.”

At Dens, general manager Jim Thomson shared the United dismay and was just as keen to point out this was not a dispute between the clubs, but chaos caused by one ruling body.

He contacted the Scottish League to be informed all First Division games would be kicking off at 3 pm on May 9 and this is an issue the SPL will have to resolve.

An SPL spokesman said they were aware of the situation and were working to “tidy it up” over the next 24 hours.

“Unfortunately, we get a range of different requests regarding the fixtures and it is impossible to satisfy all of them, but we are speaking to SFL chief executive David Longmuir and will resolve this matter,” he said.

He declined to speculate which game would be moved and to when.