Dundee United have dropped their appeal against Jackie McNamara’s five match touchline ban.
McNamara was hit with the suspension last Thursday, 48 hours before their Scottish Cup semi-final with Sevco, with the Tannadice club immediately putting in an appeal that allowed their manager to lead from the dug-out at Ibrox.
With no date given by the SFA for an appeal United have decided to drop their appeal rather than have their manager watch the Scottish Cup Final against St Johnstone from the stand at Celtic Park.
A statement from the club today explained: “Following telephone advice to the Scottish FA earlier this week, Dundee United has now withdrawn its appeal relating to the ruling of the Disciplinary Hearing in respect of Manager Jackie McNamara.
“The ruling found Jackie McNamara to be in breach of Disciplinary Rule 203 in respect of misconduct at the match v St Johnstone on 12 March 2014 and resulted in a five-match suspension (three of which apply immediately and two suspended until end of season 2015) being issued.
“We firmly believe that there are solid grounds to appeal the sentence imposed. However having given the matter further thought and as no hearing date has yet been fixed, we now believe it is in the best interests of all concerned to accept the sentence imposed and withdraw the appeal.”
McNamara will serve his suspension over the next three matches but will be in the dug-out for the final SPFL fixture of the season away to Celtic on May 10 and the cup final seven days later.