MICKY MELLON speaks from experience when he says that John Kennedy’s eyes will have been opened massively since he stepped into Neil Lennon’s shoes as Celtic interim manager. No matter the experience he may have had as a player and coach at the club, nothing, he says, can prepare you for it.

Mellon has enough on his plate during Dundee United’s first season back in the top-flight to be too concerned about the man who will be in the opposite dugout at Tannadice today, and he has performed that task admirably, with United sitting handily in mid-table.

From that position of relative comfort though, he was willing to dispense a few words of advice to his younger counterpart, who will currently be on the biggest learning curve of his career.

“Everybody thinks they can be a manager until they are one,” Mellon said. “That is why I sympathise with all the other managers that you see having to deal with the stuff that we have to deal with all the time.

“Until you step into the manager’s shoes and you are there as the man who is held responsible for everything, you wouldn’t understand. It is an incredible responsibility but one you have to find a way of enjoying and at the same time win games.

“That is what it is all about and I am sure John is finding that now. I am glad that I am a wee bit more used to it now. It is a tough job.

“I don’t think when you are playing you ever really think about being a manager. I think you get to a stage in life and a stage in your career where the opportunities open up for you.

“You start to do your coaching badges and you start to get a taste for it. And then an opportunity comes and you take it and you do well and then you build on your experience. Then you have to be successful to continue being a manager.

“That is what you do all through your career and you deal with the good times and the bad. Just keep learning and going on. That is what I have done all through my career and I have had some magnificent times as a manager, winning at Wembley and all sorts of things, I have managed some unbelievable players.

“So long may that continue. I am just trying to use my experience to help this group of Dundee United players to be as successful as they can be.

“I am just going to concentrate on trying to be the Dundee United manager. I will get my team best prepared as possible. Make sure we know all the Celtic threats because we know what we can do and we will try and get a result because it is a really important game for us.”

Mellon doesn’t subscribe to the theory that Celtic are easy to get at despite their decline this season, but he does sense that United can approach the game this afternoon with attacking intent.

“We will definitely be having a go,” he said. “We will be on the front foot because we believe we have enough to cause Celtic problems so we will be looking to try and do that.

“We will be looking forward to the game, it is one of the bigger ones at Tannadice.

“Obviously we watched the Aberdeen game so we all know how much talent Celtic have got.

“We are going to have to be the best version of ourselves to go and get a result. We will go and attack to try and do that.”