text: It is just 12 weeks since bold claims were emanating from an ultra-confident Dundee United dressing room that this season could yield an unprecedented domestic Treble. ‘I believe we can win all three trophies,’ trumpeted goalkeeper Radoslaw Cierzniak. ‘People might laugh at me but maybe in May we will have won the league and cups and I will be laughing.’ On Wednesday night against Dundee at Dens Park, however, those carefree early January days seemed so long ago as Cierzniak’s grip of the ball for Greg Stewart’s opening goal proved as tight as his grasp on footballing reality. Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara is under pressure following his side's recent slump . Dundee United failed to get their hands on the Scottish League Cup  as they fell to a 2-0 defeat by Celtic . Scottish Premiership outfit Dundee United have failed to win any of their last 10 games . As United slumped to a first derby defeat in 11 years, the loss at Dens Park saw Jackie McNamara’s team make it 10 matches without a win. It’s not yet May but nobody is laughing at Tannadice as the club gets to grips with an implosion of cataclysmic proportions both on and off the park. It does seem a touch bizarre that all is not well at a club that has reached back-to-back domestic cup finals for the first time in 29 years; qualified for European competition in three of the last four years; finished in the Premiership top six in every one of the last seven years and won the Scottish Cup in 2010. Yet as United have dropped like a stone from early-season table-toppers to potentially even missing out on Europe, the fallout has come amid an increasingly acrid war of words surrounding revelations about McNamara’s entitlement to a cut from outgoing player sales. Those close to Tannadice speak of a series of damaging schisms developing on all sides between fans, board and manager; cumulatively casting increased uncertainty over McNamara’s future. Ahead of the annual general meeting of influential supporters’ group ArabTRUST, one leading fan told Sportsmail of ‘overwhelming unhappiness’ with McNamara’s bonus, while his recruitment and tactical nous are also being questioned. There is, he added, a growing belief among fans that the manager’s position is ‘untenable’. But this has been a slow-burning civil war. The seeds of the crisis that appear to have taken place at almost every level of the club were first sown at the end of the winter transfer window when chairman Stephen Thompson took the unpopular decision to sell star players Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven to Celtic. As furious fans pointed out, hadn’t Thomson used the eve of last May’s Scottish Cup Final defeat by St Johnstone to declare Tannadice finances to be their finest since 1986 and vow there would be no player exodus, as occurred after the Scottish Cup win in 2010 under Peter Houston? Dundee United sold Stuart Armstrong (left) to Celtic during the January transfer window . Gary Mackay-Steven also sealed a winter move to Celtic on transfer deadline day . The Tannadice supremo even went as far as name-checking Armstrong along with Ryan Gauld and Andrew Robertson as players he would like to keep for ‘at least another year’ to help ‘compete’ with Celtic. Gauld and Robertson were quickly sold for £3million each last summer, although the fees for both made the sales palatable. Yet parting with Armstrong and Mackay-Steven just 48 hours after reaching a League Cup Final against a Celtic side Thompson had vowed to ‘compete’ with proved particularly painful for the rank and file. ‘I thought it was a strange decision, I must admit,’ said former United defender and BBC analyst Mark Wilson recently. ‘I can understand letting Mackay-Steven go because he had signed a pre-contract with Celtic but Armstrong is a different case. ‘United were in touching distance of Celtic and if you are serious about challenging, then you can sell him in June. ‘I read McNamara saying he wanted to keep both players but that they needed to balance the books. But they sold Gauld and Robertson for substantial fees in the summer and I read the chairman talking about how great the club’s finances are. ‘It was just a bit odd. Especially selling to Celtic, a rival, rather than an English team.’ At first, United closed ranks to slap down their detractors, reacting with an almost weary derision to anyone questioning the wisdom of selling key players at such a crucial part of the season. Dundee United striker Ryan Dow has scored just two league goals during the course of the current season . Dundee United striker Nadir Ciftci celebrated a goal by blowing a kiss at opposition goalkeeper Scott Bain . After starting life post-Armstrong and Mackay-Steven with a comprehensive 3-0 Scottish Cup victory at Stranraer, the line spun was that the two players, while talented, did not constitute a two-man team. They were at pains to point out that as United stormed to the top of the Premiership at the start of the season, Armstrong was often injured while an off-form Mackay-Steven was regularly left on the bench. Indeed, it was argued that, together, the duo started just three of United’s first nine games of the campaign, of which McNamara’s side won seven, drew one and lost one. After that Stair Park victory, two-goal Ryan Dow was hailed as the man to step into Armstrong and Mackay-Steven’s goalscoring boots. Dow has not hit the net since. Worryingly, United then slumped to their first back-to-back defeats of the season and went on to lose the League Cup Final to Celtic. Bain refuses to react as the Turkish striker does his best to rile his rival goalkeeper at Den Park . Turkish forward Ciftci celebrates with a kiss but ends up blushing as his side lose derby match . Jake McPake wheels away in celebration as helps Dundee earn first derby win in over a decade . Over the course of four March meetings with Ronny Deila’s men, United were dispatched from the Scottish Cup and defeated in the league, too, as McNamara’s season started to disintegrate. As the heat rose on Thompson, the United chairman first admitted the sales were a wrong footballing decision but correct from a financial standpoint. Curiously, though, the spotlight would then eventually turn on McNamara as ArabTRUST and the Federation of Dundee United Supporters’ Clubs released a statement saying they were shocked 25 per cent of £6.3m worth of transfer fees for Gauld, Robertson, Armstrong and Mackay-Steven were paid in commission to unnamed parties. United continue to deny the figures in question but eventually made the bombshell confirmation that McNamara was indeed entitled to a cut of player transfers. Even if it was done with the best of intentions — to reduce the manager’s salary in straitened times while bumping his earnings up if successful in developing young talent to sell — the revelation was toxic in the eyes of many fans. Their new-found ire towards a manager who led them to two consecutive finals has been further roused by United losing five-in-a-row for the first time since May 2006. Amid this poor run, St Johnstone defender Frazer Wright recently claimed that if McNamara’s men fall behind, ‘it gets in their heads’ and they ‘argue amongst themselves’. Dundee Utd goalkeeper Radoslaw Cierzniak looks back at his goal after Mark Stewart opened the scoring . Stewart celebrates his derby goal with a fan as he runs over to the home faithful at Den Park . Defeat at Tannadice against hapless Hamilton — without a win in 12 games — is now rendered unthinkable, even if victory would clinch a top-six finish for city rivals Dundee. There are those within Dens Park who sense a real opportunity to become the first Dark Blues side to finish above United in the league since 2002-03. A loss, coupled with a win for on-form Dundee at St Johnstone, would see Paul Hartley’s men go above United in the table on Saturday. Few could have guessed that scenario when, in the first hours of 2015, United took Dundee apart in a record 6-2 derby win at Tannadice. Not least Paul Heffernan, who, as a Hibs player, was impressed by United in a thrilling 3-3 draw at Easter Road in the League Cup in October before McNamara’s side sneaked through on penalties. ‘I’m sure the fans would love us to finish above United — and it’s all to play for,’ said the Irish striker, who scored the third in Dundee’s 3-1 win at Dens on Wednesday night. ‘We’re only two points behind United now, so we’ve just got to keep going when the split comes. Dundee United's Chris Erskine goes down under a challenge from Stephen McGinn during the Dundee derby . Dundee's Paul Heffernan taps home his side's third goal of the game as they close in on derby victory . ‘I’m surprised that they have gone 10 games without a win. When I was still at Hibs earlier this season, we played them in the League Cup and they were a very good side. ‘It’s a long time not to win but they’ve still got very good players in the team. I’m sure they will come good again. ‘I’d actually like it if they came good against Hamilton on Saturday, though. That would be perfect because it would cement our place in the top-six. ‘So here’s hoping they can turn it around on Saturday because it would help us. It would be ironic, I know, if United clinched us a top-six place. ‘But we go to St Johnstone knowing we are definitely in the top six if we win there.’ While the tangerine half of Dundee mourns its fall from grace, the Dark Blues are in raptures after breaking a sequence of derbies without victory stretching back to November 2004. ‘Ending that run against United was a big motivating factor — and I felt that was the best I’ve seen us play,’ said Heffernan. ‘A lot of the players haven’t been here that long. But, for the sake of the fans who haven’t witnessed a win over United for such a long time, it was really important. We did it for them. I’m sure they will enjoy this one for a long time to come.’ After a long era in the shadow of their neighbours, Dundee are daring to dream. Amid a tangerine nightmare, however, for a United side in crisis, the Treble that once lay ahead has been replaced by trouble.
target: Jackie McNamara's Dundee United have lost their last five games .
  United's last defeat came against rivals Dundee on Wednesday .
  Goalkeeper Radoslaw Cierzniak tipped his side to win treble in January .
  Fans believe McNamara's position at the club is  ‘untenable’