Dundee Utd manager Peter Houston has today said sorry to Hibs fans over new signing Rudi Skacel's squad number.
The Czech midfielder has chosen the number 51, a clear dig at Hibs over last season's Scottish Cup Final loss to the insolvent one's and Houston, a former Hearts coach, claims to have not realised it's significance.
Speaking about a move sure to light the touch paper when the Tayside club visit Easter Road in two weeks on the 11th November, Houston said:
"It's not my style to upset people.
"I said there were a few numbers available and he asked for 51.
"Call me naive but Gary Hooper wears 88 and Victor Wanyama wears 67 and I never thought of 51 being 5-1. Trust me, when I say that.
"It's registered straight away and, once you register it, you can't go back on it.
"I apologise to the Hibs fans. If I'd known, I wouldn't have given him the number.
"I'm not in the habit of trying to wind people up or noise other clubs up. Hibs are a fantastic club.
"Last night I was at Fir Park [at Motherwell's game against Hibs] doing TV and there were boys running down the aisles trying to have a go at me.
"I spoke to a couple of them and they were very reasonable.
"But I wouldn't have given Rudi the 51 if I'd thought about it clearly. It wasn't until the next day that someone mentioned it to me."
Out of interest, do you think anyone has told "Rudi" that he has signed for Dundee Hibernian???