Dundee United are back in the Premiership following a solitary campaign in the second tier.
Excellent season ticket sales, brisk transfer business and Premier Sports Cup progression – with a little help from Buckie Thistle – have offered continued cause for cheer.
But the biggest test of this rebuilt United side comes on Sunday with the visit of fierce foes Dundee, fresh from securing top-six football last term. An onerous challenge.
So, how well equipped are United for the league to start?
Who will be the key players?
And where should their aspirations lie?
Transfer business so far: B+
United have been busy in the transfer market.
Fifteen members of the Championship title-winning squad departed, including Scott McMann, Chris Mochrie, Archie Meekison and David Wotherspoon.
While several decisions – particularly the release of McMann – raised a few eyebrows, none of those players have landed new clubs in the Scottish Premiership except for Jack Walton, who rejoined the Tangerines on another loan deal.
Walton was one of nine summer signings, along with fellow stopper Dave Richards, Will Ferry, Ryan Strain, Vicko Sevelj, Richard Odada, David Babunski, Kristijan Trapanovski and Jort van der Sande.
That is a laudable amount of business done with a whole month of the window remaining.
It is far too early to declare any of the arrivals successful or otherwise, but initial signs are that the electric Trapanovski, Babunski and tireless wing-back Will Ferry could prove to be particularly fine captures.
A serious hamstring injury to Strain is a hammer-blow and no-one at Tannadice is expecting the former St Mirren defender back until November at the earliest. That has prompted United to explore the transfer market for reinforcements in that area.
Courier Sport understands Goodwin would also like to add another centre-back (four senior centre-backs for three positions is very light) and another winger.
Question marks also hang over the futures of Liam Grimshaw and Tony Watt, given a relative lack of action, albeit an opportunity that suits both men – personally and professionally – would need to arrive, with the duo contracted to United until 2025.
Key man: David Babunski
One can point to a swathe of pivotal positions.
Walton must embrace the step up to the Premiership between the sticks; Ross Graham and Declan Gallagher at the back; Craig Sibbald and Ross Docherty; Trapanovski – Goodwin will be counting on all to be key parts of the overall unit.
However, based on his first three games in a United jersey, Babunski may be the game-changer in the middle of the park.
The former Barcelona, Yokohama F Marinos and Debrecen schemer – capped 15 times for North Macedonia – has barely wasted a pass since joining the club, picks up intelligent positions in the final third and has scored three goals.
All the while, Babunski has shown sufficient leadership skills and professionalism to have been handed the captain’s armband for the recent 2-2 draw against Luton Town in the absence of Docherty, Watt and Sibbald.
If Goodwin can create the right balance around him, Babunski looks the real deal.
Predicted finish: 7th
With the caveat that predictions before a Premiership ball is kicked tend to be sheer folly, a campaign of consolidation would be fine for United – think Micky Mellon’s class of 2020/21 – and there is no reason that should not be achievable.
Ross County have lost 29 goals (Simon Murray, Yan Dhanda) from the side that finished in a relegation playoff position last term; St Johnstone have been in the bottom four for the past three seasons; Blair Spittal and Theo Bair scored 28 of Motherwell’s goals last season and have departed.
Dundee (H), County (A) and St Johnstone (H) is also a decent start to the Premiership season, on paper.
Should Goodwin’s men collect a good haul from those games, it can perhaps ignite greater ambitions – albeit Aberdeen and Hibs will be expected to improve, leaving finite room in that top six.
First and foremost, for a United side now living within its means and aiming to balance prudence with progress: stay in the Premiership. Ideally, with room to spare, and with a couple of passable cup runs to enliven the journey.
What the manager said
“Dundee managed to secure top-six football last season and, of course, we would like to do something similar,” said Goodwin.
“But the main objective for us is to accumulative enough points to make sure we remain a Premiership team.
“Once we achieve that target that we set ourselves, then we can start looking at how close we are to top-six and see if we can push for that in the latter part of the season.”
