Jim Goodwin believes it takes a certain personality to thrive in the Championship – and is adjusting his transfer strategy accordingly.
The Dundee United manager revealed work is underway on summer business he is confident will help catapult the club back into the Premiership at the first time of asking. Having replaced Liam Fox, initially on a short-term contract in March, Goodwin couldn’t quite halt the Tannadice club’s slide back into the second tier.
This is hardly unfamiliar territory for United, as unwelcome a statement as that may be. They spent four years in the Championship from 2016, and to find themselves back there so soon is a bitter blow.
However, Goodwin believes he has retained a strong group. The former St Mirren and Aberdeen manager was handed the reins on a full-time basis in the wake of relegation, with United’s hierarchy backing him to build long-term – starting with a route back to the top level of Scottish football.
But the Championship is a notoriously difficult division to conquer, with rivals Dundee’s title win last season going all the way to the very last fixture. Currently in talks with potential new signings, Goodwin insists a degree of ‘been there, done it’ is required, especially in overcoming some of the less glamorous challenges the league can set you.
“It’s impossible to get away from the fact that Dundee United in the Premiership is a far more attractive proposition,” said the United manager. “If you’re trying to recruit from down south or abroad, players know how big this club is and want to come and play in the Scottish Premiership.
“There is a slight adjustment in terms of what the potential targets now look like. I do think we’ve retained a lot of very good players who have underperformed last season, and are all quite open and honest enough to hold their hands up and admit it.
“But I believe the players we have retained are more than good enough to go and get the job done this season. The ones we’re going to bring in are the types of characters we need, who can go to venues like Arbroath in November when it’s blowing a gale, or up to Inverness.
“Guys who have a little bit of experience in this Championship, who have got out of it in the past or have won the league in the past and can enhance the group.”
His transfer policy is not the only thing being tweaked. Having spent last term fighting and scrapping for their lives at the bottom end of the table, the expectation is now on United to be a dominant force, and that requires a shift in mindset. Goodwin insists United are now the ‘big fish’ and expects they will start the campaign with a target on their back.
“It is a big adjustment in terms of last season we are fighting for our lives at the bottom of the table, a relegation dogfight,” he said. “I’m not saying this expecting it to be easy because we know it’s not, we know how challenging it’s going to be.
“Every opposition will raise their game against Dundee United, whether it’s coming here to Tannadice – a lot of those players might not have played here in the big stadium and big atmosphere.
“They may not have played in front of as many fans as they will here. I’d imagine the opposition will be excited coming to Tannadice.
“Whenever we go on the road, we know we’ll bring 2500-3000 fans with us. That will generate a brilliant atmosphere and encourage the opposition to raise their game against us.
“We have to adapt to that pretty quickly and that kind of message will be drilled into the players from day one of pre-season: the level of expectation is there, we are expected to go and win the league.
“Every other team out there is going to try and stop us doing that but we’ve got enough quality in the group from the players we’ve retained, and if we add get the players we’re in negotiations with just now then I think we’ll put ourselves in a fantastic position.”
The task they face is no easy one, of course, but Goodwin has been encouraged by how the club has responded to going down. He recently sat down with chairman Mark Ogren and chief-executive Luigi Capuano to review a season that started with a famous victory over AZ Alkmaar but went on to quickly unravel.
A 9-0 hiding from Celtic was the end for Jack Ross, and Liam Fox fared little better before he too was moved on and replaced by Goodwin. His discussion with Ogren and Capuano yielded agreement that mistakes has been made on all sides, but there was now a growing unity in trying to put it right.
“I had a really good conversation with the chairman and the chief exec. We spent a full day pretty much analysing the season from start to finish.
“We acknowledged there have been mistakes made and that there are things we need to improve on. All of those things are being implemented now as we speak.
“The recruitment side of things is one part of it but there are other areas as well where we need to improve on.
“We have spoken openly and quite honestly on the things we need to change and I am delighted that I have the support of the chairman, the chief exec and the rest of the board to implement them.”
