PREDICTED LEAGUE FINISH: Eighth
LAST SEASON: 5th, 56pts
NOTABLE INS: Mark Durnan (Queen of the South, £40k), Darko Bodul (Rheindorf Altach), Coll Donaldson (Queens Park Rangers), Rodney Sneijder (Almere City)
NOTABLE OUTS: Nadir Ciftci (Celtic, £1.2m), Calum Butcher (Burton Albion), Radoslaw Cierzniak (Wisla Krakow), Jaroslaw Fojut (Pogon Szczesin), Michael Gardyne (Ross County, loan made permanent), Brian Graham (Ross County), Kudus Oyenuga (Hartlepool United), Darren Petrie (Raith Rovers), Keith Watson
LAST SEASON'S BEST XI (departed players crossed out):
Rewind about fourteen months. Andrew Robertson. Ryan Gauld. Stuart Armstrong. Gary Mackay-Steven. Nadir Ciftci.
Granted, Dundee United hardly traded them all in for some magic beans, but, as the old proverb goes, money doesn't make you happy - if you're an Arab, anyway.
The second half of 2014/15 was as much of a disaster as the first half was a success; eleven points from your last fifteen games is relegation form. Whatever the rights and wrongs of it, the story that Jackie McNamara got a cut of every sale stuck in the craw of the support and has left United under pressure both on and off the pitch...especially as there is precious little sign of the £9million-plus made from the five players above going back into the first team.
They did sign one big name this summer...but unfortunately the surname (Sneijder) is bigger than the first name (Rodney). If the Dutch schemer is half as good as his older brother, then they'll be laughing. However, his pedigree as an Ajax graduate is not matched by his recent playing history - without a club since February, he spent the year before that playing intermittently in the Dutch second division. McNamara is said to rate him highly, but he's far from a sure thing.
In fact, when one looks at the squad now, one doesn't see a whole lot of proven quality. Potential, yes; John Souttar was great - nay, magnificent - in midfield in the spring, but looks lightweight and uncertain in defence; Charlie Telfer, Blair Spittal and Aiden Connolly have shown flashes of brilliance, but they have been too few to justify relying on them week-in, week-out; Robbie Muirhead has popped up with a few goals here and there; there are high hopes for new defenders Coll Donaldson and Mark Durnan.
But (and I'm aware I'm dangerously close to Alan Hansen territory here) will United be able to rely on these youngsters week-in, week-out? As for the older heads, perhaps the likes of full-backs Paul Dixon and Ryan McGowan, midfielders Paul Paton and John Rankin, and forward Henri Anier can start performing like they did a year or two back. Or, just as likely, they will pick up where they left off.
One feature of Jackie Mac's tenure has been that, despite his own background as a player, he struggles to organize a defence. Even at the best of times, they had to be bailed out by the forwards. But even before Ciftci left for Celtic they looked far weaker in attack. Muirhead is still young, Mario Bilate was only half-decent before he got repeatedly hamstrung, and Anier has so far been a shadow of the busy player that previously impressed at Motherwell. A new striker - one far, far better than what they've got - is needed. Will Darko Bodul, brought in from Austria, be that man? The Arabs had better hope so.
It remains to be seen whether Durnan, a 22 year old who has never played above Championship level, and ex-Livingston trainee Donaldson, 20, are ready to dramatically improve a backline so poor that they were actually weakened by losing Radoslaw Ciernziak and Jaroslaw Fojut. The situation in goal is particularly perplexing, with three young, inexperienced players competing for the jersey. If none of Luis Zwick, Marc McCallum or Gregor Szromnik are up to the task (a real possibility), questions must be asked of why an experienced keeper hasn't been drafted in instead. A young keeper, plus two young central defenders, may equal a few hairy moments...though it would be hard to outdo some of the last year's Keystone Cops defending.
Predicting how well United will do this season is difficult, because it depends very much on the progress that the kids make. If being a year older and a year wiser is enough to take them to the next level, then the results could be spectacular. But that might not be the case, especially if they start the season poorly and confidence evaporates as it did earlier this year. In that case, it might be a right slog, and McNamara may not be around to see much of it.
I'm fully prepared to eat humble pie in a few months if United are riding high. But I'm going to go with my instinct here and make two controversial predictions: that they will finish below Dundee, and that they won't even make the top six. Tin hat at the ready...
THE SQUAD (players born after 1 January 1994 in italics)
Goalkeepers: Marc McCallum, Michal Szromnik, Luis Zwick
Defenders: Sean Dillon, Paul Dixon, Coll Donaldson, Mark Durnan, Ryan McGowan, Callum Morris, John Souttar, Euan Spark
Midfielders: Aiden Connolly, Ali Coote, Chris Erskine, Scott Fraser, Justin Johnson, Paul Paton, John Rankin, Scott Smith, Rodney Sneijder, Blair Spittal, Charlie Telfer
Forwards: Ola Adeyemo, Henri Anier, Mario Bilate, Darko Bodul, Ryan Dow, Robbie Muirhead, Simon Murray
THE BEST XI?
Lawrie Spence (LS) has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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