By Graeme Dey

CRAIG LEVEIN knows what it’ll take for Dundee United to make further progress next term—a major strengthening of their attack.

Victory over Celtic at Tannadice next Thursday will—barring Hibs trouncing Motherwell—ensure United finish the season fourth in the SPL, five places better than last season.

But they could have claimed third spot and Levein reckons they would have been best of the rest if only he’d been able to secure a bigger pool of attacking talent.

And he is determined to put that right during this close season.

“I tried my hardest last summer to get more strikers in,’’ he recalled yesterday, “but it didn’t work out.

“I didn’t get what I was looking for and being light in the striking department came back to haunt us.

“We had a really difficult period from around October to December.

“I was forced to play Lee Wilkie up front at one stage—not my most successful experiment.

“It was January before we got going again and the damage was done.

“But I’ve learned from that.

“This next season I’ll be making sure I am well covered for strikers.

“I’ve brought Kevin Smith in, Jon Daly and Noel Hunt are already on the books and both Jonny Russell and David Goodwillie will be a year older

“And I’ll be looking to bring in another two or three strikers on top of that.

“I haven’t made my mind up or done anything about Mark de Vries (the Dutchman’s short-term contract is about to expire).

“Regardless of that, though, we will be strengthening.

“I’m determined to get into the position where I can look at the bench and see attacking options.

“You need different types of strikers and we didn’t have that this year.

“Strikers are always the hardest to find because they are the guys who change games.

“But I’m going to be having a right go at bringing in quality in that department.’’