It’s oh so quiet at Dundee right now and I’m taking that as a good sign.
There might be a cash crisis because of the coronavirus shutdown and the lack of income it brings.
But there’s nothing rushed or frantic about the response to that at Dens Park right now.
From the perspective of the club as a whole, that’s reassuring.
From the individual point of view of staff who may lose their jobs because of the cuts that have to be made, it’s anything but.
After chopping their biggest bill in half for the next couple of months and then by a quarter until May – first-team wages – Dark Blues chiefs are now looking at other areas of the club.
Unfortunately that means scaling back their youth setup.
A setup which had been developing steadily over the past few years and we’ve begun to see players like Fin Robertson come through into the first team.
Redundancy talks have begun with youth coaches and I can say from experience those discussions are anything but a walk in the park.
Even if you are fairly certain of the outcome, the stress that goes with that sort of situation is intense.
The good news is the club know exactly what they’ve built with the academy and want to keep as much of the structure in place as they possibly can.
How many coaches lose their jobs remains to be seen and I am incredibly sympathetic towards any that do.
However, the new structure, even if scaled down, seems geared to ensure none of the kids are lost because of off-field matters.
And that’s exactly where the emphasis should lie for an academy – the young players’ wellbeing coming first.
The aim is to supplement the first team at Dens with talented youngsters but looking after the ones who don’t make it that far should also be high on the priority list.
That’s what makes a youth set-up stand out from the rest – they’ll get great coaching and have a chance to be a pro footballer but even if they don’t make it, it’ll be an enjoyable experience nonetheless.
Even if some coaches are let go, and we’ll have to wait until the consultancy process is finished before we know, that someone with the experience of Gordon Strachan doing more coaching can only be a benefit.
It’s obvious from being around the club over the past year or so that the former Scotland boss absolutely loves working with the youngsters at Dens, too.
That’s certainly a silver lining on a dark cloud.
Micky Mellon is right to ca’ canny on transfers at Dundee United right now.
The start of the new Premiership season may be upon us but there’s still a long, long time until the transfer window closes.
It does feel like the Tangerines aren’t splashing the cash like they might have done before the lockdown.
That means Mellon is likely to only bring in maybe a couple more faces after securing Luke Bolton on loan from Man City yesterday.
He’s also just getting to know his players and what they can give him.
With only a handful of pre-season bounce games, it’s not always easy to know exactly what you need when the real action starts in the top flight.
There may well be some surprises – I have to say Cammy Smith’s name popping up on the scoresheet at the weekend took me aback.
After he departed for Dundalk, like most I thought his career at Tannadice was over.
However, he’s got an opportunity now to prove himself again and say to the manager ‘I’m here, you don’t need to bring anyone else in’.
Finally all the politicking and lawyer speak between Scottish clubs and the
governing bodies is over.
The arbritration process has been hanging over the game like a bad smell.
The whole palaver hasn’t done Scottish football a favour in any way. In fact, you can say that about the whole summer.
Thankfully, this weekend we’re back to talking about controversy on the pitch instead – for the top flight clubs anyway.
I’m delighted Dundee United fans will get to see their team in the Premiership this weekend, even if only virtually.
For Dundee fans, I feel your pain – the Championship kick off still feels a long way away.
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