Change has been sweeping through Tannadice and Stephen Thompson hopes supporters will buy into the new Ray McKinnon era at Dundee United.
Supporters have so far purchased just over 2,500 season tickets but that number has been dwarfed by the over 9,000 sold so far by potential Championship promotion rivals Hibs.
Chairman Thompson wants fans who have maybe held back from buying their season book to look at the club afresh following the recruitment of McKinnon as boss, as well as the appointments of Laura Conway and David Dorward as new directors.
No one knows better than Thompson that some people may be keeping their hands in their pockets because they are unhappy with his stewardship of the club.
However, his message is that it is time to look forward to a new time not back to one of the most troubled spells in the club’s history.
“This is not about Stephen Thompson being chairman,” he said.
“This is about the club.
“It’s got nothing to do with me.
“Whatever anybody thinks, I want the best for this club.
“The last 18 months have been horrendous for everyone connected with United but we are where we are.
“This is about United moving forward and supporting the guy in the dugout.
“People think I don’t care about United but I bloody well do.
“Fans are a bit disgruntled and still hurting after relegation.
“But it’s about supporting the club that they all love and I love as well.
“It is about making sure that we give it one hell of a go to try to get out of this league.
“By buying a season ticket they would be helping Raymond get a team on the park that can challenge at the top of the table.
“We can only support Raymond as a board if fans also play a role.
“He has told us he needs six to eight players but money doesn’t fall off trees.
“Hibs have sold around about 9,000 season tickets, whereas we are sitting at roughly 2,500.
“We will still be expected to support Raymond to get players so that we can challenge Hibs.
“We can only do that if we are all together and that includes the supporters.
“The board will back Raymond with all that we can because there is nothing more important than challenging for promotion and every season ticket bought will help.”
The club have also shown that they are willing to listen to fans’ concerns by agreeing to reduce the pay at the gate prices for the lower tiers of the George Fox and Eddie Thompson Stands to £20 and £10 instead of the proposed £22 and £12.
The greatest change at United, of course, has been in the manager’s office, with McKinnon already having made a good impression on his chairman.
So, too, have, Dorward and Conway, while Colin Stewart – currently the ArabTRUST associate director – is moving to a new role as a club associate director working with consultant Jim Spence on fan engagement and the relationship with the United for All charity partnership.
“We have shown that we are open to change,” said Thompson.
“It is arguably easier to do that when you have a fundamental shift in the club’s position.
“We have to move on for the sake of United.
“You can’t change the past but what you can do is learn from it.
“Raymond has come in and I like that he stays in Dundee and we can have a coffee together in the morning.
“We chat every day and this has changed the dynamic because we talk face to face and that’s great.
“I also like the way he has gone about his business.
“He knows what he wants to do and how he wants to do it.
“He wants to take his time in building the squad and that’s understandable because he needs to get it right.
“It’s also good to hear new ideas around the boardroom table.
“We have brought in two very successful individuals in Laura and David.
“They are from different fields and therefore will bring different perspectives.
“As far as I am concerned that will only improve the board.
“Jim has come in to the club, too, as a consultant for a different reason.
“That was done so we can re-engage properly with the supporters.
“We are working away in that area and are about to set up a supporters’ liaison group.
“That will involve different representatives of various bodies sitting around the table once a month.
“That is something we have never done before and the aim is to make everyone feel part of the club.”
Meanwhile, McKinnon is continuing to work on getting players in.
He remains right in the hunt for Rangers goalie Cammy Bell and has been having ongoing talks with other targets which may bear fruit as early as today.
