Not for the first time as a Dundee United player, Paul Dixon started the summer wondering who’d be sitting around him in the first-team dressing-room come the new season.
And, also not for the first time, his big concern was would the new faces brought in by gaffer Ray McKinnon have the quality the team needed.
As summer moves into autumn, the full-back’s delighted to report the latest new intake ticks all the boxes.
“When you see a load of boys leaving at the end of a season, you do wonder about who’s going to replace them. It’s understandable,” he said.
“When I was here before and quite a lot of the boys left — Craig Conway, Morgaro Gomis and Prince Buaben and a few others — you were kind of thinking how are we going to get people in who are as good these guys.
“It’s a wee bit of a worry but the manager back then (Peter Houston) did it and you move on.
“It’s part of football and, when a lot of players leave at once, you just have to trust the boss to get replacements.
“This year it’s happened again and the manager has recruited very well since he came in.
“He’s got Willo Flood and Stewart Murdoch in the middle of the park — they’ve been doing well.
“He’s done the same in the other positions where we need people and now he’s brought in three more good players in the last week or so.”
Those final recruits just before the transfer window closed were Tony Andreu, Frank van der Struijk and William Edjenguele.
With his Irn Bru Cup winner against Peterhead, Andreu has shown he’s likely to be an important player and, as he builds an understanding with fellow-defenders van der Struijk and Edjenguele, Dixon believes they’ll soon show their worth.
“All the new boys have looked good. Once he gets settled in I think you’ll see Frank’s true talent.
“He’s good on the ball and will be a good passer from the back for us.
“William will be a bit the same and he’s got the height and strength that means he is an imposing centre-half.
“He’ll be good for us in an attacking sense as well because he is strong in the air and attacks the ball very well.”
The new-look back four that appeared for the first time last weekend is set to be on duty when United travel to Dunfermline.
The quartet of Dixon, Edjenguele, van der Struijk and right-back Lewis Toshney have been working hard together during the week — and the word is their progress has been encouraging.
That’s despite some tired legs for a few days after 120 minutes of action against Peterhead, with Dixon himself admitting it took him a few days to recover.
“I was OK by Wednesday but, on Monday and Tuesday, my muscles were very tired.
“That was to be expected because I was out for near enough six weeks because of my knee op, so to come straight back into a 120-minute game wasn’t easy.
“My knee started to ache a bit after about 80 minutes.
“It wasn’t enough to make me ask the gaffer to take me off — I’ve had injuries before, so I know that’s what happens when you are coming back from them.
“I definitely didn’t expect to play 120 minutes but the positive was my knee didn’t react.
“My problems over the next few days were tight muscles.
“I’m fine now and we’ll be ready for Dunfermline and we’ve prepared for a tough 90 minutes.
“Like us they’ve maybe started a bit slowly in the league, but they have good players and also added another couple last week.”
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