True to the traditions of his club, Ray McKinnon is determined youth will play its part as he aims for a Dundee United promotion drive in the Championship next season.
But experience of the lower leagues means the emphasis in that statement is very much on “part”.
For the sake of the Tangerines and the talented kids he’s now in charge of, he will not be relying on the likes of Harry Souttar, the two Smiths Matty and Brad, Ali Coote or Jamie Robson to produce for 90 minutes each and every week.
He knows that would be detrimental to their development and probably prove suicidal to the team’s hopes of bouncing back to the Premiership.
“There’s a lot of good young talent here and I expect quite a few of them to be making a contribution at first-team level next season,” said Ray.
“But the Championship is a very tough league, full of teams with strong and experienced players and places that are very tough to go to.
“If you look at Hibs last season, they didn’t really have a kid in their starting line-up. At Falkirk, Peter Houston has some good young players but he added experience and has gone with a very settled team.
“And although Rangers won the league comfortably in the end, there were places where they struggled.
“I’ve been impressed with our young players and they can definitely be involved but there’s no way I can expect them to play in every game.”
His knowledge of the Championship from an excellent season with Raith Rovers also tells him, while his preference would always be for free-flowing, attacking football, religiously sticking to that style of play would represent an unacceptably high risk.
“Football philosophies are fine when you are up in the top six of the Premiership. If you’re up there you can play whatever way you like.
“Right now, we’re not and for us it has to be winning games to get back up. For that you need experienced players who play every week.”
That need will be reflected in the players that are fixed up in the coming weeks. Fans should not, however, mistake “experience” for “old”.
Two of his successful signings at Stark’s Park were Kyle Benedictus and Lewis Toshney.
Both had plenty first-team games under their belts and, when they arrived in Kirkcaldy, were still the right side of 25.
“I want experience down the spine of the team but that doesn’t mean old.
“I want good, proven players who have the fitness levels we’re looking for and have played at a good level.
“Those are the kind of guys we need. They’ll be of the right age and will be players who can do a job and be able to bring the best out of the young players around them.”
Another requirement will be ability to handle pressure because United will be one of the teams to beat.
When the league fixtures are announced next week, the games other clubs are likely to be checking first will be those against United and Hibs. Opponents raising their game because they’re facing United will become the norm.
“Teams will look at Dundee United, see that we’ve been a top-six club, and they’ll see us as a massive scalp.
“That’s the way it has been for Hibs and Rangers, so people set their teams up accordingly.
“We will have to be adaptable because this is going to be a big test. As manager, I have to get the balance right in the squad so we have the players to cope with everything.”
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