Tony Docherty, Steven MacLean and Jim Goodwin face varying degrees of rebuilding their squads to meet fans expectations.
Dundee fans hope the Doc will have the prescription to cure the instability which has long plagued the club.
St Johnstone supporters will be optimistic that their new boss can continue the good work his early stewardship has seemed to promise.
United devotees will expect Jim Goodwin to clear the decks of a squad which massively underachieved and let down a support that backed them to the hilt, home and away, only to be kicked in the teeth.
New Dundee boss Tony Docherty has started with a blank sheet for redrawing his squad, with only a handful of players signed.
That gives him a free hand to plan and construct a team to bring solidity and permanence to Dens.
He’s got huge experience and contacts, is a good communicator and motivator, and he can measure the pulse of the dark blue half of a city where he’s lived for 18 years.
Football appointments tend to trap the overly optimistic, but I think this one may turn out to have very solid foundations.
Docherty knows the potential that exists at Dens. ‘Build it and they will come,’ might be his mantra.
There are plenty of players looking for good clubs and, with his contacts and football knowledge, he can set about attracting the dedicated and determined types needed to construct a squad durable enough for the Premiership.
Jim Goodwin will oversee United players disappearing like a squad of brickies at the end of a construction project, but such turnaround is needed to renew the hopes of a dispirited support.
The squad at Tannadice was creaking before Goodwin walked in the door, now he must build a new one with hard graft and organisation as key components to make United’s Championship sojourn a short one.
The circumstances that caused United’s collapse were forensically documented in Alan Temple’s midweek Courier article; now Goodwin must decide whether the whole squad needs dismantling or whether there’s still some solid material left as a base to build on.
At Dundee, Docherty is starting with a blank canvas and will require long hours pursuing agents and players to sell them on the Dens dream.
But Goodwin’s days may be no less lengthy as he and his CEO try to persuade unwanted players to rip up lucrative contracts when what’s on offer elsewhere may pale in comparison to the handsome rewards they’re used to at Tannadice.
Steven Mclean at St Johnstone now has the security of a permanent contract in his hipper, and he’s wasted no time in starting to mould Saints in his image.
Murray Davidson’s departure was his own decision after 14 years of taking football’s daily wrecking ball to his body.
But David Wotherspoon’s departure after legendary service shows there’s no sentiment in the business of football.
It seems clear that MacLean saw no major role for Saints’ hometown hero in his rebuild and, although a tough decision, Spoony’s departure frees up a wage for a replacement.
The Saints boss is better making quick, tough decisions, than prevaricating.
His short tenure to date all points to a man with a plan.
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