Dundee United owner Mark Ogren is confident that Jim Goodwin is the man to lead the club back to the Premiership, and insists the academy remains the cornerstone of the club.
But in his Courier interview with Alan Temple, I think the American has clearly indicated his tenure at Tannadice is drawing to a close; not next week or next month, but soon enough.
So now might be the time for forward planning from a United fan with the money, or a consortium of like-minded supporters, to get their act together to put a suitable proposal to him.
In his interview Ogren said: “There will come a time in the not too distant future that we will move on. I probably have more years behind me than I do in front of me (as owner).”
And he added: “But I’m not actively looking to sell.”
He may not be pushing for a buyer, but selling his golf development near St Andrews may indicate his Scottish interests are diminishing.
In five years at Tannadice, he’s put around £10 million in.
He’s unlikely to get anywhere near that amount back but, between Tannadice, the Gussie Park (now re-christened Foundation Park) facility and other assets, he might recoup around half of his investment.
I had a good blether with him last Sunday.
He said he relished the challenge of United being the big dog everyone in the Championship wanted to tame.
There was a sparkle in his eyes and some of his mojo has been rekindled.
But, like many before him, he knows that making money in Scottish football is very difficult.
A small but very vocal group of fans gave him undeserved abuse last season; they wanted him out.
The cry was the same as when they wanted shot of former chairman Stephen Thompson.
“There’s boys oot there,” was their confident claim as they assured each other that various local consortia were straining at the leash to buy the club.
In the event, no-one local emerged and Ogren was the only game in town.
Those ‘boys oot there’ if they were, or still are there, were very well camouflaged.
Now though, with Ogren seemingly indicating some kind of timeline for the end of his reign, there’s an ideal opportunity for those with the club’s long-term interests at heart to approach him.
‘Local approach’
Perhaps that could be done in tandem with the Dundee United Supporters’ Foundation, who already provide additional financial support to the club, as they’ve done with the new Foundation Park stand.
When Mark Ogren does go there’s unlikely to be a big queue to buy, so a local approach would be the ideal scenario.
Finding a buyer isn’t easy, as Geoff Brown at St Johnstone has found.
Saints are debt free and yet still there’s no offer in sight.
Ogren says he’s had no discussions about selling United, but everything has a price.
Whether anyone locally can meet the price he’d want is open to speculation.
But I think he’s now dropped the first clear hint that he’s open to hearing what those who may be interested might have to say.
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