Anticipation and excitement.
That will be the feeling among all Dundee United players, staff and supporters ahead of this week’s Europa Conference League draw.
I have been in the same boat as a player – waiting to find out who your opponents will be. What far flung city could you be visiting? What are your chances of progression?
Regardless of what name is pulled out of the hat on Wednesday, it will be something fresh and new for everyone involved.
United fans have already shown that they will follow their team in great numbers and I’m sure they cannot wait to find out where they are heading and dust off those passports.
But from experience, I don’t think there will be many players saying “we want team X” or “we don’t want them”. There won’t be many big guns on the unseeded side of the draw – there’s no AZ Alkmaar waiting to ambush the Tangerines this time.
It is about progression, rather than simply enjoying being in Europe.
That adds pressure.
United have no divine right to expect victory – but the tie will be considered “winnable”.
New faces needed
And that means the clock is ticking.
They’ve got to be ready for the that July 24 opener and ensure they have a good squad in place – and try to get them to gel as quickly as possible.
That’s maybe the biggest challenge.
It’s tough to get the balance right when building a team – the balance between Scottish lads and foreign signings; the balance between youth and experience – and United will have plenty of new faces.
When you are replacing huge personalities like Gallagher, Holt and Docherty, it can take time. You can’t just throw a heap of new players into training and expect them to be a squad. It’s tough to do.
And, of course, they won’t have a competitive game before that continental curtain-raiser.
It’s going to take time for a new-look United side to become a well-oiled machine. The issue is: they don’t have much of that.
So, you can safely expect the next week-or-so to be busy on the transfer front.
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