It will be a summer of change for Dundee United but to what extent remains to be seen.
The hope is the team will be playing its football in a higher league, though confidence in that coming to pass is waning with every passing week.
There also has to be real doubt about whether Stephen Thompson’s decision to stand down as chairman actually means anything significant.
Yes, the man who for many United fans is the face of everything that has gone wrong with their club, will no longer be the figurehead and may not even be seen at games.
But, with a majority stake in United, he will still be making the important strategic decisions (and the not so strategic ones as well).
And if, as expected, his close ally Mike Martin takes over as chairman, there is nothing to suggest he will represent anything other than a different voice, but the same message.
Thompson will continue to seek a buyer but will that be any more realistic in a few months’ time with a new chairman than it has been for the last couple of years?
Only a United promotion, making the club more valuable, or the soon to be ex-chairman lessening his expectations on the worth of his 50-odd per cent shareholding will be a true game-changer.
