Dundee keeper Rab Douglas pledged his future to the Dark Blues then thanked them for rekindling his romance with football.
Douglas joined winger Nicky Riley in putting pen to paper on one-year deals at Dens on Thursday, and revealed his motivation for doing so has more to do with love than money.
The former Scotland and Celtic keeper is a rare example of someone who has made a successful return to a previous club, re-signing for Dundee from Leicester in the summer of 2008.
Before doing that he planned to hang up his gloves, with a future in the United States beckoning. His time at Dens, though, has convinced him that he made the right move and is relishing another season and the possibility of a promotion push.
“At the age of 39, there is no chance Barcelona are going to phone me now so I decided to stay,” he joked. “Seriously, this is a great for me because Dens is a great place to play at the moment.
“It is not about money at the stage my career has reached. It is about enjoying your football, and I am certainly doing that at Dundee.
“Some people say never go back but, for some reason, after returning I was well accepted by the fans again and it has been a pleasure to be here.
“At Leicester I was bombed out of the team and didn’t play and I was going to chuck it. I was definitely going to go to Atlanta in America with the wife and start coaching out there.
“What changed for me was that I got my love of the game back at Dundee. I remember my first game back for Dundee against Ross County and I got the man-of-the-match award. I wanted to show I could still do it.
“I have had some little niggly injuries, but I think I did well again last season. The other thing is that the fans have a connection to the players after what we have been through and long may that continue.”
Looking to what he is confident can be a bright future for the Dark Blues, Douglas believes the sense of achievement felt by him and his team-mates in overcoming the SFL’s 25-point deduction for going into administration can be put to good use.
“We have no divine right to do anything, but we certainly want to have a go at promotion. Last season was about survival not just about staying up, but the actual survival of the club itself.
“The fans were brilliant and the players stepped up to the mark. You still think about boys losing their jobs, and it’s not great, but maybe next season we can kick on and do the right things.
“I remember (chief executive) Harry MacLean coming in and saying to me that it was -25 points and thinking we’re doomed. There is a massive sense of pride that we overcame that.”