Short build-up is a necessary gamble

DUNDEE United return for their pre-season build-up tomorrow.

And, with just two-and-a-half weeks until the League Cup kicks off with a tricky home clash against Raith Rovers, leaving it so late to start looks like a bit of a gamble.

But it’s one manager Ray McKinnon is right to take.

With the season not ending until the end of last month because of the Tangerines’ involvement in the promotion play-offs, it was vital he gave his players as long a break as possible.

Because, most of all, after a long, gruelling and ultimately-disappointing campaign, what the United players will have needed was to recover both physically and mentally.

If they were smart — and when it comes to looking after themselves most pros these day are — the players will have had a complete rest for a week or so.

Then, over the past two or three weeks, they’ll have made sure they’ve kept their fitness at a decent level.

That means most of them should not need too much hard running over the next week or so to get back up to 100%.

And with three or four quick friendlies they should be ready for the League Cup.

Funnily enough, the next few days might be hard for some of the new signings simply because they’ve had longer off than most of their new team-mates.

It doesn’t matter how much you look after yourself and try to do on your own, training with a squad is almost always more intense, so the less time away from working as a group, the better.

That said, knowing players as I do, after just a short time off they’ll all have been itching to get back into the way of things.

That’s the way it was for me when I played.

I used to look forward to a rest at the end of a season but, after I week or so, I just wanted to get back to work.

That said, not having slightly longer to prepare for the real ball coming out will be a nagging concern to the manager and coaching staff at United.

You always want as long as possible to get ready for the season.

In the modern game, though, it seems only a very few teams have that luxury.

And the likes of United are not among that elite group.

Ray McKinnon will have enjoyed his time off but it’ll soon be back to the rigours of being a manager.