Renewed hope for time it might not

FOR the first time in a long time, perhaps even since the dark days of relegation in 2016, there is strong reason for optimism at Dundee United.

The one thing that should be stressed about that immediately is it’s still early days.

Robbie Neilson’s rebuilt team is only two games in and that means there is some way to go before we can confirm things are definitely on the up at Tannadice.

And the truth is that will only come with promotion back to the Premiership.

It must also be said there have been other false dawns over the past three years.

The arrival of Ray McKinnon and then Csaba Laslo as managers brought hope and even early promise that, after the disastrous 2015/16 campaign, things were being turned around.

In fairness to McKinnon i n particular, had he been handed the kind of budget that was made available to the current team boss in the January transfer window, the major problems at the club might well have been sorted and the Tangerines could have been back in the top flight already.

Unfortunately for him, those in the boardroom when he was in charge were unable to provide the kind of cash for signings new American owner Mark Ogren has.

That, incidentally, is not a criticism of the previous regimes, just an unfortunate fact.

Neilson has been lucky he’s got an owner with dollars to spend and the indications so far suggest that owner is just as fortunate that he

United’s new US owner Mark Ogren has splashed the cash. Dundee United striker Pavol Safranko has rekindled his scoring touch in