Absolutely delighted Dundee United Football Club have finished 4th for the Top 6 cut

When I was given the opportunity to become Head of Football Research at Dundee United Football Club, Tony Asghar had recently hand selected a management team (Robbie, Gordan and Lee Mc) and with the support of Sean McGee delivered some fine player trading, including getting Lawrence Shankland over the line and finding crackers like Ian Harkes. This didn’t surprise me as when I met Tony, he was studying his Masters in Sporting Directorship and he was a network builder, facilitator and guardian - he knew how to bring different people, with different skills and social capital together to deliver success. 

After securing promotion from the Scottish Championship to Premiership, the then management team that was brought together, moved en masse to Hearts (who currently sit 3rd in the Premiership after securing promotion last season). We had put together a top group of professionals and provided the platform and environment for them to grow and build a successful team - of course they wanted to stay together. We understood this, despite entering the covid season on the back foot. Moving forward, all of our focus was about us overseeing the culture for positive decision-making to deliver our football strategy and deliver under challenging circumstances which that year presented for football clubs, the industry and society. 

Our focus during that covid season was to stabilise the club. The club that was close to financial ruin a couple of years earlier in the Championship, before the new Owners, Chairman Mark Ogren stepped in, took custodianship and oversaw positive changes. Micky Mellon came in to help us achieve this stability and even helped deliver a run in the cup. I knew Micky from Tranmere and it’s no surprise he has gone back there and been a success. However, Scotland and Scottish football is a bit different, it’s unique, and for us we needed change, we needed something different and someone new to deliver our football strategy in the long-term, which included developing young players and getting to top 6.

Promoting Tam Courts and Adam Asghar from Our Academy, alongside bringing in Liam Fox have helped deliver the culture we aimed for and needed, which would allow Our Academy players to progress from U18s to first team. Our U18s moved under the leadership of new recruit Ryan Moon, alongside legend Dave Bowman and Our Academy director Andy Goldie, supported further by Brian Grant. Tam also brought together the collective in the first team environment striking up positive relationships across the Club, engaging with external experts and providing interns from local universities with outstanding experiences. All of this adds value to the team supporting the team, and our environment.

Everyone is key to making this a success from Manuel Rascon our incredible Chef, to Jennifer Campbell making the place spotless, to Stuart Bootland changing the way we do retail and Ricardo Cerdan showing how much making a difference means to us through his work with our sponsors Macron out in Ukraine. For me, this comes down to leadership, and how they facilitate the micro interactions that create the structure of the club (and relationships) allowing others to thrive and get things done (real, tangible, and measurable positive changes). Right now, we have shifted closer to that tipping point of success and stability.

Football wise, we also signed the likes of Charlie Mulgrew, who alongside Ryan Edwards (who extended his contract and was made Captain) have provided the genuine standards, care and environment for the likes of Lewis Neilson, Kerr Smith and Ross Graham. We joke that these more senior Professors help the young Scholars achieve their potential. This season we have seen fifteen academy players who have been prepared and talented enough to take their opportunity in the first team this season. Seven have made their debut: Watson, Robson, Duffy, Moore, Graham, Thomson, and MacLeod (our youngest ever player). In this respect, we share how the fans feel about seeing one of their own come through the ranks and deliver in the first team - its special. So for us, this season has already been a huge success - we are delivering a college of knowledge for young scholars to take opportunities and thrive..

We have made lots of small steps to make the Top 6, across the football department and across the Club. Some announced already like our club restructure to engage an Executive Leadership Team, Luigi Capuano joining us, Joe Rice's promotion and the changes he has delivered in his growing team and much more including others we will share more about in the near future. Our next professional development session for the Club and our fantastic internship team via the Dundee United Lab is on relationships, interactions and trust (feat. Ryan Edwards, Dr Ed Cope, Dr Gill Cook, Tony Asghar and Dr Ryland Morgans) - we know how important it is to the Club and it comes from our leadership.

Credit to the owners, both Mark and Scott Ogren, Board and Team who are doing all they can to ensure the long term sustainability of the football club, for the fans and for the community. This includes the success of our womens team under Graham Hart and our impactful community programme led by Jamie Kirk. 

Hugely exciting time for the club and everyone involved. Massive congratulations to all the team.