Dundee United manager Mixu Paatelainen has revealed he is “comfortable” with the club’s future financial plans, whatever league they end up in.
At the end of a week that saw the Tangerines post a record £4 million profit but also highlight an operating loss of approximately £800,000, the head coach confirmed United are working with two possible fiscal scenarios in mind.
Plan A will see them beat the odds and stay in the Premiership, while Plan B takes into account their perilous position at the foot of the table and considers life in the Championship next season.
However it all works out, Paatelainen is content that he will be given the wherewithal to put a competitive team on the park.
The United boss said: “There is a Plan A and a Plan B.
“They are not too far from each other.
“No matter what happens, there is a plan that I am comfortable with.
“As a coach, the only thing you want is to have a chance against the other teams, to be financially able to attract players at least as good as your opponent if not better.
“Then it is down to your coaching, developing those players and tactical thinking.
“You don’t want to be handicapped straight away by having worse tools but we won’t be in that situation, no matter what happens.
“So I am thankful to the board and the chairman that that is the case.”
Paatelainen welcomed the rosy figures for the year ending June 30, 2015, and stressed that he recognises the importance of looking after the club’s financial affairs.
He added: “We all know how easily money disappears in football, and how quickly clubs can get into trouble financially.
“They (the board) do their best to avoid that because we have a wonderful football club here, with the tradition and the support.
“No one can take lightly the danger of a poor financial situation so the board do everything to keep the club healthy.
“Money is everything in football. Without money, there is no football club.
“Of course, the sporting side and financial side need to be married together. The club has done that for years.
“This season, the sporting side has been poor but the board of directors have invested heavily in players, when you look at last summer and this season.
“The budget is well over-spent. So it is a sign that the kind of profits made last season have been put back into the team to try and help the poor sporting situation we are in.
“I can see all this.”