Dundee’s sole aim this season is to banish the yo-yo club tag by keeping their place in the Premiership for more than just one season.
They’ve not managed that since last surviving a top-flight campaign in 2018.
This time around there has been a transformation under way at Dens Park.
Gary Bowyer won the Championship last season but was relieved of his duties at the end of last season.
After a protracted search for his replacement, Tony Docherty surprised many by shedding his own tag of ‘assistant manager’ by taking the top job at Dundee.
Twelve new signings, and counting, have arrived ahead of the Premiership return.
There are plenty of new faces and some well-kent ones as well.
But how will the Dark Blues fare on their return to the top table of Scottish football?
Where will Dundee finish?
Make no bones about it, job No 1 this season is survival.
That’s the target for any newly-promoted side – get yourselves established and ensure you are sticking around for another year.
The pace of change at Dens Park this summer has been swift and bedding in may take a bit of time.
The squad built by Docherty is a young one. It is filled with quality and potential but also lacks experience.
With that often comes inconsistency and fans of the Dee should be prepared for times when things just do not go to plan.
However, the owners are backing their manager. Money was spent on Trevor Carson this week to bolster their goalkeeping department.
He was the 12th signing of the summer and the expectation is there are more to come.
There is a different feel about this Dark Blues squad than the one that went up two years ago.
And, as much as there may be bad days ahead this term, there will be occasions when the raw talent of these youngsters just clicks.
Prediction: 8th
Who is Dundee’s star summer signing?
There have been so many it’s tricky to pin down just one!
Zach Robinson has been a star signing three times now and could well prove that again this season. Amadou Bakayoko looked good on debut.
The Mexicans Diego Pineda and Antonio Portales are bringing something completely new while Scott Tiffoney is an exciting capture and Malachi Boateng has quietly impressed in midfield.
Joe Shaughnessy has strolled pre-season and the Viaplay Cup while Jon McCracken has kept two clean sheets already at Dens Park.
Trevor Carson, though, is expected to take the No 1 spot this term.
He will be a key man for the Dark Blues this term after his switch from St Mirren.
However, the one to watch this season will be Owen Beck.
On loan from Liverpool, the attacking left-back has shown in his early days exactly why the Anfield club gave him a five-year deal.
No doubt the recent switch by boss Docherty to a 3-5-2 has been brought about in part to unleash Beck down the flank.
Easing his defensive duties and getting him on the ball more could prove fruitful for the Dee this term.
Players to watch?
Beck and Robinson will be ones to watch this season as will Lyall Cameron and Josh Mulligan as they aim to make their mark on the top flight.
However, this season promises to be a big one for Luke McCowan.
The former Ayr attacker played a starring role in the early days of Dundee’s most recent venture into the Premiership.
But the season went downhill for all at Dens in the second half.
He’ll be determined to show he can cut it at Premiership level.
Key questions to answer
Inexperience, certainly in the Scottish Premiership, may well be an issue this term.
Whether they can score enough goals, though, is a big question to be answered.
It proved a problem last term with chances passed up to finish off the title race earlier than the final day.
The squad has changed considerably since then. But the same problem has been clear in the Viaplay Cup games.
The chances were there to score that extra goal to book a place in the knockouts but they failed to take them.
What do the bookies say?
Unsurprisingly as a newly-promoted team, Dundee are favourites to finish rock bottom.
Most bookies are giving 9/4 for the Dee to be bottom, though they are as short as 7/4 in some places.
Next on the list is St Johnstone between 3/1 and 5/1 with a similar price for Ross County.
You can get as much as 1,500/1 for Dundee to win the Premiership.
In the top goalscorer odds, Diego Pineda leads the way for Dundee on 50/1 while you can get 66/1 on Zach Robinson and 150/1 on Lyall Cameron.
