The challenge of restoring Dundee United to past glories, and the pressure that comes with that, was a big reason why Mark Ogren decided to plunge some of his millions into the club.
On his first visit to Scotland since he bought the Tangerines, he’s admitted taking over an outfit that was riding high in the Premiership would not have been as attractive as the job he’s landed himself with at Tannadice.
He knows that means the heat is on to get United up, if possible this season, and that’s something he relishes.
“It’s the opportunity that appeals to us. Quite frankly I’m not sure that the club would have been available if it was already in the Premiership,” said the 56-year-old.
“It wouldn’t have appealed to us as much as it does now if it was already there. We look at this as an opportunity that appeals.”
While his aim is to see United back qualifying for Europe in five years at the most, he’s done enough homework on his new venture to realise getting back to the Premiership won’t be easy.
And if the aim is to be there by the 2019/20 campaign, failure to do so will not be a fatal blow to his long-term vision.
“Getting promotion is important but it’s not a life or death situation. If we don’t go up we will be extremely disappointed but we will just re-assess everything and do everything we can to get promoted next year.”
Wherever the team is playing next season, Ogren does accept that his dream of getting a return on an investment that already runs into seven figures and will involve millions more, is dependent on his club reaching and staying in the top flight.
“We expect to make money. We’re not going to make money with this sized club in the Championship so we need to spend money in order to get promoted and equally as important, or more important, we need to stay up in the Premiership.
“We need sustained success here, long term, in order to be profitable.”
Having, via a firm “no”, dealt with fears American owners on both sides of Tannadice Street would lead to a merger between United and Dundee, Ogren has also killed off any suggestion of ground sharing should the Dark Blues head for a new stadium near Camperdown Park.
He views United’s traditional home as a jewel in their crown and has no plans to move the team.
“I also see the club’s future as being at Tannadice, definitely. This is one of the assets we purchased, it’s a great facility so we absolutely plan on staying here as our home.
“We spent a lot of time getting a longer tour round Tannadice and I saw things that I didn’t see the first time that I was over here.
“We saw some opportunities, some things that we really like and some things we can probably improve on but we don’t need to do major changes to Tannadice.”
While Ogren is new to football, he does have experience of sports club ownership back home and still currently controls baseball outfit the Sioux Falls Canaries.
At times they play in front of crowds running into five figures, but he regards United as a step up in level, both as a business and when it comes to fan interest. Even if that means he’ll get stick at times, that’s something he welcomes.
“The business here is bigger and there’s much more, in a general sense, passion than what we’ve experienced in the teams that we’ve been involved with back home but I like that.
“We appreciate the fan clubs and the fan base we have here. I would rather have negativity than no response at all. People care and I like that but we are not going to please everybody all the time.”
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