From two negatives Dundee United boss Csaba Laszlo believes he was able to produce a major positive by taking his rebuilt squad away on a bonding exercise in the Highlands last weekend.
As he made 13, and counting, signings from the end of last season, the ideal scenario for Csaba would have been to take the squad away on a pre-season trip.
That way, as well as the work put in on the training pitch and in games, being with each other 24 hours a day for a week or so would have let his troops get to know each other as people as well as players.
The early start to the season with Betfred Cup group ties from the middle of last month meant that was never going to be possible for the Tangerines this summer.
And Csaba admits after overcoming a tricky start in those games and an opening-day loss to Dunfermline in the Championship with victory over Queen of the South, he would have much preferred for United to have gone straight into league action again last weekend.
The scheduling of the first knockout round of the Betfred meant United found themselves without a game, so the best alternative was to take the players to Aviemore for a few days.
Csaba is convinced that’s helped build the kind of team spirit he wants for the difficult months that lie ahead.
“Normally every manager, after winning a game away, he wishes that you keep going and you do not have a break,” he said. “I would have liked a game but, on the other side, we used the break to get the team together for a bit.
“The team is more or less new, a lot of new faces, and this was a good thing to go together to Aviemore, be together.
“It helps the boys have the feeling we can build a team and this was more or less a team building trip.
“This is not a new thing for me to do as a manager and I think always it is very important that the team and the boys know more and more about each other.
“We have some players from abroad, some players from the past in the club, we have also some players from Scotland, it was good to get them together.”
As big a success as the weekend was – as well as football-related work a white-water rafting trip was organised – there is no escaping the sense of frustration the gaffer feels over being unable to take the players away earlier.
“Normally this is a trip for the pre-season and in the pre-season you have all these possibilities.
“I told you before I’m not complaining, but the League Cup now doesn’t give you the chance to have a pre-season. The circumstances mean you have to play the games and you can’t even have trialist players or more than three subs.
“All that doesn’t allow it to be like in the pre-season, so for this reason we went. OK it’s not nice that we fly out from the club but it is good that we have used the time without a game properly.”
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