Ryan Strain grew accustomed to jetting out for international duty with former Dundee United ace Aziz Behich.
Now he is aiming to fly high with the Tangerines.
Strain has expressed his appreciation for the “advice” proffered by Australia teammate Behich, who was a rare silver lining during the club’s miserable descent to the Championship in 2022/23.
As well as notching four goals and four assists in 36 outings, Behich even earned United a healthy sell-on fee when he subsequently made a switch from Melbourne City to Al-Nassr in February – ensuring he is fondly remembered at Tannadice.
Now, Strain will seek to follow in his footsteps.
“I am good mates with Aziz (Behich),” said the flying wing-back. “He was at United at the same time as I was at St Mirren.
“For international duty, he’d fly from Edinburgh, and I’d fly from Glasgow. But we used to meet in Dubai and do the final leg together. I spoke to him about the club, and he only had positive things to say about it.
“Aziz had a good impact here; he’s a good player and it was good to get a bit of advice from him.”
Time for a change
Strain’s switch to Tayside raised a few eyebrows in Paisley, with the ex-Aston Villa kid rejecting a deal with Europe-bound St Mirren to tackle the Premiership with newly promoted United.
However, he firmly believes the Tangerines have the quality to mount their own assault on continental qualification.
“I just felt like I needed a change,” added Strain, addressing his Buddies exit. “St Mirren offered me a new contract, but I just felt it was the right time to have a change.
“Dundee United are a massive club and when the manager (Jim Goodwin) spoke to me, he spoke about how they’re on the rise.
“I feel we can do good things here and push for the things St Mirren achieved. We can push for top six, the top four and Europe, that’s what we SHOULD be doing at a club like this.
“We have the players to go high in the league, and there’s no reason we can’t be pushing in those European spots.”
He added: “I don’t have anything bad to say about St Mirren, I had a great two years there and my grandad played there so it meant a lot for me to play there too. But things move on.”
Strain: We ALL wanted Dundee Premiership opener
Strain is set to make his competitive debut for the Terrors when they face Falkirk in this afternoon’s Premier Sports Cup curtain raiser.
Goodwin described Group B as the toughest section in the competition, given it contains the winners of the Championship, League One, League Two and the Highland League from last season – an unprecedented collection.
Ayr United, whose recruitment hints at real push for promotion this term, make up the group.
“We want to get the season off on a positive note now the competitive games are starting,” continued Strain. “Everyone is desperate to play and be pushing for places in the team.”
And to further focus the minds, United are seeking to secure progression and build momentum ahead of a Premiership opener against city rivals Dundee on August 3.
He added: “We can’t wait for the derby when it comes, I think the whole city is looking forward to it. It’s a great way to start the season and, when we heard that’s what the fixture was going to be, everyone was buzzing.
“We were all hoping for that game! So it was good to get it.”
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