Dundee United CEO Luigi Capuano insists player trading will be crucial to the Tangerines’ financial future after the club banked £1 million in 2022/23 to mitigate the impact of relegation to the Championship.
United were forced to tighten their belts after dropping to the second tier – resulting in a £1.7 million drop in revenue – and banked undisclosed fees for Dylan Levitt, Carljohan Eriksson, Immi Niskanen and Aziz Behich.
After inserting a sell-on clause as part of Behich’s move to Melbourne City, the Terrors secured another substantial six-figure windfall when the Australia international joined Saudi giants Al-Nassr for a loan fee of £1.6 million.
United crafted a team designed to escape the Championship before effectively building an entirely new side after winning promotion. Thirteen new arrivals were secured in the summer of 2024.
That effort was aided by the arrival of head of recruitment Michael Cairney.
And Capuano is adamant United will continue to develop Cairney’s department to support boss Jim Goodwin – and make the Tangerines a well-oiled machine in the transfer market.
Capuano eyes ‘robust and successful’ model
“That (summer 2023) was a really successful window in terms of player sales,” said Capuano. “Coming back into the Premiership, we brought in a new head of recruitment (Michael Cairney).
“That’s the first step in what we hope to achieve, which is a robust and successful player trading model. I feel we’ve managed to do some good business in the transfer market this summer, but it is very early in the process.
“We are going to be looking constantly at our recruitment department and how we enhance and develop it.
“Longer term, we hope to build a recruitment department that feeds into that trading model and allows us to bring in players that – firstly and most importantly – have a really positive impact on the first team. Then become assets to the football club.”
Capuano: Fan backing key to revenue
Capuano was speaking in the aftermath of United’s financial results for the year ending June 2023 being released.
But more than that, the numbers told the story of a club forced to reset following off-the-pitch wastefulness and on-the-pitch failure in the prior campaign, bringing total costs down by £3.8 million.
And Capuano has paid tribute to the “loyalty” of the United fans, who played an “instrumental” role in the Tangerines bringing in a revenue of £6.4 million despite the challenges of life in the Scottish Championship.
“One thing that was a little bit of an unknown was how fans would react following relegation,” Capuano told DUTV.
“But speaking for myself, the board and everyone at the football club; the fans have played an instrumental role for this club in the last 18 months, helping us get back to the Premiership and in a far healthier position.
“Season ticket sales remained at an extremely positive level, which was testament to the support of our fanbase. Our retail revenues remained almost at Premiership levels because of that loyalty.
“We’ve seen it again this season. Season ticket sales and home crowd attendances are unprecedented in the last 10 to 15 years. That has allowed us to build and look forward more positively.”
Regular top six aim
Expanding on what United are aiming to “build” towards, Capuano continued: “Over the coming years we want to be a team that continually competes for top six places and aims to be in the final stages of cup competitions.”
Conversation