Frederic Frans is hoping to put his home-team heartbreak behind him by winning promotion with the Tangerines.
The 29-year-old Belgian central defender, who joined the Tangerines on a two-year deal earlier this month, is still coming to terms with the demise of his beloved Lierse SK.
They went to the wall at the end of last season after Egyptian owner Maged Samy decided he had put his last Euro in and walked away.
The result was bankruptcy and the rest is history.
Frans had rejoined Lierse from Partick Thistle in 2016 and took his total number of appearances for his local side to 164.
He had hoped to see out the rest of his career with the team he had first joined as a child but that dream died.
Now, though, he is determined to move on by making the most of the new challenge at Tannadice.
He lamented: “Sadly, my last club went out of business.
“We had an Egyptian owner who was there for eight or nine years and in the beginning he was throwing money around.
“In the end he got fed up.
“I think he lost between 75 million and 80 million Euros and the club went bankrupt.
“It was my worst experience in football.
“They were my hometown team and I had been there since I was very young – from five years of age to 25.
“I then moved to Partick but returned and played another two seasons at Lierse.
“To be honest, it was my club and the place I wanted to stay forever. I was a fan – not just a player.
“That’s what happens when one guy controls a club and then just goes away.
“It has been really hard, especially for the fans. They lost not only their club but, for many people, football is their life.
“You can imagine if Dundee United just went away. You could not think about that. It would be crazy.
“It has been a really sad time but now I have to look to the future.
“This is my profession and I am lucky now to have such an exciting new challenge.”
Of course, Frans knows all about the Scottish game thanks to his two seasons with the Jags.
He will be up against his former side next season and expects them to be one of United’s promotion rivals.
“I am really happy to be back in Scotland because it is my second home,” he added.
“I had a great time at Partick so I didn’t think twice about the move to United.
“Last season, even though I was back in Belgium I followed every game Thistle played and wanted to know every result.
“I was really disappointed that they went down but now I am a Dundee United player so that’s what is important now.
“I did have a chance to go back to Firhill and I had a few calls with (new Jags chief executive) Gerry Britton.
“The offer wasn’t really what I was looking for so I chose United.
“I also spoke to the gaffer (Csaba Laszlo) and he convinced me, to be honest.
“Dundee United is a big club and I think two years is too long to be out of the top league.
“It deserves to be back up there.
“The main reason I came here is to fight to get the club up even though we know it will be a hard division.
“I expect Partick to be one of the clubs challenging us for promotion.”
