Gavin Gunning admits he is delighted to be back at Dundee United but he is under no illusions about the desperately difficult situation the club finds itself in at the moment.
The 24-year-old Irishman returned for his second spell at Tannadice last week and was put straight back into the team against St Johnstone.
However, he could not help the Tangerines secure a much-needed victory with Saints taking all three points to leave United rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table, six points adrift.
Gunning was brutally honest in his assessment of exactly where that leaves his side although he was keen to absolve manager Mixu Paatelainen of any blame.
Gunning said: “Part of the appeal (of coming back) was that I know the club. Obviously the club is in a s*** situation but it’s not Mixu’s fault.
“He has just come into the job and wants to do well but it’s going to take time but I can’t imagine that we’ll stay bottom of the league with the squad we have now.
“There’s nobody, bar John Souttar and Sean Dillon, who was here when I last played for United.
“The best players that were here are gone now so it’s a completely different team, but we still have good players.
“Billy Mckay is probably the best goalscorer in the league but it’s been tough for him because from the games I’ve seen, the service hasn’t been great for him. Yet he’s still scored five goals so he’s not doing too badly.
“I walked into the changing-room and sat myself back where I always used to sit and everything was back to normal.”
Gunning has endured a nightmare time since he first left Tannadice with a proposed move to Sheffield Wednesday falling through and then he seriously injured his knee on his debut for Birmingham.
After that he had a short, ill-fated spell at Oldham before returning to United.
Gunning added: “The last 18 months have been frustrating beyond belief. I was meant to be going to England on a big deal at Sheffield Wednesday and I don’t know what happened there. I don’t think it was anything to do with a medical.
“It was tough what happened there but I just had to take it on the chin and signed to Birmingham.
“I played about 38 minutes for Birmingham and had a bad injury I went to head a ball and my leg was planted on the ground when someone crashed into me and my knee just shot out.
“I was out for about eight months and by the time I got through the rehab from surgery, the manager was sacked and then the new fella needed money to bring in his players.
“I was one of the higher-paid defenders, so it was just good luck, see you later.
“It’s frustrating how it was taken away so quickly. There were a lot of teams in the Championship who had wanted to sign me and then all of a sudden nobody wanted me.
“When you’ve had a bad injury people are scared to even have a look.
“I just think there’s a lot of lazy scouts and lazy managers who won’t look below the surface so it’s tough for players now.
“It’s not as easy as it used to where you just fell into a club, it’s a tougher environment and there’s more players looking for a chance.
“But there are people in worse positions than me so I’m not going to complain.
“Considering that was my third game in two years I’m pleased to be back and it can only get better.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned from all of this is that in football you just take it on the chin, you can’t get too up and you can’t get too down.
“I went to Oldham after Birmingham, which was a joke. You can just read by what happened to the manager to find what happened to me.
“If I’d known what was going to happen I would never have gone there.