Dundee United fans are being urged to buy into the Jackie McNamara ethos for what will be the young manager’s first full season in charge.
Chairman Stephen Thompson has revealed the extent of the change at Tannadice since McNamara took charge from Peter Houston at the end of January.
And he wants the fans to rally around the cause by snapping up season tickets for a 2013-14 campaign that he believes will see McNamara really assert himself upon the club.
Up to now, the Tangerines have signed Chris Erskine and Paul Paton from Partick Thistle, as well as Brian Graham from Raith Rovers.
Youngster Aidan Connolly son of former fans’ favourite Paddy is on his way from Queen’s Park and could be joined other up-and-coming talents.
That obviously signals a more modest recruitment policy than in certain previous years for a club that expects to make a loss for this financial year of approximately £100,000.
However, it also indicates a clear and positive direction for the club under McNamara according to the chairman.
Thompson said: “The reason we brought Jackie here is that he had a vision for the future of the club.
“Things have swung within football and I don’t think clubs will be throwing money about. We will run this club the way we believe is right.
“Our aim is to be sustainable in the long term and I think we have come a long way in, say, the last four years financially.
“This past year has not been the most successful on the park. We got to the Scottish Cup semi-final and finished sixth in the league.
“So there will be a fairly small loss up to £100,000 for the year which is still a massive step forward when you consider where we were when the family came in.
“Nevertheless, we have signed three players, which seems to have been forgotten about.
“Two of them were hugely influential in Partick Thistle getting promotion and the other one scored 27 goals in the First Division. So we haven’t been sitting about doing nothing.
“The fans do care about getting the finances right but they also want to see a successful team on the park. Our aim is to achieve both at the same time.
“We need the fans to support their club. Jackie talks about players as assets. He wants a team of 11 assets and you need to be a good player to be an asset.
“He is looking to bring in players who have hunger. It is the whole package for him.
“He wants them to be mentally strong, wants them to think about what they eat and consider their whole lifestyle. He wants people with desire to do what he asks of them and you tend to get that with younger players.
“Before he joined us, he realised we have a good crop of young players but he admits he has been surprised by how good they are. And we might well be picking up one or two younger ones from the lower leagues as well.”
United, of course, have an excellent recent record for talent-spotting down the divisions, with Craig Conway and Morgaro Gomis among the prime examples.
“We have done well with lower league players and I don’t believe the gap is as much as some people think,” added Thompson.
“I recall when Morgaro came here from Cowdenbeath, (then manager) Craig Levein said it would be six months before he would make the side but he was in the first team regularly within three months.
“So our policy is to have youth coming through the system while also picking up one or two from other clubs.”
The club’s season ticket loyalty period has a deadline of June 9. Prices have been frozen at last year’s rates, with adult tickets from £299 (saving 22% on gate prices), under-18s from £125 (saving up to 40% on gate prices) and under-12 season tickets free when purchased with an adult season ticket within the George Fox Lower Family Stand.