Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson has given an upbeat statement on the clubs finances laughing off Neil Doncaster’s prediction of SPL Armageddon.
The sale of David Goodwillie allowed United to post a profit of £1.45m for the year ending June 2012 with the clubs’ overdraft down to a manageable £3.7m.
With the return of the derby fixture against Dundee and improved prospects of success for clubs across the SPL Thompson was pleased to give an upbeat report to accompany the clubs audited accounts.
“From a Dundee United point of view, Armageddon never happened,” the Tannadice chief stated..
“Sky and ESPN signed a new contract and the game has moved on. We had a really exciting game here against Aberdeen last Saturday – great crowd, open football and one or two young players. I thought it was a great advert for our game.
“It was a hard summer but we have moved on and I don’t want to talk about Rangers at all, I want to talk about my own club.”
Looking back to the future Thompson believes that investing in youth is the key to future success on and off the pitch.
“We have signed up Stuart Armstrong who is the Scotland Under-21 captain, and we have a lot of young talent coming in at under-19 and under-17 level,” Thompson explained. “It got lost for a number of years at this club and it takes a number of years to get it back again.
“It’s absolutely the way forward for the club, getting youngsters into the first team and hopefully you get the odd sale that reduces the debt, because my ambition is to clear the debt but to have a successful team on the park.
“Not if you’re getting players through to your first team,” he said. “If we never get a fee for Johnny Russell, he has 18 months left on his contract, he has played for the first team for a few years and we’ll have money back for his contribution on the park.
“When you get guys who have never made the first team and are snapped up because they are seen as an emerging talent, that’s when you feel you are getting nothing back.”
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