Dundee United

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

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With the new Premiership season kicking off this weekend, BBC Sport Scotland have been taking a look at some new faces to keep an eye on.

Kristijan Trapanovski, the 24-year-old Macedonian winger who arrived from Shkupi, was Dundee United's revelation during the League Cup group stage, scoring three times in two games and being a threat in the two others.

Manager Jim Goodwin will be hoping Richard Odada proves to be a similar gem, although it might be too much to ask for the Kenya midfielder to be handed a quickfire debut in a frenetic opening-day Dundee derby.

Online clips of the 23-year-old breaking up attacks and sidestepping opponents before spraying precise diagonal balls will have excited the Tannadice faithful, but can he replicate that Beckenbauer-esque cool in the heated atmosphere of the Premiership having failed to become a first-team regular at Red Star Belgrade and Philadelphia Union?

Read the rest of Clive's piece here.

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Dundee's Jordan McGhee and fellow defender Kevin Holt of Dundee United took the short walk from Dens Park to Tannadice to preview Sunday's derby opener.

Speaking to Sky Sports, external, here's the best of what the pair had to say...

Dundee defender McGhee: "My first derby was a really tough one. I had just signed for Dundee and we lost 6-2. It took a while to get over that and it still hurts.

"Sunday's game is hopefully a chance to rectify that. I've played in plenty of derbies, it's about cool heads. We'll play our usual game and hopefully everything takes care of itself.

"We'll walk down before the game, it's a historical thing for Dundee teams of the past. We'll do that with the fans behind us and probably get pelters from United fans, but it's all part of the experience."

United defender Holt: "We want to put a marker down and say this is the league we deserve to be in.

"All the hard work [of last season] is for games like this. Games like Sunday's is what it's all about.

"[A win] would be huge for us in the changing room. You see what Dundee did last year, finishing in the top six, we look at that and think that's where we want to be."

With Sunday's Dundee derby fast approaching on the Premiership's opening weekend, relive the most recent encounter from April 2022.

Paul McNicoll
Fan writer

The 2024-25 Premiership season is upon us, and Dundee United are back in the big league.

Last season was a tough one, given just how well Raith Rovers performed over the course of the whole season, but from the get go United were the clear favourites.

Biggest team, biggest budget, biggest everything, blah blah blah. That came with a heavy expectation and they were more than made to work for it, but in the end they merited the title win. No doubt about it.

This summer has seen a massive rebuild of the playing staff. 15 players left the club, including an Australian goalie that played a massive part the last time we were in the top flight, and, as of writing this, nine new players have been brought in.

Jim Goodwin has once again used his contacts and knowledge of the Macedonian market to capture the signings of Kristijan Trapanovski and David Babunski, and the others that have come in, Ryan Strain aside, are unknown to most Scottish punters.

The manager has also ripped up his preferred formation handbook from last season and is attempting to implement a whole new system for the upcoming season.

Gone is the 4-2-3-1 era and we are now stepping into this brave new world with a 3- 4-3 line-up.

Why he has decided to go down this route, possibly only he and his coaching staff know, but the early signs from the League Cup have been somewhat less than wonderful.

We have looked quite good on the ball and going forward, but at times we look as open as a barn door when not in possession. I’m hoping that is due to the players getting used to the new system and each other.

As for the League Cup, it looked for all the world like we weren’t going to get out of the group stages again - which would have been highly unfortunate given that we had won three of the four matches and had a +5 goal difference - but we were still reliant on the mighty Buckie Thistle giving us a slight helping hand last Saturday.

With our Cup campaign now on the back burner, for a few weeks at least, we move on to the league campaign, and what better way to start than with a Dundee derby.

My own favourite fixture, although I am fully aware that is not a sentiment shared by all Arabs.

Let me say this, United fans are not all that confident leading into this one, and from what I can gather, Dundee fans feel they are slight favourites.

The team across the road easily won their own League Cup group and scored 18 goals in their four games. It’s fair to say that they’ll be feeling good about themselves, so let's hope that nice wind gets taken right out of their sails next Sunday.

As for the rest of the season from a tangerine-tinted perspective, it still feels like Goodwin has a way to go to win over some United fans. Not all the support have taken to him and in many eyes he will have to ensure the team hit the ground running, or the pressure may very well start mounting.

His summer signings look good so far though. We have the full-of-energy Will Ferry, a wizard on the wing in Trapanoski and a man that simply oozes class every time he touches the ball in Babunski.

The early signs from this team tend to make me believe that our North Macedonians are going to be our star men this season, with Babunski just edging it as our one to watch for me.

As a club, I always feel that United should be aiming for top six. Bare minimum.

Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Dundee last season all achieved that feat so I see no reason why United shouldn’t have similar aspirations. As for where I think we’ll actually finish, I’ll say eighth.

Let the fun, and the rollercoaster, commence.

Paul McNicoll can be found of the Dode Fox Podcast., external

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Sky Sports, external before his side's Premiership opener against city rivals Dundee on Saturday.

Here's the best of what he had to say:

On new signings and recruitment...

"We’ve still got a little bit of work to do in terms of recruitment. But we are delighted with the business we’ve done up until now.

"The new signings have settled in really well. The guys who were here with us last season know what being in the Premiership means to a club like Dundee United.

"We want to make sure we don’t have a repeat of what we had a couple of seasons ago. We want to be competitive."

On targeting Eastern European players, including new arrivals David Babunski and Kristijan Trapanovski...

"Babunski is a really good technical player in the middle of the park. He can play a number of positions in there.

"Trapanovski is similar. Wide player, very direct. Old-fashioned winger that likes to run at defenders.

"I’ve been able to build up some good contacts in Eastern Europe, with [Bojan] Miovski I suppose being the big success up at Aberdeen. It's similar representatives to Trapanovski and Babunski. We hope those two will have a similar impact."

On replicating the success of city rivals Dundee in the Scottish Premiership...

"Stepping up into the Premiership is a different kettle of fish. The quality of opposition you face every week is better, and we have to be prepared for that.

"Tony Docherty has done a terrific job with the Dundee players off the back of their promotion. They secured top six last season and we would love to do something similar.

"The main objective for us is to accumulate enough points to remain a Premiership team. Once we’ve achieved that target we’ve set ourselves, we can look at how close we are to the top six and make a push for that later in the season."

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Dundee United midfielder Ross Docherty says lofty ambitions were part of the reason he signed for the club in 2023, but he insists the primary objective for this season is staying in the top flight.

Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Dundee all earned top-six finishes in the Premiership last season, and Docherty believes the "togetherness" at Tannadice can help United aim high on their return to Scotland's top table.

"For us, the cliche is that you want to stay in the league, but we know there is an expectation around this club," Docherty said.

"It's part of the reason I joined, so you put that pressure on yourself - if we can do more in the league that would be amazing. It's about consolidating and staying in the league first and foremost.

"These clubs who have [broken into the top six] in the last couple of seasons, credit to them - they have been excellent.

"We want to finish as high as possible. We've got confidence in our group and the togetherness we've got, hopefully that can take us a long way."

The arrival of Jort van der Sande appears to have knocked former Celtic and Hearts forward Tony Watt down the pecking order at Dundee United. (The Courier)

Read the rest of Sunday's gossip.

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Jim Goodwin believes Dundee United's final pre-season game against Luton Town was the "perfect" test before their Scottish Premiership return.

The Tangerines drew 2-2 with the English Championship side on Friday night, and there were plenty of positives for the manager.

"I thought it was perfect, it was everything that we were looking for really," he told club media after the draw.

"We've had games recently in the League Cup against lower-league opposition and we've not really been tested against what we would class as a Premiership opposition.

"We knew they would enjoy periods of the game with good possession, so we tried to liken this game to one of the bigger boys in our league. It was going to test our shape, really work us in the key areas we need to get better in, which is that high press we're looking for.

"I don't think we got picked off too many times, so it was a very worthwhile exercise."

United's Premier Sports Cup progression is out of their hands after suffering the opening game defeat to Falkirk, but Goodwin is pleased with the development in the team since then.

"The transition that the team has made in the three weeks has came on leaps and bounds," he added,

"Overall, I'm really pleased and satisfied with the recruitment business we've done and delighted the players have bought into what we want to do, and that's playing on the front foot."

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New arrivals Richard Odada and Jort van der Sande played as Dundee United drew 2-2 with Luton Town in a friendly at Tannadice.

David Babunski smashed the home side in front, finding the top corner of the net with a ferocious strike.

Jordan Clark levelled from the penalty spot, after a foul by Glenn Middleton, and Alfie Doughty volleyed the English Championship visitors in front before the interval.

On 75 minutes Louis Moult, who replaced striker Van der Sande midway through the second half, restored parity with a powerful penalty kick.

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"As soon as I heard there was interest at the end of the season, I just said 'make it happen!' to my agent."

Dundee United's newest recruit, Richard Odada, says he is "excited by the demands" at the club from the fans and the players after joining on a two-year deal from MLS Eastern Conference side Philidelphia Union.

The Kenya international is United's ninth signing of the summer as they prepare for their Scottish Premiership return.

The 23-year midfielder pent last season on loan in Denmark with AaB, but caught the eye of European heavyweights in his younger days, with trial stints at Inter Milan, Juventus and latterly Red Star Belgrade - one which ended in success as he signed with the 35-time Serbian champions at the age of 19.

His cross-country experience is one which caught the eye of Jim Goodwin, as did his powerful stature.

"Despite his relative youth, he has varied experience across world football on three continents, something that illustrates versatility and courage to test himself in different environments," Goodwin told the club's website.

"Richard possesses an ideal balance between technical ability and physicality, both qualities that will significantly improve our midfield."

Dundee United have agreed a deal to sign 23-year-old Kenya midfielder Richard Odada from Philadelphia Union subject to a work permit. (Sky Sports)

Read Friday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

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Dundee United have signed striker Jort van der Sande from Dutch second tier side ADO Den Haag on a two-year deal.

The 28-year-old, who represents Dutch municipality Bonaire at international level, has scored 13 goals in each of his past three seasons in the Netherlands.

“Jort’s arrival is an exciting one for the club,” Jim Goodwin told Dundee United’s website.

“His goal-scoring record in Dutch football speaks volumes about his pedigree, having been at the top end of the second-tier’s scoring charts on numerous occasions throughout the past decade.

“Linking up with team-mates whilst playing with his back to goal is also a pivotal strength of his game, one which will bring a different dynamic to our front line and have a positive impact on the versatility of the unit as a whole.”

Van der Sande has told United fans what to expect from him.

“I’m a tough player who likes to be in duels with defenders, create chances for my team-mates and, most importantly, score goals,” he said.

“Off the pitch, I also think this will be a really good fit for me – I love the country, the accent and the people, and that made this an even more attractive proposition.”

Kenya midfielder Richard Odada, the 23-year-old currently with Philadelphia Union, and Bonaire forward Jort van der Sande, the Den Haag 28-year-old, are at St Andrews finalising permanent transfers to Dundee United. (The Courier), external

Read Thursday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

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While expecting more arrivals at Tannadice, former Dundee United captain Sean Dillon hopes to see academy products Ross Graham and Kai Fotheringham prove themselves in the top flight this season.

Centre-back Graham, 23, and winger Fotheringham, 21, had limited game time in the Premiership prior to the club's relegation in the 2022-23 campaign.

But the duo played their parts in last term's Championship-winning season and have both played in each of United's four recent League Cup group games.

Speaking on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast, Dillon said: "Fotheringham was great last year in the Championship and Graham has come through as well.

"So you're hoping they can really push on. The more experienced lads around them can help them get that level of consistency where they play week in, week out at the top of the game."

Dillon still expects "potentially five" more new faces to arrive in Jim Goodwin's side, who host rivals Dundee in their first league game of the season.

Despite "feeling the optimism" from their neighbours, Dillon is "hopeful United will do the business" in a blockbluster opener.

"There's a great buzz about it," he adds. "It'll be a great opener for both clubs. I don't think they could have picked a better game to kick off the season."

Dundee United are the Premiership team in focus on Wednesday's Scottish Football Podcast.

Here, The Courier's Alan Temple explains why Louis Moult's "unshakeable confidence" makes the striker invaluable for Jim Goodwin's side on their return to the top flight.

Click here to listen to more of the BBC's United season preview.

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Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin fears shipping two goals to Buckie Thistle will cost them a place in the knockout stages of the League Cup.

United are top of their group with nine points from their four matches after a 5-2 win over the Highland League champions last night.

But Falkirk and Ayr could both overhaul the Premiership side if they beat Stenhousemuir and Buckie this weekend, leaving Goodwin facing an anxious wait to see if his side progress.

“I can’t fault the effort of the players, we are very much on a hiding to nothing in games like this," he told the club's website.

"The expectation is on us and the attitude and application of the players was there, on a difficult surface.

“But the two goals we concede are really poor, particularly the corner. It was a very good delivery but we managed to drop our runner and it was nearly a free header.

“As things stand we are top of the group but if Ayr United take care of business on Saturday and score three or more goals against Buckie that could be our chances of progressing gone.”

Den Haag striker Jort van der Sande has arrived in Scotland for talks over personal terms and a medical with Dundee United, who expect to unveil the 28-year-old as a new signing on Friday. (Scottish Sun), external

Read the rest of today's Scottish football gossip here.

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The draw for the last 16 of the Scottish League Cup will take place on Sunday.

It will be broadcast live on Premier Sports following their coverage of Motherwell v Partick Thistle at Fir Park, which kicks off at 15:00 BST.

The top-flight's five European representatives - holders Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Kilmarnock and St Mirren - will enter the draw and will also be seeded, along with the three best group winners.

All last-16 ties are scheduled to played on the weekend of 17/18 August.