Mark Ogren has no regrets about buying Dundee United but does admit financially he got “carried away”.
The American made the purchase back in 2018 and it is estimated that he has ploughed £13million into the Tannadice club. Ogren hasn’t scrimped but there are times he has been left feeling short-changed. United had qualified for Europe and so Ogren went big again and instead of pushing on United ended up getting relegated at the end of that 2022-23 season.
They have managed to rebuild and regroup on a fraction of the budget and boss Jim Goodwin has the Taysiders sitting pretty in third in the Premiership. Ogren said: “Since I bought the club, everything was improving and, frankly, we got carried away. The year we got Europe (2022-23) – we thought we could kick on again, put more money in and do this and that. Who knows where we could go? Well, we know where we ended up. Some of it was our own doing. Some of it, we were really unlucky. I still think, on paper, that was an excellent team but for whatever reason, it didn’t click – and it ended up costing us dearly.
“What we have learned is that we’ve got to be more cognisant about what could happen. You can’t control it all. You sit there and try to work out a budget at the start of the year but, as much as you control, there’s a lot more that you can’t control.
“You don’t know if you’ll be top six, how your cup runs, matchday revenues, a few of your players kick on and there’s more value there – there are many different factors. If you are too conservative, you won’t put enough money into the team to be competitive. If you go too crazy, it can go the other way, and you can get hurt by it.”
Ogren has ploughed in fortunes and admitted if he was to do it all again then he would do things slightly differently. The United chairman conceded: “Looking back, I wish we had done things differently, for sure.
“If we were taking over a club right now, in the position we are in, there’s no telling where this club can go. But we’ve got to be smart. We can’t get carried away again. You take it one step at a time.”
United went from Alkmaar to Arbroath in less than 12 months. It left a huge financial hole and former sporting director Tony Asghar took the brunt of it from fans for his lavish overspending. Ogren admitted that the only person he has to blame is himself. He stated: “We got carried away and I’m not going to blame anybody else.
“If I’m going to blame somebody, then it’s me. I let it happen. But nothing seemed to be positive that year. Every time we tried something, it didn’t go to plan and we got punished massively on the financial and football side.
“I wish we had it to do all over again because I am seeing how things can be done in a different way, on a smaller budget. Just work a little harder and smarter.”
He added: “At the time I bought the club, I said I intended to make money or I wouldn’t have done it. Would I have got a better return by investing in something else rather than coming to Scottish football?
“That’s definite. But it was the combination of getting a return on investment and having some fun and enjoying it. And it has been enjoyable. There have been ups and downs, of course. Some people told me, “you don’t understand; you’re ignorant – you’re never going to make money”.
“Over time, we spent money. We lost a tremendous amount of money. I had no idea we would lose so much money. But I can tell you that this club can make money, and we are on a trajectory very, very soon to make money.
“The wild card is player transfers. That’s the difference maker. If you can develop some players to become assets that can be a game changer.”
United posted another loss this year but are edging towards break-even point. Ogren added: “It forced us to look in the mirror and say, ‘what do we need to do?’ We knew we would be challenged financially because the goal at this club was, and continues to be, financial stability. We are on the cusp of that. I feel really good about what’s going on.”