DUNDEE UNITED face one of the most difficult summers in their history after losing the Premiership play-off to Hamilton Academical.
A second season outside Scottish football's top tier is a disaster for a football clubs whose auditors recently stated there was "material uncertainty" about the club being a going concern with rumours persisting that administration was a possibility, although this has been ruled out by chairman Stephen Thompson.
United will be line for a cut of the fee, which could be as high as £10m, when their former player Andy Robertson moves from Hull City to Liverpool, and there was a recent investment made to the tune of £300,000.
Read more: Hamilton Academical 1, Dundee United 0 (1-0 on aggregate): Accies staying up for record fourth year
But this is a club in trouble and Ray McKinnon, the manager, admitted there was some tough decisions to be made.
He said: "We go again in the summer, I’ll sit down with the chairman and we’ll take it from there.
"What does mean for the club? I'll talk to the powers-that-be and we'll see.
“We want to improve the squad, that is a must. I’ve used the same team for the last eight games and it was a game too far.
“We will take stock and not make any rash decisions. We need to use this as a motivation and learning so we are in a position to win the title next season."
Sean Dillon, a United player for ten years, was almost in tears as he tried to find the words to describe how he felt and what the consequences might be for his club.
He said: "It doesn’t matter what I say it’s not going to make anything better or change it.
"I've no idea what the impact will be. I’m sure there will be big implications but it’s hard to get your head around the game, never mind anything else."
United captain Cammy Bell admitted his thoughts were with club staff who might suffer in any cost-cutting.
He said: "You think about people might lose their jobs and that’s the hardest part. We knew what was at stake."
Dillon did have harsh words with supporters at the end of the 1-0 defeat by Hamilton who will now enjoy a record fourth year in the Premiership.
Read more: Hamilton Academical 1, Dundee United 0 (1-0 on aggregate): Accies staying up for record fourth year
He said: "I shouldn’t be reacting to anybody but emotions are high. There was a couple of guys and the way I took it was that it was as if it didn’t mean anything to us or me.
"I know how much it means and if anyone thinks I don’t care let’s have a good chat about it because there’s no way I’m not hurting over that or not feeling that."
For Hamilton manager Martin Canning, this was blessed relief at the end of a season in which he came in for abuse from his own supporters.
Canning said: "Everyone gets frustrated but when you are Hamilton Accies and in the Premiership it's never going to be plain sailing.
"Everyone stuck together through the hard times, the fans were great and gave us some loud backing.
"One thing they will always get from me and from everyone here is one hundred percent effort and I think they saw that today.
"It was a strange game because you wonder if you should celebrate doing what you set out to do - but then the emotions come into it."
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