Stephen Thompson, the Dundee United chairman, last night revealed the sale of David Goodwillie has allowed him to cut his club's debt to £3.8m.

United started the financial year owing around £6m to the bank, but the sale of the Scotland striker to Blackburn Rovers for £2.8m allowed them to erode that considerably. The recent transfer of Scott Allan to West Bromwich Albion for nearly £400,000 will provide further stability and allow some player acquisition; Michael Gardyne, the Ross County midfielder, will today have a medical after agreeing a pre-contract.

Thompson believes his tough attitude towards selling Goodwillie – when Rangers opened the bidding at under £1m – has been rewarded. "We did well [with] the Goodwillie deal," Thompson said. "It has made a big difference to the financial stability of the club. We had a bit of a ding-dong with the bank at that time about how much they were going to take, but we reached a common sense agreement, although the vast majority of it went towards debt reduction.

"The bank is not on my back so much, so I'm a lot more upbeat about the finances of the club now. We have still kept a competitive team on the park. When you lose your best player, it's hard. That was reflected in the start of the season, but we have come good since then."

United lost £523,000 in the year up until June 2011 – which was before the sale of Goodwillie – but are now on a far better financial footing than they have been in years.

"I learned a lot through the whole thing. The bank wanted me to take £1.2m for him, but I said no to that. I had to stand up against the bank. There was a lot of pressure and then I had to fight with the bank as the money came in.

"I don't find it difficult now. I still want a very successful team but there's a limit to what you should be spending on people. We are no longer going to go out and sign players at £2500 per week."

Thompson would have preferred to retain Allan until later in his development, but is confident there are more young players at the club who will earn large fees.

"There is a lot of good young talent in the team like Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven who have been doing well recently. It's just a case of trying to hold onto them for a couple of years and then sell them on for a fee."