Jim Goodwin makes 'considerable' Hearts and Hibs budget claim over Dundee United top six success

Jim Goodwin has made a claim over Hearts and Hibs after Dundee United’s top six entry.

A 1-0 win over Hearts followed up by the same manner of victory against St Johnstone has teed the Tannadice side up nicely for possible European football. They fended off challenges from the likes of Hearts and Motherwell to make the top half a year on from winning the Scottish Championship.

They will face Hibs in the post split fixtures and boss Goodwin is delighted with where the club is at. He claims the budget United have been working with will be much less than what Hearts and Hibs have had.

Dundee United finances compared with Hearts and Hibs

He said: “I'm not sitting here pleading poverty. I'd imagine next year we'll have a bigger budget than 50 per cent of the teams in the league. With the top-six finish this year, straight away it brings that added pressure for next season because anything below the top six would be deemed a failure. I think we've overachieved. You look at the Edinburgh teams and Aberdeen and the transfer fees that those clubs have paid.

"We haven't spent a penny on a player. We haven't had that luxury. Everybody we've brought in has either been a loan or a free agent. I would expect that our outgoings would be a considerable amount less than those three teams, in particular, while we know the difference to Celtic and Rangers. So for us to be ahead of Aberdeen on goal difference and chasing Hibs is fantastic. It would be a good story if we were able to finish it off.

"We'll enjoy the remaining games, all massive games. We're not going to drop the standards and we're not going to lose that commitment. We recognise the fact that we've got a lot of fans paying good, hard earned cash to come and watch the team. We've got a duty to go and put on a show for them and try to get as many points as we can. I know they will be thinking about European football now and we want to make sure we give ourselves every chance of getting there.”

He added: “We've had great success in the loan market, but you don't want seven or eight loans every year, because I feel like I'm developing players for other clubs. We’re raising their profile for the benefit of the parent club, albeit we're getting a good player for a lot less than what we could maybe afford.”