Craig Levein can now officially work with Darren Dods after six months of nervous waiting.

Heading south
Signing a pre-contract agreement can be a bit of a gamble. If you sign and then watch as your new team go down the league, you must think how can I get out of this. If you sign and then get injured, your new team will be thinking how can we get out of this. However, for Darren Dods it has all worked out well as he watched his new Dundee United team-mates get better over the season and he knew he had made the right decision to move to Tannadice. The former Inverness captain finally signed the deal with United on Thursday, six months after signing a pre-contract. Dods was identified as a Tannadice target by Levein's predecessor, Craig Brewster, but saw his chances of moving to United dashed 12 months ago when Caley blocked a number of bids for his services. Despite thinking his opportunity to move to Tayside had gone, especially as Brewster was sacked in October, another chance to make the journey south arose when Levein fanned the embers of United's interest. United improved steadily as last season wore on and Dods, who faced his new team-mates four times after agreeing the move, was delighted to see his new club grow in stature.

He said: "The results since the new manager came in last year have been good and that was obviously a factor in why I wanted to come here. So were our games against United when I was still at Inverness because it was clear the team were improving all the time. A few new players have been brought in and there is plenty of potential here. There's a lot of young talent at this club and I believe we can do very well next season. I had three good years at Inverness and loved it but it's time for a fresh start now."

Levein is pleased to finally get his hands on the man he signed up after six months of waiting and predicts Dods will make a major impact on his young side. Having someone of Dods' experience in the ranks is expected rub off on United's younger players. Levein said: "Darren will bring further experience and solidity to the defence. His leadership qualities are well known and will benefit the team as a whole. Looking to the future, we have a number of very young players in the team and experience is not only required to help them develop, but is vital to the success of any side. Darren will bring exactly the type of experience we require."
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