THE phrase omnishambles hardly seems sufficient to sum it all up. From that sun-kissed 2010 Scottish Cup triumph and back-to-back fourth place SPL finishes to relegation at the home of their city rivals; Dundee United's fall from grace in the last six years has been something to behold. As the blame game began in earnest yesterday, at least one positive spin could still be put on things; that chairman Stephen Thompson was still personally invested enough in things to decide that a swift change of manager was the first step in turning things around. While there was no mention of Mixu Paatelainen in the statement that was released on the club's website yesterday evening, it is understood that the process of moving on from him has already begun.

While hubris in the boardroom has clearly been one contributing factor to their downfall - Peter Houston for one, the man who racked up those initial successes, departed the scene after a serious deterioration in his relationship with his chairman - things would be a lot worse this morning if Thompson decided to wash his hands of it all and simply wait things out for a buyer. His statement yesterday then was a positive first step, as was the news that the owner is believed to have told office staff that the drastic cuts he envisaged off the pitch did not amount to a sweeping round of job losses.

While the club lost £700,000 last year, debt currently stands at £1.2m and Thompson is not quite at the point of cutting and running. While some short term pain must be endured to weather the loss of revenue from sponsors and broadcasters in the second tier, United feel they can trade their way back out of this position.

Selling a club, of course, isn't so easy when it isn't in the top division of the Scottish game. And for that reason alone Thompson must act decisively in the next weeks and months. With Houston, having further embellished his cv with a couple of strong seasons at Falkirk, hardly likely to view a second stint at the club as a positive career move, and the likes of Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds surely out of reach after the club's reach after their successes at Ross County, Ray McKinnon would seem to be the obvious, gettable choice - assuming, that is, that he doesn't usher Raith Rovers into the top flight.

Asking where else United go from here, as they plot their first season outwith the Scottish top flight since 1995-96, comes with the rider that they shouldn't, of course, be starting from here in the first place. But failing to repeat the mistakes of the past would seem a sensible first step.

At points during this season United had a bewildering array of 52 full time players, including sundry underwhelming foreign signings like Rodney Sneijder and Darko Bodul. When, on Monday night, Paatelainen made veiled comments about the existence of "football related departments" at the club "which don't function or are not in place at all," top of the list was the club's recruitment arm. An established apparatus is in place to scout talent for the youth team but there is nothing similar to do likewise for the senior team.

It is one thing to say that the Jackie McNamara era was fatally compromised by the sale of the likes of Stuart Armstrong, Gary Mackay Steven, Nadir Ciftci, Ryan Gauld and Andy Robertson - sales which brought in a combined £9.6m - quite another to point out that, despite a sizeable outlay, they were never able to replace them. While some would blame McNamara and his backroom team for a reluctance to do the rigorous scouting work required, others would say expecting this conveyor belt of talent production to continue forever was an impossible dream. Strangest of all perhaps is the fact that young players such as Robbie Muirhead, who would surely benefit from a season leading the line in the championship, have now been allowed to walk away for free. While the chairman's statement said that "there will be a substantial drop in income due to relegation that will mean cost reductions across the club" it seemed imperative to point out that some smarter recruitment would have saved United millions. Not starting the season with a recognised experienced goalkeeper was lunacy.

Continuity usually helps at a football club, but the change from McNamara to Paatelainen was described to me yesterday as "from Butlins to Colditz". While young players thrived under the laissez faire approach of McNamara, Paatelainen's focus on discipline was a rude awakening.

The club will cut those 52 players down to 42 but they have few players left to build around. Blair Spittal is one, although the club could be vulnerable to a bid for a player who has only a year remaining on his deal. Results from the club's youth development wing have shaded since the departure of Stevie Campbell, but Ali Coote, Jamie Robson and Harry Soutar are three who could yet form the next wave. Whatever happens, one thing which definitely needs to change was a brittle mentality, which saw the club surrender 27 points from a winning position. How United could have done with them.