But, while loving it, he is quick to stress to fellow-Dark Blues there has not been, nor will there be, a return to the kind of reckless spending that, in past times, has seen his club teeter on the brink of oblivion.

Knight’s direct involvement with Dundee was formed during the dark days of late 2003 when debts of £23 million plunged them into administration.

Through fans’ group Dee 4 Life and his subsequent position on the Dens board, he has witnessed at close hand the struggle for survival since.

And he admits that, as recently as the beginning of the year, it was with no great relish he and his fellow-board members were eyeing a budget for this season.

Since then, though, a deal with bankers HBOS that’s wiped out the remaining debt, and the arrival of megabucks backer Calum Melville, have seen a dramatic change in financial fortune.

In the last week, six-figure sums have been splashed on two players, Leigh Griffiths and Gary Harkins, and, in all, nine new players have been brought in.

“If you go back to the start of my involvement during administration, the administrator Tom Burton told us it was unlikely Dundee were going to survive,” he said.

“He described it as his toughest challenge yet and we were going around rattling buckets and collecting coppers from bairns to try to keep the club open.

“To go from that, to seeing us spend something like a quarter of a million on two players, is surreal.”

Surreal, but not stupid, and delighted as he’s been to see Melville splashing his cash, it’s the multi-millionaire’s prudence that impressed Knight most.

“What’s happening is beyond my wildest dreams. A few months ago, we were looking at the budget and thinking of how we would fill the gap between revenue and expenditure that always exists in the First Division.

“Thanks to Calum, that isn’t a problem now, but there have only been so many signings in a short space of time because they were needed.

“By getting things done early, Jocky Scott has the time he needs to mould them into a team.

“If you listen to Calum, he always stresses we are working as a board and this is not just the Calum Melville show.

“Those of us who have been here a while, remember the bad times and we will not let the club go back there. We have a plan that will be followed.”

For all his backing, Melville has no plan to take up a controlling interest at Dens and, while, from the outside, that may seem to leave Dundee in a precarious position, Knight is relaxed about it.

“He is not here for the short term, I have no doubts about that. When you get to know him, you see his energy and his commitment, and you know he is here to be a success.”

Where he does urge caution is over the suggestion the squad put together for the coming season will sweep all aside in the First Division. Experience tells him that won’t be the case.

“When Dundee were relegated, we all thought we were in for a season-long jolly and then it was back to the Premier League.

“We were wrong, and now we are coming up to season five in the First Division. It is a tough league and it will take a lot of hard work by everyone if we are to get out of it.”