Bucs vice president Joel Glazer called the 2006 season 'very disappointing.' And after three losing seasons in the past four years, he indicated that coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen have been put on notice that the team "needs to start improving.' 

   Taking a break from the NFL owners' meetings Tuesday at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Glazer spoke for the first time in nearly a year about the Bucs' past, present and future in an interview with the Times.

   He would not address questions about his father, Bucs owner Malcolm Glazer, who is recovering from two strokes he suffered last April. And he would not discuss the Manchester United soccer team, the family's most lucrative sports holding.

   But Glazer did tackle most of the issues facing the Bucs and declared that the salary cap problems and lack of draft picks that contributed to the declining performance were behind them.

   ""Last year I would say was very disappointing,'' Glazer said. ""I know it was disappointing for us, I know it was disappointing for people in our organization and our fans. It's just disappointing to go 4-12 in the National Football League and coming from where we've been in the previous years was just not a good feeling. We didn't enjoy it and I know nobody in our organization enjoyed it.''

   Glazer also said that Gruden and Allen have not been given any specific goals for 2007 beyond showing rapid improvement and a solid foundation for championships in the future.

   ""There's no magic number. We never sit there and say, "It's this or else,''' Glazer said. ""Like I said, 4-12 is very disappointing. By the same token, as an organization we have to be realistic where we've been at the last couple of years, the circumstances that have brought us to where we are and first recognize that. It's so easy to just look at the record and in this league, ultimately, you're accountable to your record. But when you're judging people, you've got to look at the circumstances that led you there. That's not to place blame on any one area or thing. It's a few things brought together that contributed to it.

   ""All that being said, some of the problems that contributed to it - not having all our draft picks, salary cap issues - are in the past. We're at a point now where this organization and this team needs to start improving. I know that's our expectations, I know that's Jon's expectations, I know that's Bruce's expectation. But we don't go into the season with a magic number or a magic formula.''