An Idiots Guide To The Current Goings On (and ehm the idiot)
Being a Dundee fan can be a bamboozling experience at the best of times but with all the stuff going on across message boards, the press and behind the scenes it's difficult to piece together what's happening round Dens with any degree of certainty. At best it's confusing and at worst infuriating.
Here at Dundee Mad we're going to try and put together an unofficial guide to what the hell's going on for those who might be interested and to try to unravel the mysteries of the different groups involved and how they put up with interact with each other.
We'll try to give an unbiased view of who's who, what's happening and where we think the next road should go.
If anyone is sitting stewing in the hoose after reading what follows or simply wants to give an alternative point of view we will happily publish articles sent in to us by any of the groups/people mentioned (and we won't censor them at all). This offer is open to all and all you have to do to get your point across is drop us an email with your story and we'll publish it in full just like this. Our email address is dundeemad@hotmail.com
So here goes with Dundee Mads best guess at all that's going on, and we could be wrong but hey ho somebody needs to have a go at this!! Note, any inaccuracies are unintentional and we will gladly change anything that can be proved not to be true.
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Dee4Life Trust is among the biggest supporters societies in the country. The Trust came about as a direct result of administration and was formed with the noble intention of pulling all the fans in one direction, namely to save the club. This was such a huge success that over 4000 people joined up and raised over £400,000 in the last 5 years. The result was that the club could continue to operate and Dee4Life ended up owning 26% of the clubs shares and have a seat on the Board of Directors of Dundee Football Club. Many people contributed to this and there is a lot of cross contribution between all the groups to be discussed here (which makes the current situation even more bizarre).
The current Trust Chairman (and the only one there's ever been) is George Knight. George also represents the Trust on the BoD at Dens.
Lately the Trust has recognised it has some serious communication issues and has taken steps to address those. In addition it now faces other issues like membership numbers and direction as well as how best to support the club and how best to meet the needs of the fans it represents. At times it appears that the view of the Trust is too similar to the view of the Directors at Dens. Here at Dundee Mad we feel this can be misconstrued as a weakness in leadership and perhaps Dee4Life needs to look at it's structure and who represents it on the Dundee FC board. We have long believed (there's an article on it written in 2005) that the Trust Chairman is not necessarily the right person to sit on the board. Back then we felt there was too much pressure in dealing with the Marrs on a regular basis and now we feel that the Trusts rep might be too close to the other board members at Dens.
Dundee Mad (well just the editor really but hey) believes that the Trust Rep on the board should be decided by a vote of the Trust Committee but should never be the Trust Chairman. This would lead to a greater accountability as the Trust Chairman would never have a conflict of interests and avoid accusations that we no longer have a fans rep on the board but a board rep amongst the fans.
The trust have taken some really positive steps lately with the re-appointment of some well known faces to the committee and an acknowledgement that communication will be improved. We also anticipate that the Trust will soon announce some new initiatives and the conclusion of some of its activities. There may also be a membership review at some stage where perhaps an active renewal system will need to be introduced, after all you can't expect to remain a member of something for life for only one pound!
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The DSA is the umbrella organisation formed in the 1970's for all of the official Dundee Supporters Clubs. Again it is run by committee with the current Chairman being Allan Laing of Doc Azzuris SC. The DSA's main aims are to support the club and to promote a social environment for all fans. They do this in a number of ways from organising function to running buses and to representing the different supporters clubs in discussions with Dundee Football Club.
Recently they have been publicly critical of Dee4Life on internet forums mainly through the postings of their Chairman. We find this rather confusing given that the DSA actually formed Dee4Life back in 2003 and that nearly all the members of DSA clubs will also be members of Dee4Life. In short Dundee Mad believes that there is no widespread conflict between the two groups but that individuals at a high level cannot see eye to eye for whatever reason.
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The DSA Chairman also has a seat on the Dee4Life Trust committee but at the time of writing we understand he hasn't attended a single Trust committee meeting in at least 8 months. We can only speculate why. Perhaps the DSA member clubs should ask that question for themselves.
It's our belief that the petty jealousies of one man are causing much of the conflict and we put the blame firmly at the door of Allan Laing the DSA Chairman.
Dundee Mad feels that both the DSA and Dee4Life would work better together and we'd gladly help facilitate any meeting that would bring the groups closer, after all many people are members of both and both can flourish at the same time.
Sadly the antagonistic attitude is set to prevail with the upcoming Dee4Life AGM set to be a focal point where we believe there will be a concerted effort on the part of a few misguided individuals within the DSA to usurp the Dee4Life committee and perhaps even make some rather sad attempt to bring the whole Dee4Life structure down.
The last fans' group we will discuss is the Dundee FC Development Club.....
Formerly the Business Club the Development Club are a smaller group but who nonetheless contribute a considerable sum of money to Dundee FC, with their main contributions going directly to promote Youth Development. On occasion they have, and continue to do so, supported the club financially in other areas such as hotel stays for the players or equipment where required.
In recent weeks the Development Club has come under pressure from the club to hand over all monies raised with no say in how it is spent. It has even been threatened with disbandment if it does not comply, a move which is both grossly unfair and undemocratic.
Despite this we understand the Development Club last week contacted the board with an offer to fund a loan players wages for a set period of time and again we believe this offer is still on the table. As yet the club hasn't accepted the generous offer.
Quite why the club felt the need to act like this is anyone's guess but we imagine it's to try and control all aspects of fund-raising and to bring voluntary contributions into the club budget.
Why? Who knows but we suspect it's all to do with streamlining as the board try to sell the remaining shares to any interested parties.
Dundee Mad thinks that all the fans' groups have an equal right to work independently of each other with the common aim of furthering Dundee Football Club. Additionally we think they should also be able to meet each other on a regular basis to discuss common strategies and cross group assistance. If any of the elected leaders of these groups can't bring themselves to do that then perhaps they should walk away instead of promoting mistrust. Again we offer to host such a meeting to get them off the ground if they can't do it themselves.
Finally the John Bennett saga....
Recent press speculation surrounding Mr Bennett suggested that he was interested in buying Dundee FC. Then we had the unusual step of Dee4Life issuing a press release welcoming Mr Bennetts help at Dens but confirming he wasn't buying any shares or taking a seat on the board. After that David McKinnons comments in the press echoed that and made out that Mr Bennett had never been interested in buying the club.
We feel that the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Mr Bennetts help, both his expertise and financial input, will be welcomed at Dens but on a more informal basis. We suspect that he will in fact help out financially where required but not in a share purchasing transaction. We also think he will quietly be appointed to the board at some time in the future.
Perhaps the furore over his departure from Tannadice and the subsequent press intrusion into his life may have resulted in a rethink of his plans but we think his involvement will be greater than being portrayed at present.
In conclusion we at Dundee Mad can see no future in bickering and infighting among fans groups and it's about time it stopped. Surely all Dundee fans want a successful team on the park and a healthy and ambitious fan base who can work on their own and as part of the greater team.
There's absolutely no reason why this can't happen if there is a genuine will and we ask that if anyone involved doesn't have the will then they simply walk away and let the others get on with it.
Dundee FC's future is more important than any individuals misguided ambitions.
We should never lose sight of that.
If you would like to respond to this article please feel free to contact Dundee Mad at dundeemad@hotmail.com