Dundee FC Q&A with Barry Smith and Scott Gardiner - Part 6

Last updated : 16 March 2012 By Shaded

I will open up very shortly to the floor, there is one or two things I would like to announce though. The board have been working very hard, and I have been doing some stupid hours

recently, we will be putting out a press release tonight, after this meeting. You have all

probably read on the forums, and there has been discussions in pubs, using the words 'fabled

investors', was there investment coming, who was going to invest in us, well in two weeks

time, I will be going down to London. You will read in the press about some new innovative

schemes that we are doing with regards to attracting investment into Dundee FC, because we

believe we have a very compelling story here and some compelling business reasons to invest

in the city of Dundee, and particularly through Dundee FC. I think the city is on the cusp of

being the creative hub of Scotland, the Victoria and Albert development, everyone talks

down Dundee, if you are not from Dundee, but I actually think we are on the cusp of that, and

we can catch a wave here, if we do the right thing businesswise, and as I said, I would like to

announce tonight, on behalf of the board and myself, I am delighted to say that we have

secured, over the weekend, that we have secured our first £100,000 investment in the club.

'I spent long hours, and had a good number of meetings with the man who is investing into the club with the hundred thousand is extremely, extremely enthused about what we could do

here going down the line. He also wants to emphasise, as do I, that this will only be part of

the spine, and any other investments that we get, and we are talking to some other investors,

both five and six figure investors, any other investors we get, they are just going to form a

spine of a business, that is not going to fix everything.

'If Barry is going to compete, we have two budgets here, there is one where we have got, if everything works, we will be in there fighting with the best of them, and we will be able to

take it forward to where we all aspire the club to be. Now there is another budget where we

will be stable, we will be safe, but we won't necessarily be able to compete, and everyone has

to realise that. We will not be coming to you with buckets, well Jacqui (Robertson) might be

for charity, but we are going to come out in the next weeks and months with some real ideas,

where we will be saying here is a good idea, can you back it? Here is what we will do, and

here is what you will get, so it is going to be a two way process going forward, and we hope

that, well these ideas are going to be aimed at the normal man in the street, right through to

some smaller businesses, some medium businesses and some larger businesses.

'As I say, in two weeks time, I am going to be in the city of London, where I will be talking

to some potential investors who couldn't even point to Dundee on a map, but that is not to

say that we will not get investment from them, because we are going down with a very

compelling story, and a very compelling business case for them to put their money into

Dundee.

'And so, as I say, it is a slow moving beast, and we will be hoping to answer all your questions this evening, there may well be certain things which are commercially sensitive,

and that we are not able to answer right at this very second, but you have seen, from the very

fact that the board has put this Q&A on tonight, that it is not the case that we are not being

transparent, it is just a case that there are certain things that you have to do within the football

club, and one last thing before I open it up to the floor. Previous to me coming in here, I had

read various things in the media, on forums etc. and it happens in every football club, it

doesn't happen in other businesses, but it happens in every football club, there is a split, you

know, the People's Front of Judea, and the Judean Peoples Front, that is not the case. I can

pick up the phone, and honestly with each and every one of the board members and get a full

and frank conversation every time I do so, and they do so with me. We are all in this for one

reason, we actually think this could be even more amazing than it was in the past, and I am

very happy with the way things are going. It's hard work, and it is bound to be, we did not

pick up a healthy child here when the club came out of administration, it is bound to be hard,

but, believe me there is not a stone will be left unturned, but we will need you more than we

have ever needed you, this next stage is important. It is not precarious, but it is crucial, and if

you all come with us, then we will be where we need to be. I will now put it open to the room

and myself or the board will answer any of your questions.'