Saturday's Open Meeting was attended by over 50 Dundee fans and Society members, including club directors Harry MacLean and Steve Martin, in addition to Club and Society Directors Stuart Murphy, Maurice Kidd and Scott Glenday.
It was Dundee FC Supporters' Society Chairman Scott Glenday who opened the meeting, firstly welcoming and thanking all fans for attending. Scott told those assembled that this would be the first of three planned meetings for the season; the Society plan to hold a "half-term report" meeting around Christmas time and an end-of-season meeting, we hope to have the manager and club directors present.
Scott introduced fellow speakers Stuart Murphy and Fraser MacDonald, and Charlie Duthie from Wave 102 who was hosting the Q&A session, thanking all at Wave for their continued help. Scott outlined the programme for the meeting, and reminded all members to update their contact details, particularly email addresses, before continuing "I want to open by saying that we sat here last year, wondering how to approach our latest predicament. Thankfully due to the generosity, commitment and innovation of our fans, we lived to tell the tale and we meet again to see where we go from here.
"I listened to sceptics around that time predicting fan ownership would be a disaster - well, it’s been far from it. We survived; last season was in fact my favourite of all time. We all pulled together, the spirit on and off the park was obvious for everyone to see – it could well be the making of us. It’s fair to say there are clubs still to take their medicine that could not dream of getting the response that we provided our own football club with.
"YOU the fans also had to raise the money to exit administration and we had to convince Bryan Jackson we could put an off-field management team together with the necessary expertise and skill base. That management team has already attracted external investment, hopes to attract more and we’ve given the manager access to sufficient funds to build a team capable challenging for promotion.
"Season ticket sales are up, we’ve three points on the board, Aberdeen in the next round of the League Cup and much to look forward to today – far from the fiasco some predicted. It hasn't been easy, it has taken us all to pull together, and it has required a massive commitment in many different ways from a host of different people."
On the Community Manifesto, which was of course the first scheduled part of the meeting, Scott said "It's not about 3, 7, or 11 directors, or even 11 plus the volunteers, it’s about all of us having an equal say, an equal share. We all had an opportunity to input into the Community document produced and I'd like to say a big thanks to those of you who took the opportunity to do so. The manifesto is based on what you told us you wanted to see, it’s your manifesto. There are some really worthwhile ideas within it that we feel we can deliver."
"I’m delighted to say that our ongoing investment in Dundee Football Club continues thanks to you, and today we’ll be committing another ten thousand pounds on your behalf to the Club. This has only been possible due to your generosity and commitment via a variety of initiatives. I'm also very pleased to be able to tell you that we’ve reached the position where we’ve now more than 500 Gold and 37 Platinum members! I'd like to thank all those who make it possible – subscribers, administrators and the media team. In fact, Platinum members are in the Legends Lounge today for their first function of the season. Some people have queried why we don’t charge an ordinary membership fee, but we’ve probably got more funds coming in from membership than most other trusts in the country. Over the last year there’s been money coming in from everyone, and frankly I’d be embarrassed to ask anyone to pay more just to have a say in how their club is run."
Scott then handed over to Fraser MacDonald to discuss the background to community ownership and the manifesto in more detail. We'll have that part online tomorrow.
Once Fraser and Stuart had covered their presentations, Scott returned to talk about the achievements of the Club, Society and the fans so far. "I'm so proud of our efforts - fans, Club and the Society, and the fact that the Society is handing over another £10,000 on your behalf today is another fantastic achievement.
"The Society Board is not here to protect US, it's here to protect YOUR interests and the interests of YOUR Football Club. By YOU I mean people like Shaded, Ronnie McIntosh, Burkie, Willie Reilly, Craig Robertson, Kenny Ross, John Brown, Laura Hayes, Big Andy, Pat Liney, Kenny Valentine, Scott Roberts, Dave Young, Bobby Cox, guys from the Supporters Clubs and the faces you see in the stands week in week out and don’t know their names - each and every one of us!
"On the financial front as I touched on earlier we’ve had some success this year as a Society too. We've injected £200,000 into Dundee FC from all sources of donations and raised £80,000 from Club Dundee and other events - again this couldn't be achieved by your commitment, innovation and drive and I thank you and everyone else who has helped make this possible.
"The number of initiatives continues to grow. We will shortly be launching a Seniors Section to be led by Gordon Samson, Dundee Pensioners Forum secretary, Ellenbank DSC member and lifelong Dundee fan - many clubs already have Junior sections, we believe we'll be leading the way with a dedicated Seniors group. We have and will again be doing School visits which are being reviewed by Ian Rae, a retired Dundee primary school headmaster, lifelong fan and another Ellenbank member. We’re making Legends Lounge hospitality available to Gold and Platinum members, and we will continue with our programme of matchday activities organised by John Keith, and I’m sure you will agree halftimes have improved a lot. The Former Players’ Association is being revived by Bob Hynd, Mike Jeffries MBE and Dave Forbes, and have recently started a programme of Stadium Tours."
Scott continued "An away-day initiative is currently with the SFL for consideration - this is something the Society has been discussing over the past year or so that we believe will make Scottish football more accessible to away supporters whilst offering an attractive package to the home team. Those initiatives have helped us to offer, on your behalf, sums of £150,000, £70,000, £10,000, £2,500 and a further £10,000 today. We want to use that money to strengthen our Club and keep the fans best interests to the fore. We want Dundee FC Supporters' Society to be an inclusive fans group; we would prefer it not to be exclusive in any shape or form.
"Primarily, we are here because we want what is best for Dundee FC, but we’d also like to reach out to community and to bring your Club and your Community closer together for their mutual benefit. Bucket collections will continue this season, with 80% of what is invested going to our youngest fans via the Junior Dees and the remainder to five charities. We all donate to charity, what better way than to do it through the Society and Football Club?
"We’ve also a programme of good causes who will have the opportunity to come to Dens and promote their activities at home games. Today we welcome TCCL (Tayside Children with Cancer and Leukaemia) – six kids and adults will this afternoon enjoy a day at the game and at half time they’ll receive a signed ball and top to help them with their fundraising. Also on Saturdays at Dens there will be a host of guests in the Boardroom and Directors Box invited by the Society either as a token of thanks for their efforts or to help open up new opportunities – Barry Davidson, Mike Colgan, Gus Cumming, Scott Roberts, Neil Roberts and the guys from Millars will be in the Boardroom this afternoon.
"You’ve a boardroom that has Directors that are both up to the task and fans of your Club - they will provide you with an open door policy and financial transparency. This is your Club, and if proof was needed that anyone capable can get on board and work their way to the top of our Club we need look no further than the Club Chairman Stuart Murphy, who only became a Trust member two and a half years ago and worked his way up through hard work and proving his worth. So I appeal to you all to get involved and play the part you want to, everyone can do something, we need more of you to believe and get hands on to fulfil our dreams. There are millions of ideas out there but only so many hands on deck, as I said here at the Administration meeting I believe that solutions lie within our own community, if we stick together we can make this work, we can make this happen.
"The Society view is that external investment can be attracted without compromising fan ownership - if our hearts are in this we can create something sustainable, something lasting, something we are all mighty proud of, something other clubs in Scotland are envious of. You are the lifeblood of the game, the heart and soul of this club, but it’s your call, it's your decision to make, it's your club to lose. Over to the people that really matter - my fellow Dundee fans. Thank you."