The board of Dundee FC Supporters’ Society Ltd. are extremely concerned by the latest uncertainty at Dundee Football Club.
We raised concerns about the club’s sustainability over a year ago, warning the club board of the problems inherent in the benefactor business model, and reiterated those concerns in an open letter this summer, but it appears our warnings have not been heeded.
While all Dundee fans are of course extremely grateful for the significant financial input made so far by Calum Melville, and hope that this continues, we made it clear to the board that relying on a benefactor in order to offset an unsustainable business model is not something that we support.
We hope that the board have learned the lessons of the past, and that the club is not in similar difficulties to those we and other clubs have experienced before. If and when the club gets through these difficulties, we must ensure that the club and the board operate in a sustainable manner, with the sort of transparency and accountability that we have a right to expect not just as fans but as the owners of over a quarter of the shares in the club.
The Society board would reiterate that we have full faith in our boardroom representative, Stuart Murphy. We appreciate his efforts on behalf of our members and understand that for reasons of confidentiality we must wait along with the rest of the fans for a full explanation of the situation.
The board last year chose to stop holding Annual General Meetings, but this was conditional on their promise to hold an annual Question and Answer session instead. Despite repeated requests both directly and through our boardroom representative over several months, the club has refused to arrange a Q&A which was promised at their suggestion, not ours.
All Dundee fans have a right to have their questions answered, and we would repeat our demand that the board hold the promised Q&A without any further delay.