Category: Chairman’s Updates

Chairman's Updates

Dundee FC EGM update

On Monday 3rd June, Dundee Football Club held their EGM at Gardyne.

There were two resolutions on the agenda – broadly that the club board be given the authority to increase the shares available by £13m in value and that they should then have the power to issue those shares. That authority to span the next five years.

Following considerable discussion the Dee4Life board made the decision to vote in favour of both resolutions, effectively allowing the club to attract fresh investment or clear existing loans from the balance sheet.

We would point out that we received no clear guidance on what the new investment will be used for. While the percentage of minority shareholders will be diluted further, including our Dee4Life percentage, it’s important to be clear that it doesn’t affect the rights relating to the ‘A’ shares.

We believe that supporting the club’s plan was the best course of action and we have to acknowledge that the result was in any case inevitable given the high percentage holdings commanded by the majority shareholders.

There were perhaps just less than 20 shareholders in attendance and the actual meeting lasted some 35 minutes including the count of the votes. Dundee FC directors John Nelms and Bob Hynd were at the top table with Mr Darling of Gilson Gray introducing proceedings.

It was a poll vote with shareholdings held by the individual shareholders counting as opposed to the raising of hands.

Dee4Life Finance Director Grant McGregor cast our vote accordingly with fellow director Norrie Price also in attendance.

Both resolutions were passed with around 82% in favour and 0.004% against. The balance would be those shareholdings not cast.

Beyond the actual resolutions, there was no explanation of the club board’s intentions, nor was there the opportunity for shareholders to ask any questions. At the close of the meeting John Nelms offered all shareholders a tour of the facilities at Gardyne Campus.

Regards,
Dee4Life

Chairman's Updates

Dee4Life members’ update – May

Dear Members,

Well, another season is over and, already the anticipation of another season begins. It has been a great season on the pitch for the club and missing out on a possible European campaign was a disappointment. This achievement is decent for a first season back in the premier league under a new manager in his first season too.

Such times dictate change and upheaval in the playing staff, with the announcement of the loanees returning to their parent clubs, and three releases of Byrne, French and Wilkie. Our thanks for their service to the club and best wishes for the future go with each of them. You never know some of the loanees may yet return for next season.

The club has responded to the challenges recently experienced with the pitch and the impact on games swiftly. Barely had the last league game finished before the works to address this issue commenced, and hopefully we will see the results from this for next season.

Dee4Life have now commented back to the club thanking them for the recent answers to questions and looking forward to the Council holding the hearing in August on the submitted Planning Permission in Principle. Thereafter continuing dialogue and seeking to support the advancement of the New Camperdown stadium.

The matter of engagement and communication with the club continues to be a pressing priority for Dee4Life. We have previously sought a commitment from the club to an AGM arrangement, consistent with other club approaches, or if a preference for the club an open Q&A session for fans with club representatives, to hear of club intentions and future plans, and allow any concerns or points of interest to be raised by fans.

EGM attendance

As you will likely be aware, Dundee Football Club Ltd has called an EGM for Monday June 3rd. Dee4Life board Director Grant McGregor will represent the Trust at the EGM at the club’s Gardyne Training Facility where two Resolutions are to be voted on.

There has been work over recent months on the administration of the website and ensuring the minutes of the board meetings are posted as available and looking to provide historic minutes too, as these at some point seem to have been removed at the time of a system change. Please bear with us as we seek to address and resolve this matter.

Dee4Life are also keen to have open lines of communication with club representatives and will continue to pursue this outcome, to aid dialogue and continue to offer, and seek areas for, support from the society.

As we approach the summer and the European Championships our attention and support will move to the national team, and we wish Steve Clark and the Scotland squad all the best for the tournament in Germany.

Regards

Keith Winter
Dee4Life Chair

Chairman's Updates

Dee4Life members’ update

Dear Members,

The first item to cover is the fantastic achievement by Tony Docherty and the team in reaching top six status in our first season back in the Premiership. The club now have telling fixtures to try and secure European football again at Dens for the first time since 2003.

This success on the park is reflected in the nominations achieved by Tony Docherty up for the Manager of the Year award, Lyall Cameron for the Young Player of the Year award, and with Owen Beck named in the SPFL team of the year.

All fans will have noted the responses from the club to the questions about the new stadium development tabled recently, and the coverage across different media paths on this. Several Dee4Life members provided responses, to the Board, on the questions submitted and this is appreciated. Currently these are all being considered to establish whether we should seek any further updates or clarification on any points with the club.

Following on the recent and welcomed submission of the Planning Permission in Principle for the Camperdown stadium development, this has now been followed up by further announcements regarding a new training facility at Riverside, a new artificial pitch at the Gardyne Campus and works over the summer to address the drainage issues at Dens Park, with a significant level of investment for this announced.

These will be delivered through a combination of the Club, DBPH, and the Community Trust. All are welcome actions and, as delivered, reflective of the current positive path for the club on and off the field.

The announcement of e-ticketing for the new season is welcomed. This is something the Dee4Life board have pushed for previously as a benefit for fans and an assistance for matchdays where hopefully congestion at the ticket queues will be a thing of the past.

As a voice for Dundee fans, your membership is crucial. But did you know that you can also help Dee4Life by shopping online?

By adjusting your online shopping patterns slightly, you can help raise money for the Trust. Teaming up with easyfundraising, Dee4Life has already earned thousands of pounds thanks to members’ purchases online.

All you need to do is register for an easyfundraising account and select Dee4Life as the cause you’d like to raise money for.

Every time you shop online, easyfundraising will give a donation to the trust. This donation will help us to continue our work in providing a voice for Dees across the globe.

More information can be found here.

One area where there has been some discussion and reaction raised is to the 2024/25 season ticket prices notably the hefty hike in the under-12s price, from £1.00 to £50.00. These are the supporters of the future, and families may well struggle with this increase especially if there is more than one young supporter in the family. It is to be hoped that this does not backfire on the club and its ability to attract young fans for the future.

For your information there has been a change in the Dee4Life Board make up with Grant Hill standing down as Vice-Chair due to personal and professional commitments. Over the past two years, Grant has served the Trust very well, delivering and contributing on several fronts and bringing an energy and communications capacity that has been beneficial to the board and wider Trust membership. Our grateful thanks to Grant and all the best for the future.

So, finally, exciting times for the club and hopefully much more to come over the coming weeks, months, and seasons. But first and foremost, let’s focus on the exciting possibility of European qualification – see you at Dens on Saturday!

Regards
Keith Winter
Dee4Life Chair

Chairman's Updates

Members’ update: Club response to Camperdown questions and survey results

Dear members,

Thank you to all who attended our recent online meeting and contributed to discussion about the future direction of Dee4Life and our club. We welcome feedback on this event and would be happy to hold further meetings in this format if there is an appetite from members to do so.

As explained at the meeting, we received answers to the questions around the new stadium development that we had submitted to the club. Unfortunately, as these were received only an hour before the meeting, we did not have time to consider these as a board prior to the meeting but can now share this with you.

Click here to view the response on our website.

We thank the club for providing information that goes some way to addressing the concerns that members have shared with us over the past couple of years. We believe there is space for additional details to be provided on some of the matters raised and hope this can be addressed through further dialogue.

We would now like to invite members to share their feedback on the answers provided before sending a formal response.

Those wishing to submit their feedback should email contact@dee4life.com.

A desire for more information about Nou Campy was one of the standout findings from our recent members survey, which we shared with those in attendance. A breakdown of the results can also be seen on our website, along with our initial thoughts on the results.

Click here to see our members’ survey results.

What is clear from the survey responses is that Dee4Life members are committed and highly engaged Dundee FC supporters who make a significant financial and emotional contribution to the club. This is always at the forefront of our thinking.

Regards,

Keith Winter (Dee4Life Chair)

Chairman's Updates

Responses to our Camperdown development questions

In February, Dee4Life submitted a list of questions to the owners of Dundee FC relating to the new Camperdown stadium development.

Trust directors received a response to the questions just hours before a members’ meeting on March 18. We felt the directors needed to consider these responses before sharing the answers provided but can now do so.

The full list of questions and answers have been set out below. The questions we asked are in bold and the answers are beneath.

If you have any feedback to the answers given, we would happy to hear your opinion. Share your thoughts by emailing contact@dee4life.com.

When is the full planning application likely to be submitted? Or any submissions required by the grant of the current PPIP under any attached conditions, notably suspensive conditions?

Full planning permission will be pending Dundee City Council’s response and feedback to PPiP. We anticipate a decision by August at the latest. We have submitted the most comprehensive PPiP documentation imaginable for two reasons. First, we wanted to make sure that such an historic proposal was given full consideration. To that end we have spent significant sums on more than 20 consultants in key areas of the planning submission.

We also wanted to make sure that after years of discussion, which have been interrupted by a pandemic and impacted by a recession, we would be ‘ahead of the game’ when it came to seeking full permission. For the avoidance of doubt each aspect of the PPiP will be broken up into multiple full planning applications as each element of the plan has its own individual issues to be answered.

Is the target of football being played in the new stadium by summer 2025 still valid given the fact that planning permission in principle has still to be determined?

The owners of DBPH holdings are optimist but also impatient. We as a project team want to make sure we are ready to go if and when permission is granted. We have waited this long but the priority is that we are ready to bring the vision to life when we get the green light from the council.

What are the phasing arrangements for the delivery of the elements contained in the development mix? Will the football facilities be included in the first phase or is the stadium contingent on the successful delivery of the other, revenue-generating elements?

The stadium is the centrepiece and as you have seen from recent postponements the priority. But as we’ve said consistently, any new sports stadium development in any country in the world is only economically viable with the ancillary revenue generated around it. We aim to create a 365-days-a-year sport and entertainment campus, with Dundee Football Club as the core offering. Even the largest European stadiums have multiple streams of revenue.

Will Dundee FC own the stadium? If not, will the rental terms be set at a commercial rate or on other terms, such as a set percentage of the club’s turnover?

Bearing in mind DBPH recently purchased the stadium back from private ownership, we envisage a similar operating model that will again ensure preferential rental rates for the Club. Again, this is common practice across the world and reduces the onus on the Club. This question has been answered multiple times and if the answer were ever to change we would let your group and all Dundee supporters know of the change.

If the club is not to own the stadium, will the club pay more in rent than the current arrangements at Dens Park?

Firstly, the escalating costs of simply keeping the lights on at Dens, along with the maintenance and dilapidation costs, are now approaching £1m per year. This is pure cost and money that is better reinvested in the team. The new model will ensure a preferential rental agreement that will absolutely be better value-for-money and be offset by the residual income, which in turn can be reinvested in the team.

The ONS notes that private commercial construction costs have risen by around 30% in the past seven years, including approximately 14% since December 2021. Interest rates have risen significantly in this time too. How has all this impacted on the affordability of the project?

That’s for DBPH to work through and we have a robust business plan in place. We have been struck by how proactive global brands have been to express keen interest in the wider development. We are also seeing the financial headwinds following the pandemic easing sufficiently to give us confidence in the model.

What protections are in place for the club should DBPH experience financial difficulties that prevent the project from being delivered, or the company to cease trading?

This is a very hypothetical question, only asked by Dee4Life. We have shown our commitment to the Club throughout the 10 years since our arrival and while form has fluctuated on the field, we have remained steadfast in our long-term ambitions for the Club. Staying at Dens Park is, sadly, simply not a viable long-term option.

Records from the Land Registry suggest that both the Camperdown site and Dens Park have been used as security against loans obtained from the Soho Green finance company. Is this correct, what has this finance been used for and have the loans been repaid? What guarantees can be given that Dens Park will not be lost if repayments are not made?

Just like the question above this is a very hypothetical question, only asked by Dee4Life. We have shown our commitment to the Club throughout the 10 years since our arrival and while form has fluctuated on the field, we have remained steadfast in our long-term ambitions for the Club. Staying at Dens Park is, sadly, simply not a viable long-term option.

Is finance in place for the new stadium development and is this in the form of investment or lending? If it is the latter, are the club liable for repayments of this?

Again, as above.

Whilst the planning application process and subsequent development takes place what are the arrangements and investments planned for Dens Park?

We are spending just over £700,000 on Dens Park and counting, in which a significant amount goes towards the pitch. In addition, we have put in place consultants at an increased cost over the winter, due to the unprecedented storms and heavy rainfall that has hit the Dundee area in recent months. Improvements have been made and will continue to be made to the pitch whilst we remain at Dens Park. We will continue to evaluate and invest as we have done so for the duration of our time at Dens Park.

In any delay on delivery of the Camperdown proposal what is the strategy and practical arrangement for the continuing use and operation of Dens Park over each of say 3, 5, 7-year periods or indeed indefinitely?

Please see the above answer. Our main focus now is being able to begin the phase of putting a spade in the ground and making the vision a reality.

Should planning permission be refused or should the development fail to materialise for any other reason, what is the club’s Plan B position?

Based on the PPiP submitted, the input from key stakeholders and consultants at all levels, and the reassuring public comments from DCC that they seek “to work with developers and remove obstacles”, we look forward with confidence that Camperdown Stadium Development can be a crown jewel in the city’s regeneration. A home we can be proud of and a beacon for our city as a whole.  

Chairman's Updates, society updates

Survey results: Dee4Life members contribute significantly to Dundee FC

In February the Dee4Life board sought to gain the views of members in a survey. Around a third of our members (171) took the time to share their opinion on the trust and what they would like us to focus on going forward.

We will take these views into consideration to help form our strategy.

Below is the list of questions we asked with the top-level results from each. Beneath each answer section is a summary of our thoughts on the responses.

Here are nine things Dee4Life could focus on, on your behalf. What THREE things do you think we should focus on most?

  • Working to ensure Dundee FC are here for the longer term (selected by 74% of respondents)
  • Bringing all Dundee-minded people together to support the club (51%)
  • Providing feedback to the club on off-field performance raised by members (38%)

Our overarching aim is to help ensure that Dundee is successful on the park and financially secure off it, which chimes with the most popular option selected by members. For us, providing feedback on the club’s operations and performances – and encouraging genuine engagement with as wide a section of the fanbase as possible – is vital if this goal is to be achieved.

Our door is always open to any Dundee-minded group or individual and we will meet with representatives of the club or any other fan group at any time and without any preconditions.

How much do you agree that there should be:

  • Fan representation on the club board (62% strongly agree, 29% slightly agree)
  • A Dundee FC AGM for shareholders (75%, 18%)
  • More regular feed of information about the off-field performance of the club (66%, 30%)
  • More regular feed of information about the current/new stadium (70%, 26%)
  • More regular Q&As with club representatives (64%, 28%)

Enhanced communication from the club is the clear priority of members. For almost a year we have been campaigning for the reintroduction of the club AGM and/or a meaningful Q&A with supporters’ representatives. We believe that this would address the information deficit around the stadium and other issues and enable the views of a wider cross section of fans’ views to be heard.

We will continue to push for engagement of this kind and note the answered to our stadium questions supplied earlier this week.

Do you believe Dee4Life are on the right track?

  • Strongly agree (46%)
  • Slightly agree (38%)
  • Disagree slightly (7%)
  • Disagree strongly (5%)
  • No opinion (4%)

It is important for all organisations to be self-reflective and responsive to feedback from members and other stakeholders. While we are pleased that 86% agreed that we were on the right track, we note that the number who strongly agreed was lower than for any other question.

Clearly a major factor in this is that relations between the club board and Dee4Life are not currently positive. We remain committed to rebuilding this relationship and our local MSPs have offered to broker a meeting between Dee4Life and the club board. In addition we have been in discussions with intermediaries about restarting relations. We hope they respond positively to these efforts and that this will enable us to seek the priorities outlined in your answers above.

Thinking about Dee4Life membership at £10 at year, which is most true of you?

  • I will definitely rejoin this year (81%)
  • I will probably rejoin (13%)
  • I may or may not rejoin (6%)

It is heartening that the vasty majority of you will either definitely or probably rejoin and we hope to win over both those who are currently unsure as well as to attract new members. We will look closely at all the reasons given, whether positive or less so, and this will feed into our approach over the next year.

Which of these things are true of you?

  • I have a season ticket (70%)
  • I go to most games (65%)
  • I buy food/drink from the outlets (26%)
  • I buy hospitality (25%)
  • I buy things from the club shop (71%)
  • I am an 1893 Foundation member (27%)
  • I am a Dee Lottery member (39%)
  • I buy half-time draw tickets (34%)
  • I am a DeeTV subscriber (23%)
  • I contribute to club raffles (30%)
  • I go to club events and dinners (26%)
  • I am a club sponsor/advertiser (3%)
  • I am a shareholder (24%)
  • I am a member of the DSA/a supporters’ club (36%)

Your answers demonstrate that Dee4Life members are passionate, loyal supporters of Dundee FC who contribute to the club in a variety of ways. Applying these figures across our entire membership, we can say with reasonable certainty that around 350 Dee4Life members are season ticket holders.

While the data does not allow us to ascertain exact spend, using fairly conservative assumptions we estimate the total financial contribution of Dee4Life members to the club each year to be in the excess of £200,000.

Who are our members?

  • Gender – male (94%), female (4%), other/prefer not to say (2%)
  • Age – 25-34 (5%), 35-44 (11%), 45-54 (12%), 55-64 (35%), 65-plus (35%), prefer not to say (2%)
  • From – DD postcode (62%), AB (8%), EH (7%), KY (5%), G (4%), Other Scottish (9%), Non-Scottish (5%)

Our typical member is a man, aged sixty, living in the Dundee area. Clearly for the future of Dee4Life we need to attract more younger members and increase the number of female members.

What is the best thing about being a Dundee FC fan?

Analysing your responses, three clear themes emerged – team (41% of mentions), identity (34%) and kin (19%). You have made it clear that Dundee is not just your team, it is part of your identity and that of your family.

There were also a few answers along the line of “I wish I knew”!

Chairman's Updates

Dee4Life members’ meeting – 18th March

Dear members,

I would like to kick off this month’s update by thanking all of you who responded to our recent survey. Your answers will help determine our future strategy and efforts to ensure that Dee4Life is as representative of the views of our members as possible.

My colleagues Andrew Pyke, Scott Lorimer and Ross Day have led on this project and are currently analysing the data before we consider your contributions as a board. We will then share the results widely, initially at the members’ meeting on Monday 18 March. As I said a few weeks ago, this meeting will take place on Microsoft Teams. This is in response to a request to occasionally hold meetings online to allow more members – particularly those who live outwith Dundee – to take part.

Members can join this meeting from 6.50pm for a 7pm start on Monday 18 March. An invitation will be sent out towards the end of next week.

We are aware that some of you may never have used Teams before so please get in touch with any concerns you may have. Please also let us know of any topics you would like us to cover during the meeting.

You can get in touch by emailing contact@dee4life.com.

We will send a reminder with a full agenda before the event but, in addition to sharing the survey results, we will also update you on our efforts since the Dee4Life AGM back in November. There will then be an open discussion, with members invited to share their thoughts based on what they’ve heard.

I am sure that the welcome progress evidenced in the submission of Planning Permission in principle for the Camperdown stadium development will feature heavily in discussions and I hope that we will be able to update you on the questions sent to the club via our Supporters Liaison Officer at this time.

I look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible to this meeting and to hearing more about your views on both Dee4Life and the club.

Regards

Keith Winter
Dee4Life Chair

Chairman's Updates

Dee4Life members’ update

With the team performing better than we have seen in sometime, notwithstanding some poorer results recently, the new stadium proposals, with the Planning Permission in Principle application now submitted, and the recently announced partnership with Burnley, there is a lot of excitement around the Dundee support just now.

The Burnley link is particularly intriguing to me as I spent several years living in the Lancashire town. My wife and I still have friends down there, and I was last at Turf Moor earlier this season. It is a fantastic club from a great part of the world, and I hope that this partnership delivers for all parties.

The Dee4Life board is obviously delighted by the prospect of Dundee taking steps forward on and off the park but – as I outlined last month – the founding principes of the Trust mean we must always ask questions about developments, even those that appear exciting and potentially transformative.

With that in mind, we have submitted a series of questions (see below) relating to the stadium development. I hope that the club takes the time to consider these and provides answers that will go some way to addressing the concerns that members tell us they still have about the Camperdown plan.

At our November AGM we agreed to hold a follow up meeting in the first quarter of 2024, and I can confirm that this will take place on the evening of Monday 18 March. Following on from another suggestion, this will be online to allow a wider selection of members than usual to attend. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible then. Further details, including how members can join the meeting, will follow in our next update.

Ahead of that discussion, we want to gauge the views of members about how the Trust and the club and to find out a bit more about you and how we can best represent you. To this end, we have compiled a short survey which members will find in their email inbox. I would be most grateful if you could take a few minutes to fill in before the end of February.

Thanks for your time and I am hopeful February gives us more league points.

Regards
Keith Winter, Chair

Questions submitted to the Dundee FC board via club SLO John Burke:
1. When will the full planning application likely be submitted? Or any submissions required by the grant of the current PPIP under any attached conditions, notably suspensive conditions?

2. Is the target of football being played in the new stadium by summer 2025 still valid given the fact that planning permission in principle still has to be determined?

3. What are the phasing arrangements for the delivery of the elements contained in the development mix? Will the football facilities be included in the first phase or is the stadium contingent on the successful delivery of the other, revenue-generating elements?

4.Will Dundee FC own the stadium? If not, will the rental terms be set at a commercial rate or on other terms, such as a set percentage of the club’s turnover?

5. If the club is not to own the stadium, will the club pay more in rent than the current arrangements at Dens Park?

6. The ONS notes that private commercial construction costs have risen by around 30% in the past seven years, including approximately 14% since December 2021. Interest rates have risen significantly in this time too. How has all this impacted on the affordability of the project?
What protections are in place for the club should DBPH experience financial difficulties that prevent the project from being delivered, or the company to cease trading?

7. Records from the Land Registry suggest that both the Camperdown site and Dens Park have been used as security against loans obtained from the Soho Green finance company. Is this correct, what has this finance been used for and have the loans been repaid? What guarantees can be given that Dens Park will not be lost if repayments are not met?

8. Is finance in place for the new stadium development and is this in the form of investment or lending? If it is the latter, are the club liable for repayments of this?

9. Whilst the planning application process and subsequent development takes place what are the arrangements and investments planned for Dens Park?

10. In any delay on delivery of the Camperdown proposal what is the strategy and practical arrangement for the continuing use and operation of Dens Park over each of say 3, 5, 7-year periods or indeed indefinitely?

11. Should planning permission be refused or should the development fail to materialise for any other reason, what is the club’s Plan B position?

Chairman's Updates

Dee4Life New Year members’ update

Dear members,

Happy New Year and I hope you had a great festive period with family and friends.

The past month has brought both the exhilaration of late goals at Dingwall and Kilmarnock and the disappointment of the Aberdeen and St Johnstone postponements.

With regards to the latter, we know from correspondence from members how frustrating you have found the situation. Accordingly, we have written to the club’s Supporter Liaison Officer to try and better understand the underlying issues with the pitch and to offer any practical support we can to minimise the risk of future call offs. In this letter, we also reiterated our long-standing offer to support the introduction of eticketing at Dens Park.

December’s other major talking point was the new stadium image and additional details about the project released by the club. This has rightly generated a great deal of excitement and discussion amongst Dundee fans, and we welcome the stated commitment to ongoing consultation with supporters as the project develops. It was also reassuring to hear John Nelms restate that interim groundsharing is unlikely to be required.

The Dee4Life board has always believed this project could be transformative for Dundee but are also wary of any risks to the club and hope these concerns are fully addressed either in the forthcoming planning application in principle or as part of the related consultation.

20 years of Dee4Life

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of Dee4Life and I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the dozens of fans who have served on the Trust board in that time as well as the countless volunteers who have given up their own time to help ensure that the club has survived some of the most turbulent times in its history.

As you all know, Dee4Life arose from the incredible efforts of fans to save the club from liquidation back in 2003/04. The time and effort given by the Trust’s founders to galvanise fundraising efforts, attend interminable meetings and help prove Dundee was worth fighting for was incredible and all Dundee supporters owe them a debt of gratitude.

When the Dark Blues entered administration for the second time, the astonishing effort of fans – combined with the sacrifices of directors, staff and players – saved our beloved club once more. Dee4Life officials, volunteers and members had again given so much of themselves while asking for nothing in return and these efforts enabled Dundee to exit administration as a supporter-owned club.

The following two years were not without their difficulties, but no one should be in any doubt about how hard those running the club worked in difficult circumstances or that every decision was made according to what they believed was in the best interests of the club. Ultimately, they kept Dundee FC alive until a viable alternative appeared.

When we Dee4Life members voted to sell our majority shareholding to the club’s current owners we did so after the-then Trust board negotiated entrenched rights designed to protect the future of the club we all love.

The Trust’s fortunes have waxed and waned over the years, but dedicated fans continued to give up their own time to keep Dee4Life alive out of a belief that an independent fans’ voice is not only important but vital. We now mark our 20th anniversary with a growing membership and a determination amongst the current board to ensure that the views of all fans are heard at a pivotal time for our club.

The issue of an ageing stadium with limited commercial potential has plagued successive Dundee owners for decades. As well as acknowledging the stability brought by the current owners, we appreciate the scale of their ambitions. In our view, the best-case scenario is for the Camperdown development to succeed as envisaged. However, we must also be mindful of any situation that might put the club at risk again and seek all and any assurances that this project will not do this.

Custodianship of our entrenched rights is a responsibility that the Dee4Life board takes very seriously. The Trust was formed to not only fight the short-term threat to the club that existed back in January 2004 but to ensure that it would always have a future. That is why we must continue to ask questions about the health and direction of Dundee FC, even if doing so is not always universally popular.

Once again, I thank past and present Dee4Life directors, members, volunteers, donors and friends for everything they have done over the years. I hope that we can all look forward to a happy and prosperous 2024, on and off the park.

Regards,
Keith Winter (Chair)

Chairman's Updates

Dee4Life members’ update – November

Dear members,

November saw the 2023 Dee4Life AGM take place and there was a decent attendance with the formal business of the Trust concluded satisfactorily.

In the Q&A session of the meeting several matters arose for discussion. A particular point was on a message conveyed to the meeting by a DSA postholder and Dee4Life member. The essence of this message is that Dee4Life is not currently seen as a supportive organisation by the club, that our directors are not welcome at Gardyne and that all future communications should be routed through the club’s Supporter liaison Officer.

I therefore wrote to John Nelms seeking clarity on the message delivered via a third party. In response I was informed that “the Club is not willing to support a relationship with Dee4Life at this time”, the club referred to our September and October updates in which we explained the mechanism for delivering the agreement that FPS made when they bought the club as well as summarising the recent meeting with our local MSPs.

We confirmed that we have not threatened legal action and indeed made it known to members at the AGM that we, as a board, would not support this action. In our most recent communication with the club we emphasised our commitment to resolving this situation amicably while noting that we are well within our rights to seek assistance from our elected representatives or any other intermediaries to build a means of communication with the club as its largest minority shareholder.

Over the past couple of months, we have purchased covers to prevent the long-standing issues with dirty seats in the South Enclosure as well as making an introduction that will hopefully lead to the Dundee Academy CIC establishing a new educational partnership. It is our intention to continue to support the club’s development and initiatives that improve the matchday experience for fans. In parallel to this, however, we believe that a mechanism for all supporters to be able to ask questions of the club board is vital.

Dee4Life exists because of the mistakes of the past and we have a responsibility to members to try and ensure the club custodians deliver a positive future. The current board may feel that oversight is unnecessary given the commitment and investment they have made but this is something they agreed to when they took over the club. The founding principles of the Trust mean that we must continue to ask questions on behalf of supporters. The Trust need to find a means to do this for our members and we continue to investigate how this may best achieve this.

Finally, following on from a suggestion made at the AGM, a further meeting will be held in March 2024. We will announce further details on this in the New Year.

All the best to all member and their families for the forthcoming festive period, a successful and prosperous 2024, not least on the pitch for Tony Docherty and the team.

Regards,
Keith Winter, Chair