Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
No manager, no hope as Dee fan alienation grows
IF DUNDEE had a match this weekend, I dread to think what the attendance at Dens Park might be.
The club has developed an uncanny knack of annoying it’s own supporters.
From unpopular and unsuccessful manager picks to a lack of meaningful communication from the top, there’s been a noticeable trend over 2022 of fans moving through the stages of grudging acceptance, apathy and anger to outright fury.
Supporters are clearly irate with what’s going on at Dens.
That’s not purely down to relegation, because plenty saw that coming long before it did, but stories about the way things are run off the pitch, an aloof and unreachable managing director combined with a poor product on display have led to regular season ticket holders keeping their cash in their pockets for the season ahead.
Prices for season books have been frozen, which is fair enough, while the £1 for under 12s is truly excellent. Prices may be frozen, but there are less games in the Championship so it ends up costing more per match.
Wee things like that just eat away at people’s happiness, little by little.
The loyalty period being extended suggests season ticket sales are not exactly booming, while anecdotal evidence of fans not buying increases.
Then a day later, rivals
Dundee United announce they’ve already sold 5,000 season tickets for next year.
Arabs are happy with where their club is at and are willing to fork out cash to watch them.
Dundee fans are at the opposite end of that spectrum and the whole mood around the club is not helped by the manager’s office being vacant.
Get an exciting prospect in and those on the fence may just decide to get the wallet out for another year.
I’m not convinced, though, that Shaun Maloney will do that, if he is to take over.
Evidently he is a very talented coach, but his short time at Hibs raises big question marks over how good he is as a manager.
And the longer things go without him saying yes, the more disillusioned Dundee fans will be over the prospect of Maloney taking the reins.
It’s now been more than a week since Jack Ross pulled out of the running. That’s a long time for the two parties to size each other up.
If Dundee have reservations over Maloney and Maloney has reservations over Dundee, it’s not a great place to start from.
A reluctant manager is certainly not what Dundee need as they head back into the Championship.
Patience to get the right man in the door is the correct way for a club to go about things – but only if you actually get the right man in.
If Maloney does become the 34th manager of Dundee FC then maybe the fact he takes time to make big decisions, seeks whatever assurances he needed rather than blindly grabbing the job bodes well.
But the whole situation and length of time it is taking is only doing one thing – alienating fans even further.