Club ‘can have foreign owners’
NEW Dundee United chairman Mike Martin last night admitted the Tannadice club could be in foreign ownership within months. As Sportsmail revealed in February, majority shareholder Stephen Thompson has plans to establish a lucrative new sister club in the US. Thompson, who quit as United chairman last week after a decade in the role, intends to spearhead a £3million bid to enter an ‘umbrella’ club in the newly-formed National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). Yesterday, lifelong United fan and shareholder Martin confirmed that the club could be in new hands shortly, with Thompson looking to offload the majority of his shares. But Martin vowed that any sale to foreign owners would only be done in the best interest of Dundee United. ‘Absolutely yes, it is conceivable that Dundee United can have foreign owners,’ he said. ‘We are considering a number of different models for the future of Dundee United. ‘All of these, I want to stress, have Dundee United operating as a stand-alone club in the Scottish Premiership. ‘It is very, very important to us if we do a deal with anybody that they have the right credentials and the interests of Dundee United at heart.’