US owners quash talk of merger in Dundee

THE US-based owners of Dundee and Dundee United last night joined forces to shoot down claims the respective clubs are on course to merge. Aware of growing disquiet among the Dark Blues fanbase as to his future plans, Dundee’s Houstonbased majority shareholder Tim Keyes yesterday issued a statement insisting he has never considered an alliance with the team’s city rivals. Fellow American Mark Ogren, who faced the media at Tannadice yesterday for the first time since taking control, was equally adamant that a merger was a nonstarter and claimed it would never happen on his watch. Speculation has reached

fever pitch on Tayside in recent days after plans by Keyes to increase his Dens Park stake above 75 per cent emerged in the wake of Ogren’s Tannadice buyout. But now Keyes has hit back at claims made in a document sent to members of the Dundee Football Club Supporters’ Society questioning his motives. He said in a statement: ‘It is disappointing to see that the Society has chosen not to make it clear that at no time has the merging of the Dundee clubs ever been discussed in any of (our) meetings, nor has it ever been contemplated by the owners of the club.’ Keyes, whose FPS group currently hold a 68.2 per cent stake in the club, has been in talks with DFCSS about buying shares from them in order to cross the 75 per cent threshold. If the fans group agree to the sale, however, it will remove a veto they hold on plans for ‘an amalgamation or merger with another club’ which was agreed when FPS group bought the club six years ago. But Keyes insists his share plan is designed purely to help cut Dundee’s tax bill as they continue to draw up blueprints for a new 15,000-seater stadium at Camperdown Park. He said: ‘The acquisition of the “A” shares has potential benefits for both sides, and while the negotiation of the finer details has yet to transpire, one such benefit is that the club could operate in a more commercial manner, which would allow for dividends to be paid. This could also allow for greater investment into the club. ‘The owners of the club will continue to take informed and proactive decisions that are best suited for Dundee Football Club.’ Ogren, meanwhile, hinted he might be open to closer links between the clubs but stressed that they would retain their separate identities. ‘I’d be open to meeting them and probably will sometime,’ he said. ‘But it won’t be to have any discussions on a merger. We are not interested in that.’ He also dismissed claims that ground-sharing might also be on the agenda, and added: ‘People have been talking about groundsharing but one of the big assets we’ve bought is Tannadice and we expect to stay at Tannadice.’