Fan group worried if Dee left homeless

Fan group Dee4life has written to club owners Tim Keyes and John Nelms seeking assurances there will be no threat to Dundee’s existence amid their planned move to a new stadium at Camperdown Park.

Without those, the group has stated it “cannot give our backing to the Camperdown project”.

Formerly the Dundee FC Supporters Society, Dee4life is the second largest shareholder in the Dens Park club, with around a 13% stake.

It was the vehicle that brought the club’s fanbase together to see it through two administrations before the Keyes family purchased the majority shareholding in 2013.

After that deal, Dee4life retained entrenched rights to give fans the opportunity to veto major decisions – including plans to groundshare with another club for more than one year.

Though their membership has dwindled in recent years to just a few hundred, recent changes in the organisation has seen that membership double and it continues to rise.

Following an AGM at the weekend, Dee4life put out a statement highlighting “significant concern” over “the possibility of the club becoming homeless if Dens Park is sold” and building work at the new ground at Camperdown has not begun.

“Thanks to all who were able to attend (Saturday’s) AGM and contribute to what was an extremely passionate discussion about the future of Dundee FC,” the statement read.

“It is clear that there is significant concern among our members about the lack of communication and transparency on the future of the club, particularly with regards to the new stadium development and the possibility of the club becoming homeless if Dens Park is sold.

“We are accountable to you all and, as we said (on Saturday), we will continue to ask questions of the club board on your behalf and to use every means available to us to ensure the club engages with the fanbase to ensure views of supporters are heard.

“To that end, we have once more written to John Nelms and Tim Keyes to seek clarification about their plans for the future and to ask them to publicly reassure fans that adequate protections are in place to avoid any threat to our existence.

“We will get behind any proposals which we believe to be in the best interests of Dundee FC but we cannot give our backing to the Camperdown project until the apparent risks to the club’s future are addressed.”