Dundee boss John Brown has spoken of his “embarrassment” over the stalled progress of the proposed American investment deal.
Texan-based Keyes Capital are willing to plough an initial £650,000 followed by a further substantial sum into the Dark Blues, however they have become frustrated over what they see as delaying tactics by the club’s majority shareholders The Dundee FC Supporters’ Society.
The fans’ group had asked for due diligence to be carried out which was completed but they have now handed the results over to their lawyers. With the deal in limbo, Brown has had to put further squad rebuilding on hold.
“Bomber” believes the long, drawn-out saga is reflecting badly on the image of the club.
He said: “It’s an embarrassing situation. I have to say I’m embarrassed personally by what’s going on and I don’t think I’m the only one.
“The longer it goes on, the messier it gets. That’s the bottom line. I’m sure the fans would like to find out what’s happening and why the process has been slowed down after it was voted in favour of not that long ago.
“I can’t understand why such a sound investment plan has been dragged out and I don’t know if there are any reasons why this should be the case but it gives us a real problem.”
While Gavin Rae, Peter MacDonald and Willie Dyer joined the club last week, Brown is now sweating over other signing plans because of the financial uncertainty.
He said: “It’s an absolute nightmare. From a personal point of view, it doesn’t make my job any easier at all as manager.
“I’ve been told to pull back a bit from making any more signings after getting in guys like Gavin, Peter and Willie because we don’t know what’s happening with the deal.
“We’re back to square one so we desperately need some clarity from above. We need to have clear lines of communication.
“It’s a crucial time because we start back for pre-season in less than a fortnight and by this time, most of the good players tend to get signed up elsewhere. So we need to act now.
“We need at least another three new faces but at this rate, we can’t do anything. I just hope people see sense and the investment deal goes through because it’s for the overall good of the club.”
Meanwhile the frontman for the Texan bid, John Nelms, confirmed the deal is not dead, but the sands of time are running out.
“As the days go on it’s less likely that we’ll invest because it’s less useful if we invest in three months’ time than right now,” he said.
“We’ll stay in the deal as long as Scot Gardiner and John Brown think we can bring quality players in for the spine of a team to get us back up. But it’s rapidly coming to a conclusion.
“It’s a risk-reward situation. We can be back in the SPL next year if we manage it properly. My understanding is that DFCSS agreed last weekend to have an SGM to issue new shares so that we can get the money in for John Brown by next weekend.
“We need to get back up to the SPL after next season, because after that Rangers will be there, so it becomes even more difficult to step up.”