Jim Spence believes it may be time to "think the unthinkable".
Former Dundee United consultant and renowned pundit Jim Spence has risked the wrath of two sets of football supporters — by saying it may be time for the city’s two clubs to merge.
Writing in Saturday’s Courier, the veteran sports reporter said the current two-team set up is preventing either Dundee or Dundee United from challenging Scotland’s bigger clubs.
He said: “In a city of 160,000 souls, a third the size of Edinburgh, and with seventy thousand fewer folk than Aberdeen, both Dundee and United face an unequal and losing battle trying to compete at the top end of the Scottish game.
“A unified city side playing at a custom built new stadium would allow joint investment and sponsorship from the business community, and stop the slow lingering descent into football irrelevance.”
It is not the first time the idea of merging the two clubs has been mooted.
In 2015, former SPL chief Roger Mitchell revealed the two clubs had just been days away from amalgamation in 1999.
A new name, badge and strip had been registered with the league before Dundee’s then owner Jimmy Marr got cold feet and pulled the plug on the deal.
