Dundee are back in league action this weekend.
Only one target for the season ahead – promotion.
And things are going well on the park.
Gary Bowyer has made a very impressive start to life at Dens Park with the Dark Blues playing some cracking football in their early games.
More to come though, he insists, which is great to hear.
The real stuff starts this weekend, however, as Partick Thistle come to town.
How many Jags actually turn up will be interesting.
Reaction online to the process of buying tickets for the away end was one of fury.
And I don’t blame them.
I’m often a late call on whether I can make it to a game, if I happen to be off at the time.
I missed last season’s Challenge Cup Final because the only way to buy a ticket was to collect it from Palmerston after finding out I’d be free just the day before the game.
Living up here and the match in Airdrie, that’s not happening.
There aren’t many businesses around the world that make it this difficult for customers to give them money.
But Scottish football seems to find a way.
I understand there are difficulties in having pay-at-the-gate and electronic tickets are way too pricey to implement for some clubs.
Thankfully Dundee have now ensured there is a way to allow fans to turn up and buy a ticket on the day.
Warning sign
That’s the away fans but it is a warning sign for the Dark Blues, I would say. There were issues ahead of the Forfar game on Saturday, too.
Queue to buy tickets for @DundeeFC v @ForfarAthletic because Dundee have decided not to operate any cash turnstiles. People still outside shop having waited 25-30 minutes and have now missed first 10 mins of game! Shambles! Bring back cash gates. @JLT100 pic.twitter.com/nbom5saGq2
— Fraser MacDonald (@Fraser1893) July 23, 2022
Dundee have done great this summer, pretty much everything has been positive.
It’s certainly positive on the pitch, results have been good, lots of goals and decent football played.
They’ve moved into a new training ground and there is a happy camp of players at the club, too.
But it feels like things still aren’t perfect between supporters and the hierarchy at Dens.
And it doesn’t take much to bring back old feelings.
The club endured the storm of last season and everything that came with it and, to their credit, have moved to sort out the football side of things.
But they shouldn’t forget the fans, ever.
Positive meeting
I was glad to hear that recently there was a meeting between the new-look Dee4Life board and managing director John Nelms.
Reports are it was a positive one so, hopefully, that continues and so do relations between the DSA and the club.
So there are moves to improve communication between the club and the fanbase.
But this ticketing thing feels like the first real test of all that.
To be fair to the club, they fronted up with their statement about why things are working this way – largely it comes down to not wanting to put any money into Dens Park with a stadium move down the line.
That’s a shame because things should still be done to make home matches a pleasant experience for both sets of fans.
There is a fine balance right now for Dundee.
I just hope the recent good work done to rebuild relations with the fans continue.
Because the club needs it’s fanbase – what are they without supporters?
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