The last thing Dundee need right now is an off-field battle between owners and fans.
On the pitch, the team is going places.
New manager Tony Docherty has built a good squad that looks very solid in the Premiership.
Hopefully, there are better days to come, too.
So distractions are unwelcome.
Especially when you look at Dundee’s recent history of yo-yoing between the top two divisions.
Breaking that pattern this season could be the start of new dawn at the football club.
And it would certainly help if every single aspect of Dundee FC was pulling in the same direction.
Nelms v Dee4Life
However, we’re seeing an ongoing dispute between John Nelms and fan group Dee4Life.
We’ve got statements and counter-statements flying around.
That’s never a good sign for a football club.
With words like “inaccuracies” and “false statements” used by the Dark Blues towards a group of their own fans, I’m concerned.
Dee4Life has worked continuously over the past year in an attempt to work with and get answers to fans’ questions from Dundee FC.
We feel the time is now right to provide this update of all that has happened.
👇https://t.co/gXMp6FO0lD— Dee4Life 🇨🇷 (@Dee_4_Life) September 29, 2023
Frankly, it’s sad to see.
I’m very much in favour of the club having a dedicated fan representative on the board.
I get Nelms’ argument that everyone already on the board is a fan of the club.
That’s not in dispute.
But no one is on there specifically to give the view of the ordinary fan.
Agreement
I spoke this week to a former CEO of the club for an interview coming out at the weekend and he spoke in glowing terms about how helpful it was to work positively with the supporters.
Done properly, it really can be an asset to a club like Dundee.
Of course, there is a strong relationship between the club and the Dundee Supporters Association, which is great.
The DSA do loads of fine work for their members, of which there are thousands, and should be commended.
Thanks to The DSA!
Dundee Football Club would like to place on record its sincere thanks to The Dundee Supporters Association (DSA).
Watch the interview now on YouTube: https://t.co/CsayelGfMA #thedee
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) October 9, 2023
Dee4Life don’t have nearly the same size of membership as the DSA but the key difference is they remain the club’s second-largest shareholder and hold key veto power over major decisions that can affect the future of the club.
That’s hugely important.
Having a fan rep on the board was also part of the agreement when Tim Keyes and Nelms took over the club.
To me, if you make an agreement – especially in writing – then you stick to it.
Trust – or lack of it
But we are miles away from that happening.
Miles and miles.
Because it can only work through trust.
That’s clearly not there. It’s been broken in the past and how it can be mended, I just don’t know.
Threats of legal action to force it through achieve nothing, only further acrimony.
To me, Dee4Life’s only route to success on this issue is to build their membership to such a point where the club owners have no option but to take them seriously.
Then somehow prove to Nelms their chosen rep can be trusted not to share “commercially-sensitive information” – as he put it – beyond the confines of the boardroom.
They’ve got a huge amount of work to do to achieve that because it’s up to Nelms and right now, he ain’t budging.
I just hope this off-field battle doesn’t affect anything on the pitch.
That would be a disaster.
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