Former Dundee director Steve Martin has suggested the club should focus less on the “dream” of a new stadium and more on rebuilding the club after a probable relegation.
In a post on social media, Mr Martin, who quit the Dens boardroom in December, addressed how the Dark Blues have been run by owners Tim Keyes and, in particular, John Nelms.
He was a key figure in the transition between the old regime, which included Bill Colvin and Scot Gardiner, and the new American set-up under Football Partners Scotland.
Dundee’s fate could be sealed this Saturday when they host Hamilton Accies and Mr Martin believes the focus should fully be on the club’s recovery rather than the proposed ground at Camperdown or other business.
He also feels managing director Nelms should be more open to taking advice from others and that Dundee would have benefited from keeping ex-chairman Colvin involved.
He wrote: “We do not need Tim, or Keyes Capital, or John Nelms to desert their investment.
“Yes, there are a few watching developments but Tim deserves a chance to see a result on his investment.
“That can be done, albeit starting off from the Championship again.
“If John takes heed and works with the fans, communicates with the fans, is open to advice from fellow directors, existing or even those who have resigned and are still available to help, and maybe with concentrating solely on our club instead of new stadium dreams or being an SPFL director, as that doesn’t help our club, we can rebuild and literally start again.”
He added: “We are where we are and need to stick together. Apportioning blame here and there will do us no good, and in this message I am not blaming any one situation in particular, I am just stating a fact as I am asked loads of questions each day but have refrained from saying much while we were still in the dog fight, which seems sadly lost.”
Here is the full, unedited transcript of Mr Martin’s Facebook post:
(Note: JN is John Nelms, BC is Bill Colvin, SG is Scot Gardiner).
STATEMENT
It’s time a few things were pointed out to us long suffering Dees.
6 years ago today, BC/SG and I met with Keyes Capital, namely Tim and his partners JN and another party. We had travelled to find out if their interest in the clubs was genuine, this was driven mainly because we, the BOD at that time had identified that an injection of capital was needed, along with investment to keep us afloat, indeed had Tim not invested at that time, we would have had serious financial problems by Christmas.
We liked what we saw and heard and at the end of the following 3 months debates, we, the fans, agreed on the investment.
A lot of good promises were made at the time, 7 year plan, Top 6 club, Revamped Youth Academy, Stadium buy back etc, and John Nelms arrived as Tim’s friend and partner to work alongside us at the club, his title was “Director of Football Operations”
IMO the first 3 years worked great with the BOD all involved in decision making, SG had gone by that time and John had taken over as CEO but didn’t replace the responsibility of DOF. Mistake #2, I believe was in creating Bill Colvin’s leaving, Bill had helped save the club post admin along with us all, lived in London, but was always on hand, his “sin” was that he communicated with the fans.
I assure you that over these years I have never came to the conclusion that my American friends/partners have had anything other than the same wishes as us to see our club flourish, my thoughts are simply that John has taken far too much onto himself, and forgot that he had a BOD, all local experienced business men, who now had little or no input into major decisions, that being a big mistake.
My frustrations grew and we had let’s call it “operational differences” and I was gone too.
It’s difficult uprooting your family to a new life 5000 miles away, but they settled in quickly, John just simply forgot to use the knowledge of his fellow directors, and that’s resulted in where we are today.
We do not need Tim, or Keyes Capital, or John Nelms to desert their investment, yes there are a few watching developments, but Tim deserves a chance to see a result on his investment, that can be done, albeit starting off from the Championship again, and if John takes heed and works with the fans, communicates with the fans, is open to advice from fellow directors, existing, or even those who have resigned and are still available to help, and maybe with concentrating solely on our club instead of New Stadium dreams or being an SPFL Director as that doesn’t help our club, we can rebuild and literally start again.
Remember, it’s a true saying, “be careful what you wish for”.
We are where we are and need to stick together, apportioning blame here and there will do us no good, and in this message I am not blaming any one situation in particular, I am just stating a fact as I am asked loads of questions each day but have refrained from saying much while we were still in the dog fight which seems sadly lost. DTID.
