Stadium Purchase

[MATO DEE @]

Instead of the foundation giving the money to the club we could give the money John Bennett and own dens that way. This would be over say 10 years or so. Just an idea 

[Fedup]

On 14/02/2022 at 17:02, Derry Drummer said:

As a supports group I feel that a good idea would be to fundraise and purchase the stadium. This would allow us to forever have some control over things. 

Sorry, never going to happen.

[TheDarkBlues]

It's a no from me.

Reason:

1. Bennet wouldn't sell the park to the fans anyway and Dundee FC will be given first choice as Bennett always stated.
2. We wouldn't be able to raise these type of funds just to buy back the park,
3. The fans then would be expected to pay for all the repair work and up keep of the park,
4. What would happen afterwards? Would we let the club use the park for a fee and expect them to pay? What would happen if the club refused the fans offer and decided to go ahead with the new stadium anyway, that would leave the fans holding the baby and would probably have to sell it anyway.

Too many if's and but's with this, and the major obstacle being able to raise enough cash to buy back the ground in the first place.

 

[andrak]

18 minutes ago, TheDarkBlues said:

It's a no from me.

Reason:

1. Bennet wouldn't sell the park to the fans anyway and Dundee FC will be given first choice as Bennett always stated.
2. We wouldn't be able to raise these type of funds just to buy back the park,
3. The fans then would be expected to pay for all the repair work and up keep of the park,
4. What would happen afterwards? Would we let the club use the park for a fee and expect them to pay? What would happen if the club refused the fans offer and decided to go ahead with the new stadium anyway, that would leave the fans holding the baby and would probably have to sell it anyway.

Too many if's and but's with this, and the major obstacle being able to raise enough cash to buy back the ground in the first place.

 

The biggest obstacle might be that the owners might view any such move (probably correctly) as a direct threat to their control of the club. I doubt they would take it lying down.

I'm not sure I fully understand why some fans would want to challenge the owners in this way. Rightly or wrongly, FPS have us and themselves over a barrel. We have so much to lose and very little to win by picking a fight with them.

[Billy Campbell's Ghost]

1 hour ago, MATO DEE @ said:

Instead of the foundation giving the money to the club we could give the money John Bennett and own dens that way. This would be over say 10 years or so. Just an idea 

And what state will Dens be in by then? I canny even get hot water and soap in the Coxy. It’s a fully functioning building not just a monument.

[Derry Drummer]

8 hours ago, MATO DEE @ said:

Instead of the foundation giving the money to the club we could give the money John Bennett and own dens that way. This would be over say 10 years or so. Just an idea 

Exactly. 

 

[Derry Drummer]

8 hours ago, Fedup said:

Sorry, never going to happen.

Not with that attitude anyway. 

[Derry Drummer]

8 hours ago, TheDarkBlues said:

It's a no from me.

Reason:

1. Bennet wouldn't sell the park to the fans anyway and Dundee FC will be given first choice as Bennett always stated.
2. We wouldn't be able to raise these type of funds just to buy back the park,
3. The fans then would be expected to pay for all the repair work and up keep of the park,
4. What would happen afterwards? Would we let the club use the park for a fee and expect them to pay? What would happen if the club refused the fans offer and decided to go ahead with the new stadium anyway, that would leave the fans holding the baby and would probably have to sell it anyway.

Too many if's and but's with this, and the major obstacle being able to raise enough cash to buy back the ground in the first place.

 

1. They club have refused already, publicly. 

2. We could have by now if we had a decently set of organised people when FPS come in.

3. Why would we need to repair it? Bennett doesn't at the moment so why would we suddenly have to. The clubs responsible for that. I've said this 3 or 4 times now. 

4. Same as if we leave now. We sell it, the fans have fans and we invest it into the club for more control. 

[Derry Drummer]

8 hours ago, andrak said:

The biggest obstacle might be that the owners might view any such move (probably correctly) as a direct threat to their control of the club. I doubt they would take it lying down.

I'm not sure I fully understand why some fans would want to challenge the owners in this way. Rightly or wrongly, FPS have us and themselves over a barrel. We have so much to lose and very little to win by picking a fight with them.

Why would it be a treat?

I just don't think we should walk blindly into the owners walking away without a plan b. 

[Derry Drummer]

7 hours ago, Billy Campbell's Ghost said:

And what state will Dens be in by then? I canny even get hot water and soap in the Coxy. It’s a fully functioning building not just a monument.

More failings by Mr Thompson surely?

[HK Blues]

19 hours ago, Derry Drummer said:

We wouldn't need to own it. We would be the landlord. 

If we moved stadium we would sell and we would have a pot. 

I'm confused!  You said in the OP we'd purchase the stadium.  And above you say we'd be landlord which suggest we'd own it.  Yet you start by saying we wouldn't need to own it.

[andrak]

30 minutes ago, Derry Drummer said:

Why would it be a treat?

I just don't think we should walk blindly into the owners walking away without a plan b. 

I think they might see it as a threat if the fans invested in the stadium rather than simply handing the funds over to FPS to compensate them for the several millions they have put in or even as a contribution to the financing of the new stadium. The threat comes from what the fans choose not to do. Fans owning the stadium and FPS owning the business would set up a potentially unworkable situation. Despite what some might say, I don't see how the fans have earned the financial right to challenge the owners in this way. Without their financial support there simply would be no Dundee FC today. The fans maybe saved the day in years gone by, but that was too long ago and for too little money to have any impact today.

If the team moved to the new stadium anyway, what would the fans do with the old stadium? Sell it? I imagine that if there was a prospect that the stadium could be bought and then sold on at a profit, then FPS would be all over that. I expect that the current owner wouldn't like that idea, though. He allows us to use the ground at a lower than commercial rent (I believe). He seems to have been quite consistent and generous on this issue. If he thought either FPS or the fans were trying to make profits that he has foregone all these years to help the club, he might not look upon it kindly.

For me, the solution is to keep paying the rent, spend the minimum necessary to keep our licence to play at Dens and get out as soon as possible to the new stadium. If fans want to help, then let's make a fnancial contribution to the new development and become joint (but definitely minority) owners of it. Anything else is both financial and footballing madness. That seems to be what is happening now from the owners point of view anyway. The fans, not so much by the comments on this thread.

As for the owners not having  aplan B. I agree that there doesn't seem to be one. But I also think that could be because of our particular circumstances rather than a failure on the part of FPS. They will have run the numbers and checked plenty scenarios. It could just be that there is only one way that things can pan out that meets the likely criteria of 1. A Dundee FC with a chance of competing at a similar level to now, and 2. Some medium to long-term financial benefit to FPS. Unless and until someone else comes along that is prepared to take over funding the annual deficits, we are all, as I said before, over a barrel.