Supporters' Open Letter to John Nelms and Tim Keyes

[TheDarkBlues]

This is an open letter written by a group of Dee fans to our owners:

Dear John and Tim,

We are a group of Dundee supporters extremely concerned about the current state of our club and write to ask that you consider making changes to the way it is run to prevent the growing unrest among fans from turning into a threat to its very future.

The recent Scottish Cup tie against Rangers was one of the lowest points in the club’s history. To attract little over 1000 fans for a home Quarter Final was an embarrassment but it was also an accurate reflection of the discontent felt by supporters. These fans have faithfully followed Dundee for decades but now feel completely disconnected from the club.

Leaving aside matters on the field, the decision to not push Rangers to reduce the ticket price from £30, or to publicly address this at a time when many are struggling with a cost of living squeeze, was widely perceived to be the act of a board completely detached from the reality of life for the average man or woman in the street.

That attendance, and the growing gaps in the stand at matches as this season has progressed, should also act as a warning about potentially disastrous season ticket sales for next term. Fans are voting with their feet and the risks of this apathy spreading further are existential.

Despite this, we don’t believe the club board appreciate just how deep the level of disenchantment goes. In order to stop the bleeding, we call on you to commit to a programme of reform based on three simple principles:

Representation

FPS was originally pitched as a partnership between fans’ groups, local directors and investors. We urge you to reinstate fan representation to the boardroom as soon as possible. Which group or groups this representation comes from is less important than ensuring that the concerns of supporters can be aired at board level.

Expertise

All organisations benefit from a diversity of opinions and ideas but the club’s decision-making base has narrowed significantly in recent years. Within the Dundee fanbase and local community there exists a great deal of expertise in areas such as commercialisation, communications, and marketing. We urge you to take advantage of these skill sets and contacts by appointing independent directors capable of developing strategy in these areas.

Accountability

Dundee shareholders were persuaded to give up the club’s AGM by a previous board on the basis that regular Q&A events would take place. That regime, and subsequent boards, stuck by that pledge and faced fans no matter how bad the situation facing the club was. We call on you to reinstate the shareholders’ AGM, at a minimum, as a way of demonstrating your willingness to be held accountable for the decisions you make.

We recognise the difficulties associated with running a football club, the financial commitment that FPS has made to Dundee, and that everything you have done is in what you believe to be the best interests of the club. We also recognise that FPS have provided several years of stability, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic that threatened our survival. However, something has clearly gone badly wrong, and the cumulative effects of footballing and business decisions taken over several years are now being felt.

We will be opening up this letter to our fellow fans and asking them to back calls for increased representation, expertise and accountability. We believe this offers a way for you, the club owners, to begin rebuilding a relationship that has soured over the years and to turn this present crisis into an opportunity to engage with those with the best interests of the club at heart. We would also welcome the opportunity to discuss these aims, and the situation facing the club generally, at a time that suits both of you.

Finally, we would like to wish Mark McGhee and the players all the best in the remaining seven league games of the season. Whatever our issues with those running the club are, any team that runs out wearing the Dundee badge on their chest will always have our unconditional backing.

Sign Here:

https://openletter.earth/supporters-open-letter-to-john-nelms-and-tim-keyes-eda581ed

[Dayster]

Please sign and share amongst your Dundee supporting friends! 

[Dandy McLean]

4 minutes ago, Dayster said:

Please sign and share amongst your Dundee supporting friends! 

Signed.

[TheDarkBlues]

Sign and share folk's!

Use the share button on our forum to get this out to your family and friends.

[FanDee]

Signed.

[Gowrie Dee 1962]

Sorry does not go far enough for me!

A couple of managers ago John Nelms was speaking at great length how he picks a manager! What the hell happened? Needs to explain.

Foundation still paying but feel a mug!
I am not alone there! Needs to be ring fenced or people will cancel!

Not signing.

[andrak]

I don't really disagree with the content, but I'm afraid too much of this letter is designed to demonstrate frustration and assert opinions as unavoidable truths. Some parts towards the end are well put but other parts are undiplomatic, and unprofessional in my view. The feeling I get reading it is that overall,  the sending of the letter itself is meant to be some kind of punishment or retribution. That approach never ends well in my experience. I have  a horrible feeling that this may be more likely to inflame the situation rather than help find solutions to it.

It is probably too late to do much about it now as it has been published here and will already have been picked up by the hobby journalists at the Courier and Record who use this forum as their main research source.

[Ludo*1]

18 minutes ago, andrak said:

I don't really disagree with the content, but I'm afraid too much of this letter is designed to demonstrate frustration and assert opinions as unavoidable truths. Some parts towards the end are well put but other parts are undiplomatic, and unprofessional in my view. The feeling I get reading it is that overall,  the sending of the letter itself is meant to be some kind of punishment or retribution. That approach never ends well in my experience. I have  a horrible feeling that this may be more likely to inflame the situation rather than help find solutions to it.

It is probably too late to do much about it now as it has been published here and will already have been picked up by the hobby journalists at the Courier and Record who use this forum as their main research source.

The fanbase isn't required to be 'professional' but it has put out an olive branch without condemning things that we don't really have an entitlement to know like the poster above you demands. It's found the perfect balance IMO. However, the owners are lucky that apathy has set in and there aren't public protests outside the stadium like other Scottish clubs have experienced in the recent past.

[andrak]

2 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

The fanbase isn't required to be 'professional' but it has put out an olive branch without condemning things that we don't really have an entitlement to know like the poster above you demands. It's found the perfect balance IMO. However, the owners are lucky that apathy has set in and there aren't public protests outside the stadium like other Scottish clubs have experienced in the recent past.

I think that is probably right and I don't disagree with most of what you say @Ludo*1. However, I would imagine things look very different from John Nelms' side of the discussion. I don't really see a balance in the wider sense, and for that reason, I have my doubts that it will make things easier.

[wearedarkblue87]

Signed

[QuesoGrande]

3 minutes ago, andrak said:

I think that is probably right and I don't disagree with most of what you say @Ludo*1. However, I would imagine things look very different from John Nelms' side of the discussion. I don't really see a balance in the wider sense, and for that reason, I have my doubts that it will make things easier.

I think if it’s taken in the constructive spirit it’s intended then it could start a dialogue. However also agree we can’t tell how JN/TK will take it and it might end up as a big ‘well FU then’. 
Overall I think the tone is pretty good. It’s making constructive proposals while also highlighting concerns. It could have been stuck in committee for months while the wording was argued so better to get it out now. 

[andrak]

2 minutes ago, QuesoGrande said:

I think if it’s taken in the constructive spirit it’s intended then it could start a dialogue. However also agree we can’t tell how JN/TK will take it and it might end up as a big ‘well FU then’. 
Overall I think the tone is pretty good. It’s making constructive proposals while also highlighting concerns. It could have been stuck in committee for months while the wording was argued so better to get it out now. 

I hope you're right. It will need a good few hunderd signatures to have an impact I feel. We might find that a lot of people will be unwilling to sign it because of the over-stated accusations in the first few sentences that they may not completely agree with.

I really think that it could and should have been written more constructively. Maybe there is room for another letter that is less confrontational. But maybe only after the furore that this one will generate dies down.