Tekel Towers » DUSF update

bowers · 08/4/2019 6:21 pm

The latest from the Dundee United Supporters' Foundation:

As this angst ridden season reaches a nerve shredding climax, naturally all Arabs are totally focussed on what's happening on the park as our immediate future is almost certain to now be decided through the play-offs. However, we have been working away in the background to develop the relationship between DUSF & Dundee United so that we can get to a position whereby we can ballot members on how we should invest the Foundation funds to help ensure our long-term future.

Following our initial introductory meeting, we had another meeting with Managing Director Mal Brannigan last month. We discussed, in general terms, the projects & the areas of the club operations that could benefit from the finances available via the Foundation membership.

The broad criteria we agreed was that Foundation money should primarily be used for projects & expenditure that should benefit the club, the fans & the product on the park. The cash would not be used for normal revenue expenditure that should be covered as part of the routine operation of the football club . Although, exceptions to that may be instances where the Foundation money could help accelerate the pace of a plan or project that the club are pursuing.

We talked around a few ideas but there were three specific areas that emerged as potentially good candidates to attract the additional investment that the Foundation could offer.

1. Install Safe Standing in The Shed

The recent Scottish Cup tie against Inverness demonstrated the popularity of The Shed to the home support, & having United fans behind both goals has been mentioned by players as a big benefit in motivation & creating a better match day atmosphere. Celtic are the only club to have installed safe standing in Scotland & in our discussions Mr Brannigan was very supportive of exploring this further. Obviously, the logistics of this would need to be worked through regarding impact on season tickets in other areas of the stadium, & potential loss of revenue if The Shed was retained for United fans when the better supported teams return to Tannadice. Approximate cost for installing Safe Standing Rail Seats in The Shed would be £200k-250k. Of course, if this was agreed as an area of investment by the DUSF members we would need to get a cast-iron guarantee that Tannadice would remain as our 'Home Forever'.

2. Investment in the Dundee United Youth Academy

Mr Brannigan explained that this was the club's number one priority as the business model of the new owners heavily relied on United rearing their own players to achieve success on the park & benefiting from any subsequent transfer fees that could be re-invested into the club. Achieving the SFA Elite Status is vital as facilities & the quality of coaching & support on offer are huge selling points for youngsters & their parents when trying to attract promising young players to Dundee United. We agreed with Mr Brannigan that this was a very important area & as the club were already investing in this, any Foundation cash would need to be for specific projects so that members would have clarity on which elements of the Academy their money would be helping to build.

3. Installation of Electronic Scoreboard/Screen

Probably a third choice when compared to the other two, but the new owners say they would like to install a state-of-the-art electronic scoreboard in the corner of the ground between the Eddie Thompson stand & the George Fox stand. It would be positioned so that it can be seen from most areas of the ground & would potentially show the game in real time. It was felt this would enhance the match day experience & engagement of supporters & could also help to improve the overall atmosphere in the ground. This would also increase the engagement & the involvement of our supporters on a match day, for example they can send in birthday & good luck messages via video on social media which are played out on the screen ahead of kick off.

Given the wide scope of areas that Foundation money could usefully be spent on, we think that offering some sort of percentage split in the ballot may be a good option so that more than one project would benefit. For example, in the above scenario 60% may go to Safe Standing - 25% to the Youth Academy - 15% to the Electronic Scoreboard

We must stress these are only ideas at this stage & we would encourage all members to think about how you would like to see the DUSF money being used & the idea of allocating percentages as described above.

To facilitate that, we want to hear from any member who might be keen to join an Investment Focus Group so we can have a face to face discussion on these & other ideas you may have. This will ensure that when we eventually go to ballot, we include the options that the members want.

It's important to note that future investment of DUSF monies is dependent on the club fully & actively supporting the Foundation. We feel that the club finally recognises that working closely with DUSF will bring a mutual benefit of significantly growing our membership, which will increase the monies available to invest. We have discussed this at length with the Mr Brannigan & we hope to launch this joint working relationship, which will include a number of DUSF member-only benefits, in the near future.

We have previously shared with members our current view that we no longer require Board-level representation for DUSF, but we are still in discussions with the club on obtaining a shareholding or some other tangible way of recognising our financial commitment to the club.

Therefore, our current plan is:

To meet with Mal Brannigan again in April to progress discussions & to explore how the club can help increase membership of the Foundation by joint promotion & incentives. We also want to establish how DUSF members can be offered a more tangible connection to the club by ownership of shares.

To hold an Investment Focus Group to talk through the various investment options directly with members.

To hold an Investment Open Meeting for members where presentations will be made on each option, & members will be able to ask questions.

To hold a ballot of members.

In the meantime, please do let us have your views: info@dusf.scot

Beharder · 08/4/2019 6:52 pm

Its very refreshing to see supporters groups and the club working together to achieve the same goals. All 3 points sound like excellent projects.

redford_must_score · 08/4/2019 7:12 pm

Bowers cheers. A very comprehensive update, and excellent objectives. Can I ask this? Where do DUSF sit within the various supporter groups, e.g. is it an umbrella that coordinate other groups or is it a group on its own?
Also, if the latter is the case can you see a time or a way when the supporter organisational strength can be maximised in some way via amalgamation of some of the various groups?

Dyce_arab · 08/4/2019 7:48 pm

Big screen is a waste of resource IMO, same wi the safe standing in shed. if yer gonna de anything wi the shed, bang another tier on it for tims and sheep to fill

Beharder · 08/4/2019 8:03 pm

Dyce_arab wrote:
Big screen is a waste of resource IMO, same wi the safe standing in shed. if yer gonna de anything wi the shed, bang another tier on it for tims and sheep to fill

A two tier stand would cost about £3M (rough guess). If the other two stadium improvements are a waste of resources ..........

Dyce_arab · 08/4/2019 8:11 pm

Beharder wrote:
Dyce_arab wrote:
Big screen is a waste of resource IMO, same wi the safe standing in shed. if yer gonna de anything wi the shed, bang another tier on it for tims and sheep to fill

A two tier stand would cost about £3M (rough guess). If the other two stadium improvements are a waste of resources ..........

other two are a waste min, nae argmuent. so yi give up season ticket spaces in george fox and eddie t stands for loons to use safe standing in shed aye, so other two stands are now less full, mind we canna fill them onyway. so how is it a waste to make a bigger stand which other fans would fill generating cash while we keep the season ticket holders in george and eddie as normal???

for the other een wiv already got a score bored and we've ah got livescores on wir phones so nae point in another screen is there loon?

SuperMario · 08/4/2019 8:16 pm

Would rather a section of Eddie lower got changed to safe standing rather than shed

PatReilly · 08/4/2019 8:17 pm

Dyce_arab wrote:
Big screen is a waste of resource IMO, same wi the safe standing in shed. if yer gonna de anything wi the shed, bang another tier on it for tims and sheep to fill

Agree with most of that Dyce: but wouldn't bother with Shed modernisation. Youth development is the way forward (hopefully).

Thanks for posting this bowers: I wondered what had happened to them.

Beharder · 08/4/2019 8:26 pm

Dyce_arab wrote:
Beharder wrote:
Dyce_arab wrote:
Big screen is a waste of resource IMO, same wi the safe standing in shed. if yer gonna de anything wi the shed, bang another tier on it for tims and sheep to fill

A two tier stand would cost about £3M (rough guess). If the other two stadium improvements are a waste of resources ..........
other two are a waste min, nae argmuent. so yi give up season ticket spaces in george fox and eddie t stands for loons to use safe standing in shed aye, so other two stands are now less full, mind we canna fill them onyway. so how is it a waste to make a bigger stand which other fans would fill generating cash while we keep the season ticket holders in george and eddie as normal???

for the other een wiv already got a score bored and we've ah got livescores on wir phones so nae point in another screen is there loon?

How about giving back the old allotments end back to the away support, holds roughly 1kmore than the shed. leaving GF and shed for home supporters leaving less empty seats.

The purpose of a screen would come under improving the matchday atmosphere. Watch the big screen at the Ethiad or the like the youngsters love seeing theirselves on the screen sponsors like it the game is onit live. Its not for the half timescores.

TheShed · 08/4/2019 8:42 pm

Couldn’t care less about a big screen, there’s far more important issues before we get to that stage imo. Also any screen should be put in the exact opposite corner from where they’re planning

Safe standing, yes, but given our crowd levels it would need to be bottom tier of the east stand, again tho it’s not a priority.

The clubs second biggest (after promotion) priority has to be fixing the youth set up, putting money towards securing a top class long term future for our academy would be my vote.

Tangy · 08/4/2019 8:55 pm

Beharder wrote:
Dyce_arab wrote:
Beharder wrote:

A two tier stand would cost about £3M (rough guess). If the other two stadium improvements are a waste of resources ..........
other two are a waste min, nae argmuent. so yi give up season ticket spaces in george fox and eddie t stands for loons to use safe standing in shed aye, so other two stands are now less full, mind we canna fill them onyway. so how is it a waste to make a bigger stand which other fans would fill generating cash while we keep the season ticket holders in george and eddie as normal???

for the other een wiv already got a score bored and we've ah got livescores on wir phones so nae point in another screen is there loon?

How about giving back the old allotments end back to the away support, holds roughly 1kmore than the shed. leaving GF and shed for home supporters leaving less empty seats.

The purpose of a screen would come under improving the matchday atmosphere. Watch the big screen at the Ethiad or the like the youngsters love seeing theirselves on the screen sponsors like it the game is onit live. Its not for the half timescores.

Im in the USA at the minute and have been to see both ice hockey and baseball. Both stadia had screens and if effectively utilised, they can really add to the atmosphere.... whether hardened Arabs will buy into it, I don't know but folk here were loving it.

Only thing is they would need somebody to operate it and somebody with a camera on the crowd as a lot of it was things like floss-offs for the kids and folk waving to the camera - so that's potentially 2 new people wages we may need to add.

As for matchday entertainment goes - I noticed the mascots were actually fun.

Terry is a poor old lad with gaffa tape over his boots. The most excitement he gets is walking round the pitch and waving to people. If he feels really daring, he will take a shot in the goal. Mascots here are all full of fun, energetic and have a wee bit of attitude (think the paisley panda before he was binned). They were in the crowd. On top of the dugouts etc

Does Terry need to be retired?

The other aspects on the match day experiences that I noticed in particular were that they ran a load of competitions during the game which were all sponsored by big companies - are we seeking similar? For instance, there was a lucky row who all won a pair of headphones (they were ok too) and 1 lucky old lad won a Toyota 4x4.

Not that I expect somebody to be scoring a rav4 at tannadice next week but it really did help to keep the atmosphere up.

As an idea - run a half time crossbar challenge. Company pays united 100 quid a week to host it and have their name all over it. 3 random people get a chance. If it's not won, the money goes up to 200 the next home game.

Realise this is a little off topic but American sports match day experience is night and day compared to scottish

Beharder · 08/4/2019 9:21 pm

Good to see you share my vision tangy, are you at the Amway Arena that is sensational a few taps on the phone and a young lady arrives with hot dogs and beer at your seat.
You are probably correct to say that hardened Arabs would not buy into it see above.
This is about tomorrows fans . my grandkids love all the stuff you have described. The next generation need to be constantly entertained, seeing their face on the screen might take their attention away from a Bouhenna Crossfield pass going straight into the crowd.
Scotland is not America, have a nice day will be met with a what the fuck has it to do with you.
Go for it Mr Ogren Good Job

blackandtangerine · 08/4/2019 9:26 pm

Tangy wrote:
Beharder wrote:
Dyce_arab wrote:

other two are a waste min, nae argmuent. so yi give up season ticket spaces in george fox and eddie t stands for loons to use safe standing in shed aye, so other two stands are now less full, mind we canna fill them onyway. so how is it a waste to make a bigger stand which other fans would fill generating cash while we keep the season ticket holders in george and eddie as normal???

for the other een wiv already got a score bored and we've ah got livescores on wir phones so nae point in another screen is there loon?

How about giving back the old allotments end back to the away support, holds roughly 1kmore than the shed. leaving GF and shed for home supporters leaving less empty seats.

The purpose of a screen would come under improving the matchday atmosphere. Watch the big screen at the Ethiad or the like the youngsters love seeing theirselves on the screen sponsors like it the game is onit live. Its not for the half timescores.

Im in the USA at the minute and have been to see both ice hockey and baseball. Both stadia had screens and if effectively utilised, they can really add to the atmosphere.... whether hardened Arabs will buy into it, I don't know but folk here were loving it.

Only thing is they would need somebody to operate it and somebody with a camera on the crowd as a lot of it was things like floss-offs for the kids and folk waving to the camera - so that's potentially 2 new people wages we may need to add.

As for matchday entertainment goes - I noticed the mascots were actually fun.

Terry is a poor old lad with gaffa tape over his boots. The most excitement he gets is walking round the pitch and waving to people. If he feels really daring, he will take a shot in the goal. Mascots here are all full of fun, energetic and have a wee bit of attitude (think the paisley panda before he was binned). They were in the crowd. On top of the dugouts etc

Does Terry need to be retired?

The other aspects on the match day experiences that I noticed in particular were that they ran a load of competitions during the game which were all sponsored by big companies - are we seeking similar? For instance, there was a lucky row who all won a pair of headphones (they were ok too) and 1 lucky old lad won a Toyota 4x4.

Not that I expect somebody to be scoring a rav4 at tannadice next week but it really did help to keep the atmosphere up.

As an idea - run a half time crossbar challenge. Company pays united 100 quid a week to host it and have their name all over it. 3 random people get a chance. If it's not won, the money goes up to 200 the next home game.

Realise this is a little off topic but American sports match day experience is night and day compared to scottish

I too have been to both basketball and baseball in the states. As you say their match day experience is far far better than what we have to put up with .
In fact I loved the baseball that much I'm now hooked on watching it 😎

kdyteejay · 08/4/2019 9:39 pm

DUSF is a worthwhile cause IMHO and would appreciate any United supporters to join. I would like to think initiatives like this would encourage others to join.

bowers · 08/4/2019 10:21 pm

My take.
The safe standing would be a waste in the shed as that would then mean 3 stands for home supporters which we struggle to sell out 2. I would be all for the east stand lower being changed to safe standing i think it would help the atmosphere as has been seen in many other safe standing sections.
It wouldnt work just having 1 section of the east changed though as people in the other sections would moan about not being able to see.

The screen.. The 1 we currently have is far from ideal it is very poor and has came under criticism since it was installed. Do we need to be spending a large sum of money on a new one in a different part of the ground? yes but not any time soon IMO.

I would rather the club looked at areas of the ground as it is just now. The exterior of the stands are very run down in parts and the club should be looking at this along with other things before any other.

bowers · 08/4/2019 10:36 pm

As i am not a member of the DUSF can anyone on here tell us how much they currently have in the bank?

They usually put it in the member updates.

08/4/2019 11:01 pm

Youth, youth and youth and if there's anything left give the place a lick of paint.

Arabestfaefife · 08/4/2019 11:20 pm

It is interesting that one of the initiatives listed is Youth Development. There is already the Youth Development Board which coordinates donations from several supporters groups and the lottery and has been supporting the club already towards gaining elite status for the academy. I believe it has raised over £90k in approximately the same sort of time as the Foundation have been in existence and that the Foundation have so far refused to join this group. Why do they need to try and do something on their own for Youth Development when there is already an existing structure in place to do so?

redford_must_score · 08/4/2019 11:42 pm

Arabestfaefife wrote:
It is interesting that one of the initiatives listed is Youth Development. There is already the Youth Development Board which coordinates donations from several supporters groups and the lottery and has been supporting the club already towards gaining elite status for the academy. I believe it has raised over £90k in approximately the same sort of time as the Foundation have been in existence and that the Foundation have so far refused to join this group. Why do they need to try and do something on their own for Youth Development when there is already an existing structure in place to do so?

Was the reason for my question in post 3.
I can't see the Ogrens accepting and engaging well with the splintered number of supporter groups we have. At least not when they fully get their heads around it.
I could be wrong though!

Tangy · 09/4/2019 12:25 am

blackandtangerine wrote:
Tangy wrote:
Beharder wrote:

How about giving back the old allotments end back to the away support, holds roughly 1kmore than the shed. leaving GF and shed for home supporters leaving less empty seats.

The purpose of a screen would come under improving the matchday atmosphere. Watch the big screen at the Ethiad or the like the youngsters love seeing theirselves on the screen sponsors like it the game is onit live. Its not for the half timescores.

Im in the USA at the minute and have been to see both ice hockey and baseball. Both stadia had screens and if effectively utilised, they can really add to the atmosphere.... whether hardened Arabs will buy into it, I don't know but folk here were loving it.

Only thing is they would need somebody to operate it and somebody with a camera on the crowd as a lot of it was things like floss-offs for the kids and folk waving to the camera - so that's potentially 2 new people wages we may need to add.

As for matchday entertainment goes - I noticed the mascots were actually fun.

Terry is a poor old lad with gaffa tape over his boots. The most excitement he gets is walking round the pitch and waving to people. If he feels really daring, he will take a shot in the goal. Mascots here are all full of fun, energetic and have a wee bit of attitude (think the paisley panda before he was binned). They were in the crowd. On top of the dugouts etc

Does Terry need to be retired?

The other aspects on the match day experiences that I noticed in particular were that they ran a load of competitions during the game which were all sponsored by big companies - are we seeking similar? For instance, there was a lucky row who all won a pair of headphones (they were ok too) and 1 lucky old lad won a Toyota 4x4.

Not that I expect somebody to be scoring a rav4 at tannadice next week but it really did help to keep the atmosphere up.

As an idea - run a half time crossbar challenge. Company pays united 100 quid a week to host it and have their name all over it. 3 random people get a chance. If it's not won, the money goes up to 200 the next home game.

Realise this is a little off topic but American sports match day experience is night and day compared to scottish
I too have been to both basketball and baseball in the states. As you say their match day experience is far far better than what we have to put up with .
In fact I loved the baseball that much I'm now hooked on watching it 😎

Where are you getting coverage? Bt sports?
We did oracle park for giants v tampa bay rays and last year giants at San Diego Padres (much better fan experience imo)

The ice hockey was similar at the t mobile for vegas knights v Arizona coyote

A great day out at wall 3. Aspects that made them all a good day out for me: weather which we can't control, food stalls which we very much CAN control. Atmosphere which we can help. I guess it's about taking the best that the Scottish atmosphere offers and the best America can teach us and make a fantastic experience

blackandtangerine · 09/4/2019 6:12 am

Tangy wrote:
blackandtangerine wrote:
Tangy wrote:

Im in the USA at the minute and have been to see both ice hockey and baseball. Both stadia had screens and if effectively utilised, they can really add to the atmosphere.... whether hardened Arabs will buy into it, I don't know but folk here were loving it.

Only thing is they would need somebody to operate it and somebody with a camera on the crowd as a lot of it was things like floss-offs for the kids and folk waving to the camera - so that's potentially 2 new people wages we may need to add.

As for matchday entertainment goes - I noticed the mascots were actually fun.

Terry is a poor old lad with gaffa tape over his boots. The most excitement he gets is walking round the pitch and waving to people. If he feels really daring, he will take a shot in the goal. Mascots here are all full of fun, energetic and have a wee bit of attitude (think the paisley panda before he was binned). They were in the crowd. On top of the dugouts etc

Does Terry need to be retired?

The other aspects on the match day experiences that I noticed in particular were that they ran a load of competitions during the game which were all sponsored by big companies - are we seeking similar? For instance, there was a lucky row who all won a pair of headphones (they were ok too) and 1 lucky old lad won a Toyota 4x4.

Not that I expect somebody to be scoring a rav4 at tannadice next week but it really did help to keep the atmosphere up.

As an idea - run a half time crossbar challenge. Company pays united 100 quid a week to host it and have their name all over it. 3 random people get a chance. If it's not won, the money goes up to 200 the next home game.

Realise this is a little off topic but American sports match day experience is night and day compared to scottish
I too have been to both basketball and baseball in the states. As you say their match day experience is far far better than what we have to put up with .
In fact I loved the baseball that much I'm now hooked on watching it 😎

Where are you getting coverage? Bt sports?
We did oracle park for giants v tampa bay rays and last year giants at San Diego Padres (much better fan experience imo)

The ice hockey was similar at the t mobile for vegas knights v Arizona coyote

A great day out at wall 3. Aspects that made them all a good day out for me: weather which we can't control, food stalls which we very much CAN control. Atmosphere which we can help. I guess it's about taking the best that the Scottish atmosphere offers and the best America can teach us and make a fantastic experience

I get it on IPTV. I watch it on SNY or the MLB channel. I went to see the Mets at Citi field in New York so kinda adopted them.
Going to London in June for the Yankees v Boston red sox game.
Agree re atmosphere and hopefully its something the Ogrens can help with. Dint want it totally American tho. Fine balance would be ideal.

lifesanocean · 09/4/2019 8:38 am

Not bothered about safe standing tbh. It seems like an expensive way of indulging a few hundred people. Also, if you put it in the middle section then the sections either side will struggle to see bits of the park (at the ET end in the corners) without standing up, rendering the whole thing pointless, that's why Celtic put theirs in the corner so to avoid other parts of the ground without safe standing having to stand up as well, to see past the standing area. There are far more pressing problems at the club (on the park).

I'm in the Foundation and am a wee bit scunnered at the options being put forward (a scoreboard ffs) bar the youth development option.

Last edited by lifesanocean (09/4/2019 9:19 am)

09/4/2019 9:32 am

I think the Foundation is trying to reach out to all/spread the ideas to try keep all on board/recruit new recruits with (seemingly) go-ahead ideas.
A ballot forecast splits 60% safe standing, 25% youth, 15% giant screen.
Personally I'd scrap safe standing altogether, it's a white elephant methinks, and I'd go 95% youth development & 5% your giant screen if you must.

Forget short-termism, YOUTH DEVELOPMENT is the mantra if our Club is to return to the Glory Days.

blackandtangerine · 09/4/2019 11:52 am

smedDUm wrote:
I think the Foundation is trying to reach out to all/spread the ideas to try keep all on board/recruit new recruits with (seemingly) go-ahead ideas.
A ballot forecast splits 60% safe standing, 25% youth, 15% giant screen.
Personally I'd scrap safe standing altogether, it's a white elephant methinks, and I'd go 95% youth development & 5% your giant screen if you must.

Forget short-termism, YOUTH DEVELOPMENT is the mantra if our Club is to return to the Glory Days.

They're not exactly new ideas though.

kdyteejay · 09/4/2019 3:05 pm

Youth Development all day long.