If you follow the football news, you’ll know the new DFC director De Stefano is 'investing' over 20 mill in DFC, including 4 mill on a new 'south stand' (is that the derry??).
DFC have for the last twenty odd years (last few seasons excepted) been a yo-yo team, with an average gate of 2500. It looks like they are actually going to improve yet more, and success in Dundee football over the next few seasons may, it has to be said, come from the dark blue side of the street.
So what does this mean for United?
Well in most of our lifetimes, well those of us under 40, United have had the upper hand. Those Dees over 50 however, will remember a time when United were the also-rans, never having won a trophy until 1979 (and what a night that was). So what does the Dens revolution mean to the Tangerines of Tannadice? Answer – not much.
Many moons ago, when I was a wee nipper – I was playing darts (bear with me on this one) against a much better player. He would score 140’s and 180’s, and I would try and beat his score on every turn, falling way behind in the process. His advice? Play yer own game, i.e. never mind what the guy across the road is doing, mind yer own nest, tend to yer own etc etc… Ok, I’m waffling a bit here, but what I’m getting at is that it doesn’t matter to us what DFC are doing. If they are planning to become a ‘bigger’ club, then fair play to them, but we need to look after our own affairs. Last season Hearts and Killie were difficult teams to beat. Other seasons have had Hibs, Pars et al being the non-OF team to beat. Maybe one season soon it may be Dundee. No matter. There is always competition. That that competition may come from 100 yards up the road makes no difference. If Partick Thistle had just invested 20 million on club improvements we would hardly care, and I probably wouldn’t be writing this article.
My final point is that United are a football club, and any measure of success, or at least the main measure, is success on the park. If a team is winning, attendances swell, and the feel-good factor kicks in. United need to concentrate on their own affairs, not that I think for a moment that ET and the others in charge don’t already think this of course. We need to win games and play good football. We don’t need to worry about stadium improvements or debt. We only need to concentrate on football.