Dundee confirms restructure plan

Dundee Football Club has announced a major restructuring which hopes to raise up to £500,000.

Owners Peter and Jimmy Marr will give up their controlling shareholding and absorb millions of pounds of club debt. But even after the move, the club warned that it must continue to operate on a break-even basis.

The announcement on Wednesday, which had been widely expected, will also see Dens Park stadium coming under the ownership of a charitable trust.

The club will have a secure lease for the ground.

'Better footing'

Despite the move, various player contracts will have to be renegotiated, a task which will fall to new chief executive Dave McKinnon.

The Marr brothers will sell most of their shareholding in the club, retaining only 26% under the restructuring plan.

Proceeds from the sale of the shares will not go to them but will be reinvested directly back into the club.

It is hoped that the raising of new capital, combined with current debt being restructured and removed from the club balance sheet, will leave Dundee FC on a better financial footing.

"Gretna owner Brooks Mileson is to help Dundee fans in their bid to become the major shareholders at Dens Park.
The Dee4Life Trust voted on Saturday to launch a fundraising campaign to buy 33% of the shares in the club.

And it announced that Mileson, a keen backer of the supporters trust movement, had promised to visit the city to spearhead their funding drive.

Dundee owner Peter Marr has agreed to reduce his shareholding to 25% as part of a restructuring of the club.

The club announced last week that it would start the season debt free as a result.

The trust, which already owns 5% of Dundee's shares, need to raise around £180,000 to become the biggest shareholding group.

Gretna will be Dundee's opponents in Division One next season after successive promotions.

Mileson has bankrolled Gretna's success but is also a major supporter of grassroots football.

He recently admitted to giving money to nearly 70 clubs in Scotland and England, including Dundee United."

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Great man who is always putting football first. If only we could only replace Fat Fred with him at Newcastle

It's true he believe in football trusts and donates to different clubs all the time, the guy is a legend.

Brooks mileson is a very goood shareholder and Romanov should be more like him.

So should David Sutherland.