blast from the past

There has been a lot of talk about postponements recently with the severe weather. We caught up with Dundee FCs General Manager Jim Thomson to ask about our undersoil heating system and the postponement of the Livingston game in December.

Jim explained -

"Our system which is a gas fired hot water system was installed during the summer of 2004 while we were still in administration at a cost of £170,000. We were required to install to meet stricter SPL criteria on pitch heating.

There is about 5 miles of piping lying about 10” below the surface of the pitch. They carry hot water mixed with cold to a desired temperature beneath the pitch and it is returned to the boiler for re heating.

Depending on the reason for use and the current costs of gas, the cost to run the system can vary. At the moment to prevent frost getting into the ground the system needs to be on 24hrs before the cold weather hits at level 1 - £600 per 24 hrs. To take frost out of the ground it will cost around £1,000 for a 24hr period and to melt snow at level 3 – max you are speaking about £1,500 per 24 hrs.

In terms of matches I would say that the system has saved at least 10 matches from postponement since it was installed. In terms of continuity of matches for the team it is invaluable and with a reasonable certainty of matches being on it allows all the various components of match day including, staffing, policing, hospitality etc to be planned and ordered with confidence. The consequences if a match goes off are quite steep financially, particularly if the match is rescheduled mid week. A late call off costs even more!"

We also asked Jim why the previous fixture at Livingston was postponed when Livingston have undersoil heating in place - a decision which left a lot of fans unhappy. As far as Jim is aware, on the occasion of the Livi postponement they took a decision not to use the heating.

Thanks to Jim for taking the time to explain the above.

A few fans raised concerns with Trust board members on Saturday about Livingston charging more for away fans than home fans.

We have been assured that this was a very limited special offer for a maximum of 70 fans, and the remainder of the Livingston support paid the normal prices along with our own supporters.

We received the below email today from Bob MacAlindin -

I write to advise you - although you probably know already! - of the availability of my book on Dundee's greatest-ever player - Billy Steel. It costs £9.99 and may be purchased direct from: The History Press, The Mill, Briscombe Port, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG. Telephone: 01453 883300. www.thehistorypress.co.uk. I'd be most grateful if you could find a space to bring this to the attention of your fellow supporters. Thanks. Bob MacAlindin.

The latest Supporters Direct newsletter (Feb 2009) is now available to download.

There is lots of interesting news and information including results from 1211 surveys carried out in 2008 by market research leaders Associa. You can read the results to questions like "Why do people join Supporters Trusts" by downloading the newsletter. Click here to do so.

The Dee4Life BBC Predictor league is hotting up with only 9 points separating the top 7 places.

POS NAME                  POINTS
182. theeraversraver      128
276. DeeScribe             126
372. bitesyirlegs           124
380. scottythehips        124
823. graemedfc             119
835. SensibleSoccer1976 119

No new entries after 1/2/09 will be able to win the league and a prize will go to the winner.

Good luck for the run in folks and thanks to the everyone for taking part - 114 in total.

We recently received an email from Dundee fan Colin Dawber who is over in Basra on a 4 month deployment. To be precise Colin told us that he was stuck in the sand of Basra surrounded by Arabs!

Colin and a few of the squaddies from Dundee have had enough of other teams flags all over the place and wondered if we could help cheer them up! We are delighted to help out and a package will be on it's way this week along with complimentary access to DFCTV for the period they are over there.

If any fans want to send them anything to lift morale you can send it to Colin at

Welfare Facility
c/o Turner Facilities Management Ltd
Operation Telic
British Forces Post Office 641

As they are an operational theatre it is free to send a parcel of up to 2 Kg to a BFPO address. Colin assures us that any wee box arriving there is a very welcome diversion in a long sandy deployment.

If anyone wishes to send the troops on deployment a gift of the basics that are hard to get hold of you a good place to start is http://www.supportoursoldiers.co.uk/carepackages.html

All the best Colin and the others. Stay safe and enjoy watching the highlights on DFCTV!

Dee4Life and ArabTrust have come together yet again to support primary schools football in Dundee. The sponsorship money from both trusts helps to pay for a wide variety of expenses that range from medals to insurance.

On Tuesday 27th representatives of several schools met in Craigowl's new sports hall for a photo to thank the sponsors and then enjoyed a kick around in the magnificent new premises.

In the picture are a city wide selection of the schools who benefit from this input. On the left are Billy Shepherd and Stuart Murphy from Dee4Life with Joe Duncan and Kevin Payne representing the ArabTrust on the right.