THE DUNDEE SUPPORTERS ASSOCIATION MEETING – CENTENARY BAR, CLEPINGTON ROAD, DUNDEE.
News was given out that the club were to be put into voluntary administration and under the control of Ernest and Young Accountants, Edinburgh. Under the new Enterpise Act this allowed the club’s debts to be frozen in order to allow breathing space for the club to be put into some semblance of order.
The biggest shock for those assembled was the news that the debt was not £13 million as reported, but closer to £20 million.
DSA chairman George Knight had, the previous evening, took on the role of mediator between Peter Marr and Giovanni Di Stefano who clearly were not speaking. Like two childish schoolboys who fiddled while Dens burnt it's crazy our directors couldn't even talk on the phone. The conclusion was that George had to ask Peter to call a board meeting on the Monday so that Gio could video conference from his office in Italy.
Gio’s proposed £13 million investment was to be financed in the following manner:-
The car park at the TC Keay end used for away fans buses was to be sold to a company who wanted to build bedsits on it for a fee of £2 million.
The ground was to be sold for £8 million to another company who would lease the ground back to Dundee, rebuild the Dens Road enclosure and also erect a hotel somewhere in that area. It was also stated that Nacho Novo would be sold for £2.5 million to Perugia, which most took as speculation from his agent.
Astonishingly Gio Di Stefano doesn’t own a single share at Dens despite claiming in several newspaper interviews he was a major shareholder. He was a Director and one that had made only one payment for the outstanding tax bill.
It was then announced Gio had asked for the gate money from the Motherwell game, lumped in a bag, to be removed after the match and dumped into the boot of a car. It was claimed by the Italian lawyer that he had opened another account with Barclays, this to avoid dealing with Halifax/Bank of Scotland who he claimed were ripping Dundee off to the tune of £2.5 million.
Gio did not agree with Peter Marr and others putting the club into administration as he believed this would lead to liquidation because the Inland Revenue would petition for the club to be put into that position over an outstanding bill of £750,000.
It was proposed that £1,000 of DSA money should be used to launch a fighting fund to help the club if and when they emerged from administration. Peter was, apparantly, willing to use some of his shares as a gift in order to start the ball rolling and help form a supporters trust.
Astounding stuff, eh! JK Rowling couldn't dream up such tales.