STEVE FINAN: Dundee and United are two of our greatest assets – why does council treat them so poorly?

Dundee City Council treats two of our most valuable assets like dog dirt on their shoes. Last Thursday’s match between Dundee United and Rapid Vienna was an excellent advertisement for the city.

More than 12,000 people packed Tannadice for an incredible night of football drama. No other event electrifies an entire city like a big football game.

United did this frequently in the 1980s, making the city’s name world-famous. Dundee FC stunned Europe when they defeated West German champions Cologne 8-1 at Dens in 1962.

Dundee’s subsequent matches against Sporting Club, Anderlecht, and AC Milan that season were watershed moments in the city’s history.

Our football clubs have surpassed expectations; what other city of Dundee’s size has two teams in the European Cup semi-finals? Millions of people learnt about our city as a result. Buying that publicity would cost a fortune.

It’s strange, then, that Dundee City Council treats two of our most valuable assets like dog dirt on their shoes.

‘Nothing to help’

The council should fight like demons to help Dundee FC open their new stadium. They should have given United a civic reception this week to recognise them for positively promoting the city’s name.

However, they don’t do any of that. They do nothing to help the clubs and do everything they can to inconvenience the fans.

They now propose additional petty parking rules to punish people for the crime of attending a football match.

More parking restrictions with pitifully inadequate signage that, a more cynical man than me might believe, generates more revenue by being difficult to locate.

And what happens to that cash? All of the money collected from football fans should benefit them.

Is the council introducing free park-and-ride buses to balance the restrictions on parking where fans have traditionally parked?

Are they providing covered walkways to keep fans from getting soaked on their longer walks?

American approach

Parking bans that last only a few hours per week are ineffective. A sledgehammer for cracking a nut.

Can’t they see that this doesn’t reduce the number of cars; it just moves a small and temporary half-problem a hundred yards? What is the point of that? Parts of Clepington Road, for example, or Byron Street and Mortimer Street, which previously had no cars parked, now do during matches.

Does the council not care about the residents of those streets?

In America, city leaders do everything they can – and spend astronomical sums – to entice sports franchises to relocate to their cities. They understand the value of sport in terms of publicity, prestige, and revenue.

In contrast, in Dundee, a small-minded, small-intellect council pursues spiteful policies against sports such as golf and football.

Are they trying to get sports out of the city? And does our sports convenor, Lynne Short, speak out to defend the clubs or the fans? Of course not. She isn’t trusted to have opinions.

This parking zone incident is, to be honest, part of the council’s ongoing war on motorists. It’s an already deeply unpopular group of councillors doing even more to alienate ordinary people.

I remind United and Dundee fans that the next council elections are in 2027. When considering who to support, remember who supported you.

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