stu2910

Don’t know that many were on our side in the decision, but Falkirk and...Stirling Albion (?) both helped us out financially in the aftermath. I care about other clubs because I would never want another fan to go through what we’ve been through. It’s horrible to not know if the club you grew up watching will still be there next season and I wouldn’t inflict it on anyone. The biggest problem with the game in Scotland isn’t that we can’t get enough money from outside sources to compete with other leagues, its the endless short term thinking and looking out for ourselves regardless of the impact on the wider game. “They hit me so I’ll hit them harder” is great fun for the banter, but eventually someone loses permanently and that doesn’t help anyone.

We were voting no because there weren’t enough guarantees to help the clubs that would suffer from relegation. We are now voting yes after confirming that other discussions will now take place to help those clubs, with more information to come. The most likely of the options to pass would see us at least have an easier go at promotion next year, while also saving a number of clubs from relegation. If the SPFL have broken their own rules to allow this to happen then I really don’t understand how Nelms and the club in general are now the most hated people in the country, even amongst our own support.

2 career mode rages for me. Whenever I play as Dundee, I can’t beat Kilmarnock, in any season on any game, just not possible [emoji23] On Fifa 20, with Dundee out of the picture I chose my other go to of a bottom league 2 team, on this occasion Cheltenham Town. Through the entire career I never signed a player, only youths and trained them up. Season 1, won the playoffs. Season 2, 2nd in league 1 and won the FA Cup. Season 3, won the championship playoffs, won the FA Cup and League Cup, Somehow won the Europa League. Season 4, finished 4th in the premier league, won the FA cup, ridiculously won the Champions League beating Man City on pens in the final. Sacked in the summer cause I was paying my star centre half more than the rest of the squad [emoji854]

Interesting, I had exactly the same bet, placed around the same time, cashed out for exactly the same reason, just a higher stake. [emoji23] also had a compensation bet on United that would have been ridiculous to lose if the season was voided.

Hadn’t thought about that. We’ve had players that have never played, but could we become the first club to have a kit that was never worn?

I hope you’re right that UEFA make the decision. I don’t really mind what the outcome is as there is no perfect solution that makes everyone happy, but if UEFA declare that it’s for individual countries to decide how their leagues finish then regardless of what the SFA/SPFL choose there will be one half of Glasgow that takes them to court for “supporting the other side” and all focus will be on that for the next 50 years. That’s the last thing we need at a time when any other club in the country could need all the help they can get just to survive.

Although I’d prefer to see games played behind closed doors, 1 confirmed case for a player means their club can’t play their matches and it will likely become a farce. Even though a couple of promotions and relegations look more likely than not, there are more that are far from decided. Surely any decisions have to be implemented across the board, as it would be unfair to hand the title to Dundee Utd and not to Raith? If the season is to resume after any more than 4-6 weeks, then by all means push it into the summer, however that would work with contracts. This would mean though that our entry into European competition is cancelled next season as the early rounds start in July (this might all be cancelled anyway). I think the only realistic option may be to void the season. As a Dee I’m not going to pretend the chance to laugh at United not going up wouldn’t be brilliant and could make me biased, however a lot of clubs will suffer financially and I would imagine Dundee could be one of the worst. Considering our horrendous performance last season, our season ticket numbers this year weren’t great with a larger number of fans choosing to pay at the gate than normal. Our owners or insurance would cover the loss but I’d be surprised if there aren’t clubs who aren’t so lucky.

Anyone know when we last had 3 0-0s in a row? Or even 2? 2 clean sheets in a row has been rare enough in recent years.

Think losing Johnson would be a disaster tbh, although you couldn’t blame him when he doesn’t get a regular start. Highly doubt we could find a second choice striker of his level and Nelson seems to be made of chocolate.

Tend to agree with you there, although it’s amazing how differently people see games. Can’t remember who it was but a couple of years ago there was a manager that said they were delighted to leave Dens with a result as Dundee were a “very physical side”. Think you can ask any Dundee fan and they’d agree that we’ve had a wide variety of ways of describing our teams over the years but I doubt “physical” has ever been mentioned.

Fair enough, I’d be happy to at least try that. Although personally I’d swap Byrne for Robertson, not really sure what Byrne has contributed so far that Robertson didn’t and the latter is more likely to improve.

Having 1 striker up front is the only way we’ve avoided being demolished this season. How would everyone like to fit in 2 strikers? The 4-4-2 at Tannadice? Or maybe the 3-5-2 from the first half at Dunfermline?

Fair enough maybe that’s a bit far, but I was genuinely worried at the start of the season that double relegation was a possibility.

Regarding youth we are certainly not doing any worse now than in the years previous. In terms of youths having a major impact on the first team since admin 1, we’ve had Kevin McDonald, Scott Robertson, Paul Dixon, Craig Forsyth...maybe Brian Deasley if we are being generous. Anyone else? Since they’ve come in we’ve had, Cammy, Wighton, Jesse Curran and probably Fin Robertson. Kerr Waddell should have had more opportunities too and there were several youths at the start of this season looking promising. By its nature it’s hard to judge youth investment over any less than 10 years anyway. I do agree that tactically McPake has looked questionable, not so much in terms of line ups but subs have been baffling at times. I do have faith that he will improve given more than 20 games though. In terms of spending, I don’t think at any point in my lifetime (90s onwards) we have ever finished higher than we have budgeted to? We have rarely ever matched it. That’s not just a problem with the current owners or manager and other than potentially the new stadium complex I’m not sure what we can do to change that without hoping for a miracle appointment.

I do get that, but arguable we have improved even if it doesn’t feel like it. The only tangible comparison we can make is that last season Ayr and Dunfermline beat us at Dens, while we were lucky to lose 4-1 to QoS over 2 games. This season we’ve beaten Ayr twice and drawn away at the other 2. The only major blips have been the Elgin game and the derbies. After that, Cove and Peterhead weren’t great but still very early on and Morton away was frustrating but hardly awful. Where do you think we would be with last years manager and squad still here?

Well done in completely ignoring everything about the post to focus on one sentence. We have literally just had the worst run in the clubs history, but 4 months into the recovery period people are wanting to sack everybody. If we were sitting top of the league right now considering everything that’s happened then McPake should have got the Spurs job.

This thread could be one of the biggest overreactions on P&B which would certainly be saying something. Last season we had such a horrific run that despite losing almost the entire squad at the end of the season, the depression was still around the club, especially in the stands. We appointed a rookie manager which everyone criticised, despite the fact that our worst manager this decade was the most experienced. Other than him, Smith, Hartley, McCann, McPake and even Brown had decent spells during their time in charge. We have built a team from scratch, with a back room team built from scratch, yet after an extremely unpredictable start to the season, with a toxic atmosphere around the club, we are a maximum of 6 points off 2nd place, sitting in the playoff spots and only any real distance behind the biggest spenders in the league who had a settled team and added a striker that can’t stop scoring. Anyone that believed we would be significantly better off than this is delusional and considering what’s happened to St Mirren and Patrick after relegation in recent years, and Falkirk over a longer period, McPake has done a fantastic job to make sure the club avoids going the same way. People saying this is a worse period in the clubs history than basically anything between 1980 and 2014 need their heads examined. It’s also obvious that off the field the club cant even be compared with the one that started in Div 1 in 2005. At no point have we ever stuck with a manager for more than a few seasons and look where that’s got us. The idea that you can continuously change everything about a club in the hope that one day it all clicks is ridiculous. Wtf happened to spirit of the 2010/11 season? Many people raise those players up as heroes that changed the course of our clubs history and to an extent they’re right. But the fight started in the stands when everyone came together to make sure that no matter what was happening on the pitch, the players knew the fans would be right behind them. Is it depressing to see Utd run away with the league - of course it is. Is it disappointing to not be at least comfortable in 2nd - of course. Could a more experienced manager have done a better job up to this point - possibly but unlikely. Is the club ever going to reach the levels we want it to if we keep calling for every man and his dog to be sacked cause we lost a game - not a hope in hell.

Dear god [emoji23]

Problem is we’ve watched a succession of managers think they can get us to play like Barcelona, only for teams to have one chance and win 1-0. Playing out from the back is fine if you actually look like creating something and for years we just haven’t. Even today for all this great passing, neither goal started with the ball with our defenders. Positivity will come, but after last season especially it’s going to take time.

Well done to Elgin, clearly wanted it more than us and the first goal was a cracker. For the second though, I didn’t even realise it was possible for that to happen. Has anyone ever seen a ref allow play to continue and then come back and send a player off? And how can the double jeopardy rule have come in to prevent a red card and penalty being awarded at the same time, but a goal and a red card is ok?[emoji23]

It’ll be fine. Both clubs are over 200 ft above sea level, we are about as safe as anyone.

What money? This is our 4th league game of the season and we still can’t put together a match squad without several youths. Agree about not wanting to be 7 behind, but only because it’s United. If they weren’t around I reckon most Dundee fans would be content with being mid table after 4 tough games considering last season.

Talking about bottling it in front of big crowds got me thinking about the derby experience of both sides. Either in this, or the 2 bigger derbies in this country. For Dundee: McGowan - Dundee Kerr - Dundee Hemmings - Dundee McGhee - Edinburgh Forster - Edinburgh Hamilton - Edinburgh Ness - OF Plus James McPake as a player in Dundee and Edinburgh and Josh McPake in the youth cup OF final. United: Sow - Edinburgh Stanton - Edinburgh Plus Neilson as a player in Edinburgh. Also, Robson, Butcher, Clark and King have all been at one of these clubs but I don’t think they’ve played derbies. Unless I’ve missed anyone Dundee certainly look more experienced, which definitely means United will win and I’ve wasted 10 mins of a Saturday morning.

The scenes if McPake scores a last minute equaliser/winner next Friday...

As a Dundee fan I’m obviously biased but I’m going to say no. As much as pretty much every Dundonian will agree with you, our home crowd can fluctuate from week to week by a lot more than what most other teams will bring to Dens so I can’t see it making much difference. Also, boycotts are a bit sevcoish.