Dundee FC are back in the big time after accepting the invitation to take Rangers’ place in the Scottish Premier League.
Hopes are high that the move will provide a welcome boost to the city’s economy as well as to its status on the football map.
Chamber of commerce chief executive Alan Mitchell said: ”This is great news because it will have an impact beyond what happens at Dens Park. It is difficult to quantify that impact at this stage, but can see it coming about in two ways.
”Whatever the media deals will be with televised coverage of SPL games and sponsorship agreements, Dundee FC should be getting extra revenue and a lot of that money will be spent with local trades and suppliers which will benefit the local economy.
”There is also the money that will be coming in to the city with the extra supporters who travel with SPL clubs compared with the smaller numbers who follow Scottish Football League clubs.”
Apart from matches with Dundee United Saturday’s pre-season friendly derby attracted a crowd of 10,121 there will be Tayside derbies with St Johnstone and the traditional North East derbies with Aberdeen to look forward to.
Dundee fans’ chief George Harris said: ”This is absolutely fantastic from Dundee’s point of view.”
He spoke of the ”buzz” on Saturday, adding: ”Both sets of fans were a credit to the city as a whole. Our fans will be over the moon it is massive for the club.
”At the end of the day we’ve got absolutely nothing to lose being promoted. I still think that the way of the future is reconstruction to give some of the bigger clubs in the Scottish Football League an opportunity, and this is something that should be looked at in the next couple of years.”
Secretary of the Federation of Dundee United Supporters Clubs Mark McMahon said: ”It is great for the city Dundee will be playing in the SPL. Financially, it is a huge lift for Dundee but very important for Dundee United as well that we are playing derbies again.
”Dundee has been in an awkward position with not knowing what league there are going to be in and now they have a short time to strengthen through no fault of their own.”See Tuesday’s Courier for extensive coverage of the SPL decision