The stakes for Dundee’s two football clubs in these last desperate weeks of the season are enormous.
Both teams playing in the Premiership next season is the dream, both teams playing in the Championship is the nightmare.
I saw Dundee lose at Tynecastle last week with their confidence dented, and getting sucked into a relegation battle which just months ago seemed highly improbable.
United have pushed themselves into third place in the second tier but face a titanic struggle with four and potentially six, play-off games, to secure a return to the top flight – just at a time when players’ legs and minds are heavy and leaden with the season’s unrelenting demands.
Both city sides would regard themselves as among Scotland’s top outfits, with the support bases that they enjoy ranking them in fifth and sixth place. Football though, rewards results not reputations, and at Dens Park and Tannadice these are dangerous days for the standing and the future of the Dark Blues and the Terrors.
The prospect of another season or more in the financial abyss of the Championship will mean serious belt tightening at United which in turn makes a return to the top more difficult. Hibernian, who barring catastrophe will win the Championship, have suffered three straight seasons in the division. Another one endured in the depths for the Easter Road side would be cause for serious lament in Leith.
For Dundee, rescued by their American owners from fan ownership which lacked the wherewithal and the vision to recalibrate a Dens operation which had twice survived administration, relegation is unthinkable.
Even worse, the possibility of that demotion happening in a play-off against United to reverse the relegation scenario in which Dundee relegated their rivals last season would be a wound which no amount of balm would soothe.
If both clubs end up in the Championship the financial repercussions for them and for pubs, and businesses in the city would be grim. The Championship may well be competitive and combative, but it is a football Limbo for lost souls and a purgatory for punters.
The Premiership is where the best football is played and where the money is to be earned. In TV terms the broadcasters are not interested in those outside the top flight since the return of the big time to Ibrox. Even if a new rumoured exclusive TV deal comes to pass, the lion’s share will go to clubs in the top realm with the angel’s share left for those below.
Dundee have experienced a yo-yo time since their great days as a club and must ensure that those dark times are left firmly in the past. Dropping a division cannot be contemplated. It will certainly not be in the plans of those seeking to re-stabilise the club after many years of uncertainty.
This season apart, United have had only one season out of the top division since Jerry Kerr got them promoted in 1960.
Both clubs have their futures in their own hands and that is a positive. The rewards for success will be great. The penalty for failure will be brutal.