Dundee FC should look at Caird Park for the site of their proposed new stadium.
Cairdy v Campy has only one winner in my view.
A lot of work has gone into the planning for the Camperdown site but, with the council closing the golf course at Cairdy, a much better solution to the long-running saga of the Dark Blues’ new ground may just have opened up.
Caird Park is a much more central location for most fans and it was already previously earmarked for a joint stadium when Scotland was bidding for Euro 2008.
City rivals Dundee and United agreed to put rivalries aside and build a 30,000-seater stadium there costing £30 million as part of Scotland’s bid to host the tournament.
The Courier reported at the time that one of the main hurdles was the legally-binding conditions which made it clear the land was to be used only as a public park and for recreational purposes for “all time coming”.
But if there were potential ways around that roadblock, then there may be detours available now too.
The golfers at Caird Park also objected but that’s no longer an issue with the course closed by the short-sightedness of the council.
Road and access issues would obviously have to be overcome, just as they would at Camperdown, but those cannot be insurmountable.
‘Parochial thinking’
As my fellow columnist Steve Finan pointed out, the council appears clueless as to any future use for the park so why not take the opportunity to make the most of it for a modern age and bring a new stadium into a central location?
With Dundee City Council retreating from providing any golf facilities in the city, they appear to have limited interest in providing sports facilities.
Why not accept that private provision or perhaps a partnership with Dundee FC may be a solution here?
It would make far more sense to utilise Caird Park as a sporting hub (The Regional Performance Centre and the Mark Stewart Velodrome already occupy part of the park) than leaving it to become an overgrown wasteland for car thieves and joyriders.
With a hotel, crematorium and housing in the plans anyway for the Camperdown site, it would still provide an economic lift for the city.
An obvious, and sensible, proposal – just like the 2008 plans – would be for both city clubs to share any new ground but that ship has long since sailed.
The parochial thinking and small-mindedness which bedevils Scotland means that’s a non-starter, despite the obvious common sense of such a project.
However, there’s more than sufficient room to incorporate new training facilities, which could also be used by the public.
‘Lack of ambition’
Dundee and the council have already agreed to such a proposal at Riverside but Caird Park would be a better base than the west end of the city.
Cairdy would also solve the parking problems attached to the Camperdown project, with a huge amount of space available to facilitate cars and coaches.
As a city we’ve too often lacked ambition.
The site at Camperdown is a small footprint to squeeze all the elements of the new Dundee stadium into, but Caird Park could accommodate them with room to spare.
It may be that Camperdown is too far advanced to renege on it now.
If there is still time, though, Caird Park is a far better solution for a new stadium.
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