The renovations at the newly-christened Foundation Park are the culmination of six years of hard graft.
That is the view of Ged Bell, part of the Dundee United Supporters’ Foundation (DUSF) steering committee.
DUSF were created in 2017 as a vehicle to safeguard the football club amid the uncertainty during the latter days of the Stephen Thompson era.
From a founding membership of 50 fans, the group now boasts around 2,200 pledgers committed to supporting and financing “bricks and mortar” projects that are guaranteed to benefit United in the long-term.
And the work at the ground formerly known as Gussie Park fits the bill, with DUSF contributing a staggering £382,000 towards the academy and woman’s football facility — and £523,000 in the club, fans’ projects and charities, overall.
It was renamed “Foundation Park” to reflect those efforts, as a new main stand was unveiled on Thursday morning.
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🤝 Gratitude to @DUSF2017🆕️ Mark Ogren, Part 1; from the newly-christened Foundation Parkhttps://t.co/MJ96Tf29yu pic.twitter.com/TGOlWKvRen
— Alan Temple (@alanftemple) August 17, 2023
“This is something we have worked towards, basically since the DUSF inception six years ago,” beamed Bell.
“This is the culmination of so much hard work among the members, and the club, to bring this fantastic facility to fruition. For our members, there should be a lot of pride to get to this stage.
“We’ve always been known for being a community, family club and having a facility like this in the heart of Dundee can only strengthen that community feel.
“It’s not a remote facility — it’s in the shadow of Tannadice and those kids can look across and have that dream of one day playing there.”
Independence
DUSF enjoy a positive relationship with United chief Mark Ogren but the organisation enjoys complete independence; a very deliberate stance.
The group has never sought any form of shareholding or internal influence.
Instead, it has complete autonomy and aims to support projects that will aid United, regardless of the future ownership model.
That is reflected in the assurances DUSF sought prior to handing over a penny.
“One thing we ensured before investing in this project was that Foundation Park would always be a Dundee United club facility,” explained Bell.
“On behalf of our members, we took legal advice to ensure the tenure of this facility before we put a penny of our members’ money into it.
“We know this will be used, in the long-term, as a Dundee United academy and women’s team asset.”
What next?
So what next for DUSF as membership continues to grow and their efforts bear visible fruits?
“That’s a very easy question; our members will decide,” smiled Bell. “We will sit down and have a think before approaching our members, probably at the next AGM — get feedback from them and see how we move forward.
“Our strap-line is “celebrate our past, ensure our future” and, while it may sound a little gimmicky, everything we do aligns to that.”
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