Texan Tim Keyes says he and his company will be at Dundee for the long haul and not just to make a quick buck.
The businessman from investment firm Keyes Capital flew into Scotland to take in the Dark Blues’ game against Morton on Saturday.
His company have made a substantial investment in the club along with chairman Bill Colvin and director Steve Martin, with the consortium now owning a controlling interest in Dundee.
Keyes said their long-term plan is based around heavy emphasis on building a sustainable youth academy, something associate John Nelms is working on in Dundee at the moment.
However, he also stressed that the No.1 ambition is to see the Dark Blues back in the top tier of Scottish football and he did not rule out further investment in the playing budget come the January transfer window.
He said: “The plan that John and I have always had and Bill and Steve were part of was let’s build up the youth programme and put money in there, but definitely we want to go back up to the Premiership.
“So if the right opportunity comes, we will make sure the money is there to do it but also we are not going to be stupid,” said Keyes.
“They just tell me when to write the cheques and I write the cheques. So we will put more money in if we need to.
“The funds are there from Bill and I and Steve. We are not in this to lose money though.
“It is a different kind of investment to ones we have made in the past. We are not looking to make an immediate return.
“If we start to make money, we would like to see it going back into the club. We’re not here to take money out and that’s the same with all the investments we make.
“We think Dundee belong in the top league, otherwise we would not have done this.
“We are here for the long haul, for sure. Even businesses we buy in the States, we do not take money out we put all the money back in to the businesses to help them grow over time.
“This is a different model but yes we see Dundee in the Premiership and keeping them there forever.”
Keyes admitted that one of the big lures for his firm was the potential at Dundee.
He added: “We always looked to go straight back up with a good squad which I think it is but it is also about developing the youth programme and ensuring it is sustainable.
“I think you can get into trouble if you put all your money into trying to get out of this division and you don’t build up the youth programme. If you don’t make it, then the next year you are in the same boat.
“One of the reasons we got involved here was because we saw that there was a lot of potential.
“There is a lot of history and from what we saw last year in the game (pre-season match with Dundee United) there is big potential here. Those are our criteria, where we have something to build on.
“I just came to see the game. There is nothing big in the works, I just thought after putting all this money in, I should come and see them play.”