Dundee should be in new training ground next season

Dundee's new training ground is taking shape

Dundee should be able to utilise their new training ground by the start of next season, managing director John Nelms says.

Last week, Dundee City Council gave its approval for the Riverside site to become the home for the training ground, which will also be utilised by other organisations within the city.

"It's a big step not only for the club but the community," Nelms told BBC Scotland.

"Riverside West End club will have a home. They have around 280 kids from the age of four to 17.

"They will have a home, our academy will have a home, our first team will have a home, our charity has a home. The facility itself will be a beacon for Dundee.

"We are able to start work on the pitches relatively soon. We are upgrading the pitches. The building and the plastic pitch will take a little more time. But hopefully we will be able to start training there hopefully by this summer."

Nelms and chairman Tim Keyes have both now been at Dens Park for 11 years and it has been one of their aims since the American duo took ownership of the club to build a new stadium for the first team.

Land near Camperdown Park has been purchased, but there have been various false starts during their tenure regarding the project. Nelms, however, hopes that work can begin in the not too distant future.

"We have a hearing in January for the stadium and we will be pushing to get in there as soon as possible," Nelms said. "Sometimes my timeframes are a bit optimistic, but my job is to push and push until we get the job done. We will be in there as soon as we possibly can.

"Realistically, it will be at least one more season at Dens. I would like to have potentially some test events in the stadium before we get it ready for the fans. So, when the fans come in, it will be a relatively smooth operation.

"At one point, we were ahead of schedule in terms of building a new stadium - now we are behind schedule. It's the system and how the system works. It's not the people.

"Although frustrating, I think, with a little bit of patience, we will set up the organisation and have that for the city for the next 100 years."

Nelms says leaving Dens Park will be a wrench for many fans but is necessary for the club to move forward.

"Dundee is our spiritual home and it will be hard to walk away from Dens Park," he added.

"It’s not something we take lightly and we know how much it means to the fans, but we are in the entertainment business and we are trying to put in a 21st century entertainment in a 19th century building. It's very difficult."