Dundee & Dundee United almost merged - former SPL chief

Dundee and Dundee United were close to merging to form a new club in 1999, according to the former chief executive of the Scottish Premier League.

Roger Mitchell revealed it would essentially have been a Dundee United takeover of Dundee.

The new club would have been called Dundee United City Football Club.

"Some people don't want to remember that that deal was done - those two teams on a Friday night had merged," Mitchell told BBC Scotland.

Mitchell was speaking in October ahead of a forthcoming BBC series about the history of Scottish football.

Dundee and Dundee United's grounds are only about 200m apart

Although the deal eventually unravelled, Mitchell says the new club would have played in Tangerine at Tannadice Stadium.

"They had come up with a new name. They had come up with the strip they would play in," recalled Mitchell, who left the SPL in 2002, four years after helping to launch the organisation.

"We had been told about that. We were ready to deal with it and what that meant for promotion and relegation.

"It was a crucial moment. It was two historic clubs merging."