| And the man, who should formally move into the Dens Park boardroom in the next few weeks, believes a late rush could be vital in providing cash for team boss Jim Duffy to add further to his squad for the coming campaign.
As of today, around 3000 tickets had been sold, and Dundee believe that, despite an average price increase of 30%, the target of matching last year’s total sales figure remains achievable.
The traditional late rush in the run up to the opening league match should provide a boost, and sales usually continue for a few weeks into the season, but the message from Bob Brannan was simple — the sooner the better.
Having learned from the mistakes that led to administration and debts well in excess of £20 million, a strict budget is now in force and only actual, not anticipated, income will be spent.
“If compared against the profile of last year, our sales are reasonably encouraging, but we really could do with people coming to the aid of the party as soon as they can,” said Brannan.
“And while we are pleased with sales so far, perhaps a way of putting the figure into perspective is to point out that Falkirk, who we played last Sunday for the opening of their new stadium, have sold 2600 season tickets as a First Division club.”
He could not stress strongly enough that every penny of new income could prove vital as the club battle to put together a squad capable of being successful in the top flight.
“We have made a few signings, but it is fair to say that the squad is still a little light. Jim (Duffy) would like one or two additional players and, if we can get a bit more money in, it might be that he can get them.”
Failure to reach the 3700 target, which, given the price hikes, was regarded by some as a big ask, will not be disastrous and, while it has taken slightly longer than anticipated, Dundee remain on course to emerge from administration by the end of August.
“Regarding that, while we are still in administration, the administrator is largely out of the business now. Peter (Marr) is active in its running and the rest of us are giving our support.
“Issues still to be resolved are technical regarding the restructuring of the capital base of the club and not anything drastic.
“We would have liked to have emerged from administration in time for the first league game, but my intuition is that it will take a few weeks longer. That is not a definite guarantee, but I would expect the new board to be in place during August.”
Season tickets were sent out today for those fans who have already purchased their briefs. |
