Former chairman Jimmy Marr will be standing down altogether, while chief executive Peter will be giving up his post, though still remain as an ordinary director in a new-look board.

It is understood Peter had originally considered quitting altogether when he instigated talks with bankers HBOS in a bid to find a way of removing the crippling debt that was preventing any realistic chance of a promotion challenge in the First Division next season.

While, however, HBOS have been happy to accommodate him in switching the money owed into his and not the club’s name, they have insisted he remains in some capacity.

As well as a new board that will see fans’ groups handed a bigger influence, the restructuring will involve ownership of Dens Park, the club’s biggest single asset, being switched to a property company.

Crucially, however, control of the stadium will be retained by Dundee under a long-term lease.

Today the club would not comment on the plans, but it is believed the lease will be for an initial period of 40 years and may even stretch for another 10 years before it comes up for review.

It is because of work on the restructuring that little progress has been made in finding a new manager.

Even as far back as the sacking of Alan Kernaghan in April, secret discussions with the bank over setting the club free of the debt were at an advanced stage.

Because he was well aware his own influence on the board was about to diminish and that many of the existing directors could be leaving in the near future, Peter Marr did not feel it proper to appoint a team boss.

He wants that to be one of the first acts of a new regime and, with more fans’ groups directly involved in the decision, that makes former boss Jocky Scott an even stronger favourite to return for a third spell in charge.

Whoever gets the job, they should be moving into a far healthier club than a year ago shortly after relegation from the SPL and there is a chance of some increased funding to sign badly needed new players.

For the Marrs, though, the main aim of the impending changes was to dramatically improve the financial outlook and, hopefully, pave the way for new investment.

Money will still be in short supply, but they hope this will show potential investors and ordinary fans that putting cash into Dundee would not simply be throwing it into a bottomless bit.

These moves are bound to be viewed with some suspicion by a section of the support, who have seen their team slide from the top half of the SPL to the bottom half of the First Division since administration in November 2003.

Back then, the club was on the brink of closure and saving it cost many staff their jobs and saw players and local businesses lose out on large sums of cash.

The Marrs lost out, too, and still face a bill of several million pounds to rid themselves of debt that is about to be switched to their names. They have never put a figure on their losses during nine years in charge, but some estimates puts it as high as £10 million.