Now he is the driving force behind a plan to get the trust, the Dundee Supporters’ Association and other organisations who regularly make a financial contribution to the Dark Blues to come together under one umbrella.

At the least, he believes that would provide better co-ordination for the kind of fund-raising club chairman Bob Brannan recently stressed, in an open letter published in the Tele, was needed to keep Dundee alive in anything like their present form.

And, ultimately, Murphy believes it could provide a route to outright ownership of Dundee FC by the rank-and-file punters.

Stressing that was still some way off, Murphy has thrown his weight behind a coming together of all interested parties and written to the 20 clubs who make up the DSA,

He has also held detailed discussion with Brannan, a man who has always been in favour of diverse ownership of the club he helped rescue from financial oblivion.

“Right now, it would even be stretching things a bit to say a proposal has been put forward, but, what I have done is sought the views of individual clubs on this matter to see if there is support in principle,” said Murphy.

“I addressed the DSA at the weekend, I’ve sent out the letter and, so far, generally speaking, there has been a positive response.

“I’d add there have been some reservations expressed and people want more detail.

“I understand that, but there is a long way to go and I think, before we get down to the finer detail, we have to find out if there is a desire for this.”

Murphy himself is convinced the way forward is via a merger of the all the main fans’ bodies.

That would not mean individual organisations being swallowed up, but would see one body overseeing strategy on matters like fund-raising and possibly examining ways of taking a controlling interest in their club.

Dee 4 Life already have a 26% shareholding, so any new super supporters’ group would have a head start if they decided to aim at, one day, securing a majority stake.

And Murphy was keen to stress that, while he does not want to be seen as a single-issue director, this is an idea that excites him.

“My personal opinion is that Dundee as a club is not big enough to sustain the different groups we have now and by coming together we could be starting a journey that could end in the fans owning or controlling the football club.

“The first part of that journey would see the formation of one fans’ group, comprising of all stakeholders including members of official supporters’ clubs.

“If there is support for that, it is something we should work towards.”

He flew back to Scotland last week and was pencilled in for corrective surgery on Monday, but the op. was cancelled at the last minute after a further examination.

“The medical people want to let the swelling go down a bit more because they think he might be able to recover without needing surgery,” explained Tangerines gaffer Peter Houston.

“We’ve got him working with the physio on that and we’ll see how things go, but if it means getting him back quicker it’ll be good news.”

While they are happy to follow the medical advice, United will not let the matter drag on and if there is little sign of improvement in the next few weeks, surgery remains an option.

“I know that this type of injury can sometimes by sorted through rehab, but there is only so long we can wait,” added Houstie.

“If things were to drag on for too long we would need to get him in for an operation.”

Meanwhile, there has been no fresh contact from Middlesbrough over wide man Craig Conway.

There has been a report their manager Gordon Strachan has been told he would have to be talking in the region of £1 million for United to even consider letting the Scottish Cup Final hero go.

However, no one from Boro has been in touch since the respective managers had a general chat about players in May.

The manager has also secured 11 of last season's promotion-winning squad on new one-year contracts to join Jamie Bishop, Mark McCulloch, Barry Sellars and Chris Templeman.

Iain Campbell, Ross Campbell, Alistair Divine, Martyn Fotheringham, Graham Gibson, David Mowatt, Calum Smith, Andy Tod, Stephen Tulloch and Paul Watson all put pen to paper.

So did midfielder Darren Brady, who hopes to make his return from long-term injury in the busy Station Park pre-season programme.

Former East Stirling defender Michael Bolochoweckyj is Campbell's only close-season capture so far and he hopes to add Kevin Fotheringham to the list of contracted players later this week.

“We are delighted Dick is staying and that the squad is taking shape,” said chairman Neill Wilson.

“We were concerned we might lose Dick, who was not under contract, so we are very happy indeed that the he will take us into the Second Division campaign.”

Seeking out a goalkeeper remains a key priority for Campbell and he is understood to be pursuing a loan deal with a SPL side.