Questions remain for Dundee fans over Camperdown travel links

The absence of top-tier football at the weekend gave us all a chance to reflect on more than just the league table. The publicity surrounding our prospective new stadium has continued to motor on, with a lengthy opinion piece from club supremo John Nelms extolling the virtues of the planned move being shared widely by fans of all persuasions in the city. With planning permission in principle now lodged, and consultation due to begin imminently, it feels as if we're getting closer to United fans moving their official position from "it'll never happen!" to "well, it will happen but it'll be rubbish!"

From the outside looking in, the key obstacle to the proposals appears to be entry to and from the stadium - no small thing. I currently park a good 10 to 15 minutes' walk from Dens on matchdays so I'm not looking to roll into an underground car park in the bowels of the ground, but growing up relatively close to Camperdown makes me sceptical about how car parking, active travel and public transport links will all tie in neatly in a part of the city that currently struggles to handle far smaller crowds for hockey matches at the Ice Arena.

It seems as if I'm not the only one ruminating over these issues, as the Dundee Civic Trust has slammed the traffic solutions presented in the proposals, asserting that car crashes, congestion and increased pollution on the Kingsway will be inevitable. The club has claimed to have found a workable solution based on modelling and consultation with experts in the field, but more detailed assurances on how the stadium will handle fans using cars (the more likely mode of transport) rather than reliance on aspirations of encouraging active travel or buses from supporters' clubs would be welcomed - and, if submissions like that from DCT multiply, may be needed to keep the show on the road.

By and large, the fanbase is accepting of the need for a new campus that washes its face financially and resolves the myriad financial and health and safety issues with the upkeep of Dens listed in the proposal document for the new stadium. It's also clear from the bulk of documentation lodged on the Council website that a power of work and consultation with experts has already gone into the well-advanced plans. However, that, if anything, should make it even easier for the club to reassure the supporters and decision-makers that the proposed traffic solutions are workable, or at worst can be amended with further input from those in the know. The stakes are too high for such concerns to be immediately written off.

Speaking of high stakes, rumours of further financial support from Alan Pace and ALK Capital, current backers of Burnley, continue to swirl, fuelled in no small part by the recent investment in Hibs by another American consortium involved in AFC Bournemouth. The arguments around multi-club ownership, "feeder" clubs and outside investment are not for this column, but you don't need to be Hercule Poirot to make some connection between the stadium project and the growing interest in Dundee from a company known for its involvement and investment in sports infrastructure projects. Regardless of results on the park in the last decade, the club itself has, under the stewardship of Tim Keyes and John Nelms, gone through a period of financial stability unknown for many years; finding a way to funnel this additional backing into consolidated further progress on the pitch is key.

Al Pacino languidly announcing Oppenheimer winning Best Picture should be the apotheosis of anti-climax this week, but the veteran actor risks only being the warm-up act should Dundee stumble tomorrow night against Aberdeen. County could yet do us a solid in Dingwall on the same evening by preventing a Hibs victory, but in reality, what happens in the Highlands will only matter to those of a dark blue persuasion in the event of a Dundee victory.

It's both easy and tempting to tip into league-table journalism at the business end of the season, but the tag that history will apply to our 2023/24 campaign will be written over the coming weeks for all the reasons already well-rehearsed in previous weeks. It is bemusing bordering on infuriating that Aberdeen's clown-car campaign has only come knocking at our door immediately after they've ditched some woe-ridden manager, not least given our foul contemporary record against the Dons. We've only mustered up victory twice in our last - wait for it - 27 meetings with Aberdeen. We can only hope that the reluctance with which Peter Leven has assumed his interim duties, coupled with a cup hangover and the general malaise riddling the Pittodrie outfit, helps us override the grand sweep of recent history and secure three points.