Brown rages against directors over delay

Brown said that he was "really disappointed in" Dave Forbes and Fraser Macdonald, the two DFCSS representatives on the board. An agreement appeared to have been reached on the takeover last week, after Forbes and Macdonald were reported to have received assurances about the plans of the group, led by American Tim Keyes and supported by Bill Colvin, Steve Martin and Ian Crichton, three businessmen who were on the Dens Park board. The deal has still to be concluded, but remains likely to proceed.

There has been a period of unrest at Dens Park, and Herald Sport understands DFCSS could be open to additional funding from local sources, rather than accept the money on offer from Keyes Capital. Fans have bailed the club out after previous regimes led Dundee into administration, and a wariness of new owners is understandable. There is also uncertainty about being presented with Keyes Capital as the only potential source of new funding.

Although the Keyes Capital bid is reported to be worth £1.5m to Dundee, £300,000 would be invested in the first season, with £150,000 on the first-team squad, £100,000 on the youth set-up and £50,000 on improvements to the south enclosure. A further £350,000 would be in vested in the second term, with Dundee hoping to have earned promotion to the SPFL Premiership and benefited from the £670,000 due to the SPFL Championship winners.

With John Nelms, a US coach and associate of Keyes, expected to be appointed to oversee the youth set-up as part of the deal, his wages would reduce the amount of capital invested in the first season. Local investors could come up with a similar amount. The uncertainty will continue until DFCSS hold a special general meeting, at which the members will vote on the Keyes Capital proposals. That meeting had been delayed while an unconditional agreement, proof of funds and relevant permission from the Scottish Football Association and Scottish Professional Football League had been obtained, but will be held within two to three weeks.

If the DFCSS members vote in favour, a meeting of the club shareholders could be held to vote through the takeover. Under the Keyes Capital plan, the DFCSS stake would be reduced to 25.1%, although the body would retain two places on the board. In the meantime, it is understood a proposal was made to the consortium to invest an initial £150,000 as a temporary loan while due process is observed. Yet Brown is growing increasingly frustrated at the delays.

"Heads of Terms were agreed last week and were to be signed by Friday," the manager said. "But they've not been done. I've lost out on two players who I could have brought in because they can't hold on any longer. The two directors have not had any contact with me in three weeks when they're supposed to liaise with me. Scot Gardiner, the chief executive, has been left in the lurch with everything. So they have got to get their acts together.

"If they've agreed Heads of Terms then get it done so that we know the investment is coming in so I can allow myself to maybe get two, three or four new signings. If it's not resolved soon, we are going to miss out, because all the other players are starting their pre-season. We were meant to have five players signing last Monday on the first day of pre-season.

"These two people are not doing their jobs. They've agreed it so why this delay? This is going to impact on us because the longer this goes on, the more we will miss out on players. I want my squad now, not on August 9. This is a joke situation, created by two directors. We have two directors who don't communicate with the manager and the chief executive."

Brown also claimed that Forbes and Macdonald had not answered phone calls or emails from Gardiner. "We can't do anything until this money comes through," he said.