DUNDEE no longer face a threat of being thrown out of the Premier League after having announced that funds are in place for major development work at Dens Park.
Building will commence on two new stands early in the new year following confirmation that the Scottish Sports Council Lottery Sports Fund and the Football Trust are putting up more than half of the #2.6m the project will cost.
Dundee will receive a grant of #1m in lottery cash and another grant of #366,800 from the Football Trust, as well as a further loan of #200,000 from that organisation.
The new stands will provide 3015 seats, bringing the Dens total to 10,090. This meets the demands of the Premier League and will remove any possibility of last year's first division champions being expelled from the top flight of Scottish football.
That threat was made last week, but Dundee chairman Jimmy Marr has said: ''We knew that was not a possibility because of the written agreements we had with the Premier League.
''However, we also know it would have been difficult to meet the timescale of this operation if the money had not been in place.''
Dundee also will be installing new floodlights and the famous Dens Park slope will disappear during construction work as the pitch is upgraded.
Team-manager Jocky Scott said: ''It is now up to me to put a team on the park to match the new-look stadium.''
The Football Trust now have helped nine of the present Premier League teams - the exception are St Johnstone - to meet the demands of the Taylor Report on ground safety.
However, there was some bad news for Dundee yesterday when it became clear that the Stoke City defender, Steven Tweed, is almost certain to turn down a #150,000 move to Dens after the clubs agreed on a deal over two weeks ago. Dundee are waiting final confirmation.
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