John Brown ‘embarrassed’ by Dundee investor saga

The Dens Park manager broke his silence over the ongoing saga which sees the Dundee Supporters’ Society continuing to drag their heels on the proposed £650,000 initial investment from the Texan-based Keyes Capital.

Brown has had to shelve plans to beef up his wafer-thin squad for next season’s promotion push after his budget was put on hold in the wake of top players such as Gary Harkins and John Baird quitting the club amid growing uncertainty off the field.

American duo John Nelms and Tim Keyes plan to pour in £650,000 as well as staging a revamp of the youth system but no deal has been done yet, despite due diligence checks being carried out.

And Brown believes issue is bringing nothing but embarrassment to the Tayside club. He said: “It’s an embarrassing situation. I have to say I’m embarrassed personally by what’s going on and I don’t think I’m the only one. The longer is goes on the messier it gets. That’s the bottom line.

“I’m sure the fans would like to find out what’s happening and why the process has been slowed down after it was voted in favour of not that long ago.

“I can’t understand why such a sound investment plan has been dragged out and I don’t know if there are any reasons why this should be the case but it gives us a real problem.”

Brown insists it’s turning into his summer of hell as the club attempt to return to the SPL, with just two directors left running the club in the wake of Maurice Kidd’s recent resignation.

He said: “It’s a nightmare. It doesn’t make my job any easier at all as manager. I’ve been told to pull back a bit from making any more signings after getting in guys like Gavin Rae, Peter MacDonald and Willie Dyer because we don’t know what’s happening with the deal.

“We’re back to square one so we desperately need some clarity from above. We have to have clear lines of communication.”