DUNDEE CLUBS JOIN FORCES IN £5M YOUTH ACADEMY BID

Dundee and Dundee United have submitted plans for a joint football academy. The City of Discovery rivals have joined forces with the University of Abertay Dundee in an ambitious plan to build a £5 million, 42-acre state-of-the-art sports facility designed to nurture the cream of Tayside’s young sporting talent. A joint bid for £1m lottery funding has been submitted to sportscotland while a further £450,000 is being sought from the Scottish Football Partnership. If the application for lottery funding is successful, the remaining cash will come from the clubs and their partners in the ambitious project. Partners include University of Abertay Dundee, local authorities and other professional Tayside sports clubs and organisations. A provisional site has been identified, although the clubs have looked at and are actively considering other potential locations in both Dundee and Angus. The ground breaking sports facility will include eight dedicated, full-size pitches, two of which will boast synthetic, all-weather surfaces and four of which will be floodlit. Other features include: · Large indoor sports hall and indoor pitch · Large grassed open space area for training and small-side games · Sports medicine suite · Fitness suites · Teaching areas and admin offices · Media and press centre · Goalkeeper training areas · Spectator areas, car and coach parking · Kitchen, dining and laundry facilities The planned facility is so large and comprehensive that both senior clubs plan to base themselves there permanently for training and admin purposes during the week – only turning up to Tannadice and Dens at weekends for matches. Training alongside the stars of the moment from both clubs will be the stars of the future. Between them, Dundee and Dundee United have direct training links to over 800 young footballers in Tayside and it’s envisaged the new academy will become their training home – alongside the pros. Abertay University, which runs several popular degree courses in sport and sport coaching as well as a fully-equipped sport performance laboratory, will contribute academic expertise to the academy. The University would also be able to offer use of the academy's facilities to all its students, greatly enhancing their overall lifestyle and learning experience. The man who’s been working tirelessly behind the scenes to pull the joint bid together over the past 3 months is experienced sports administrator Alex Stuart, former player with both United and Dundee. He also managed St Johnstone, Montrose and Ayr United. “Dundee United and Dundee deserve huge credit for coming together on this bid,” he said. “They’ll always be massive rivals on the park, - but off it they’ve recognised that by pooling strengths and expertise they can both be stronger. “A great amount of thought and planning has gone into these proposals, with one aim – to build a facility where we can help nurture the Scotland stars of the future. “It’s been deliberately designed for multiple use – both clubs will base themselves there in the knowledge that it will be widely used by the community at large and all the young players with whom the clubs have training links. Eddie Thompson, Chairman of Dundee United said, "The current financial situation faced by all of Scottish football means that youth development is the way forward for all of us. "Therefore, we must ensure that our youngsters have access to facilities of the highest standard. Working with Dundee and the University of Abertay on this project will mean creating one of the very best youth academies in Scotland." Abertay Vice-Principal Professor Mike Swanston warmly welcomed the funding bids, and commented: "We are very much the community university of Tayside,and among the 60% of our students who come from this area are hundreds of fans of both clubs. I am sure our students will be as delighted as we are to be a part of these exciting plans. "We are already playing our part in developing Scotland's sporting talent of the future through our Elite Student Athletes programme. The new academy will enable us to offer much-needed new sports facilities to all our students, as well as contribute academically to improving the performance of Dundee, Dundee United and indeed Tayside's sporting prowess in general."