Rome might not have been built in a day, but it couldn’t have been any more slowly constructed than Dundee FC’s proposed new stadium plans have progressed.

The Courier’s story that transport chiefs require “further clarification and evidence” over plans for the project is another blow and a potential worry for the long-term future of the club which has now posted heavy losses of £4.6 million over the last two seasons.

Both Dundee and United are integral to our history and no less culturally important to the city than the V&A or the Rep and arguably bring much more publicity here.

The ongoing farrago over the new ground and the assorted elements which will accompany it, such as a crematorium, hotel and housing, would have tried the patience of a saint.

But it’s difficult to establish who the saints are and who the sinners are in this long drawn-out, energy-sapping saga.

My questions about Dundee FC stadium saga

Is it the Dundee owners and their advisers who haven’t done their homework properly?

Is it Scotland’s transport chiefs putting unnecessary obstacles in the road of the development?

Is it Dundee City Council who have yet to make a decision on the plans despite the planning in principle application being submitted to them in February 2024?

Or is it a collective failure of all the parties to thrash out answers to the problems which are holding up a development that promises to be a huge boost to both the club and the city?

And then there is one of my chief concerns – what happens if the project fails to satisfy the demands of Transport Scotland and the council?

Chairman Tim Keyes and managing director John Nelms – who set up Football Partners Scotland which owns the club – have invested heavily at Dens Park with scant return.

They say they’ll continue to back Dundee FC financially.

But at what stage might it become simply too draining to continue to do so if there’s no hope on the horizon of improving the finances with the extra income possibilities the new development offers?

Will they be prepared to continue to do that indefinitely if they can’t see a realistic prospect of getting something back for what they’ve put in?

What is the future for the club which was formed in 1893 and which has played at Dens Park since 1899?

I understand why the club wants to move.

Despite some sceptics claiming the football operation won’t benefit from all the income that might be generated from the project if it’s ever actually built, the plans will still bring in more revenue to help develop the team than the current dilapidated Dens Park ever will.

That might be a different story if a way could be found to redevelop both sides of the current stadium on a reasonable budget.

That’s unlikely to happen, though, since the owners obviously want to start seeing some return on their investment.

The footprint of Dens and its location can’t accommodate all the elements which will hopefully make Camperdown a profitable venture.

With the club’s figures for 2024/25 season showing a loss of £1.8m, down from the £2.8m deficit the previous season, it’s little wonder that Tim Keyes and John Nelms and long-suffering Dundee supporters are increasingly restless at the holdups to the Camperdown plans.

All the parties involved need to redouble their efforts to find a solution to this maddening impasse.

© The Courier