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At the end of the day, I ask myself a simple question as I am getting way too old for complicated things! Would there have been a club today if we did not go down this route? My answer - and I accept others may have a different or more nuanced answer - is NO. As much as I did not enjoy giving up my shares, I am happy I still have a club to support rather than a historical and worthless document that I could frame on my wall. And let's be honest here, we may have had hundreds of shareholders, but the reality is that only a handful of them truly mattered in the decision-making process. Those of us with anything under 1000 shares simply did it so we could say we were a part of the club or to put money into the club to kick-start our history. The real power brokers were, and always have been, those with tens or hundreds of thousands of shares. A year on, we have Alan Savage at the helm, someone who has pumped money in before and who did so again in the last year. We have a CEO who knows and loves the club and has done so since the very day it was formed, and we have a manager who is winning games again. On top of that we have businesses coming back to a more open club, we have fans feeling the club is more receptive to them, and we have a Supporters Trust who have shown what is possible - regardless of shareholding - when they are allowed to work with the club and not simply have to be one of many dissenting voices. Are things perfect? I am sure they are not. After so much toxicity over recent years, there are bound to be puddles here and there, but we are headed in the right direction. The real proof of the pudding will be when we next face challenges. As fans, we will still have a voice, but we wont necessarily have a say ... but as noted above, did we really have a say anyway when the bigger shareholders all voted the same way?

KDeeM Trophy Time Dundee B are up North on Tuesday night at 7:45pm in the KDM Trophy group stages part of the event (pre knock out). The Challenge Cup is a bit of a convoluted competition this season with a thirty team group stages league competing for twenty places in the knockout stages once the Championship sides enter the event to give you a straight thirty-two team knockout competition. At the moment, after three games, Premiership 'B' teams fill 8 of the bottom 10 places which means as it stands only two Lower League teams would be eliminated after the League phase with only Celtic and St Mirren B teams progressing and only Annan Athletic and Stirling Albion dropping out. Inverness are one of four teams on maximum points midway through the league stages, the others being Stenhousemuir, Montrose and Edinburgh City. The Caley Jags will be buoyed by their recent League form. Four wins on the trot, scoring six times and all clean sheets. Stirling Albion were the last team to score against us in the last KDM fixture at the beginning of the month, and it took a wonderful strike to hit the net. It all depends on what team we put out but also remember to keep some match winners on the bench just in case. Might be an opportunity to get Ross Millen, Paul Allan, Alfie Bavidge and Adam MacKinnon back up to speed as they continue their comebacks. I'm sure the likes of Mathew Strachan, Mitchell Robertson and Jordan Alonge will be itching to get a start. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Caley Jags squad we had on duty against Stirling Albion in our last KDM Trophy fixture. Despite there being a fair spattering of first team regulars, we made extremely hard work in winning the points. It took a 94th minute direct from a corner kick strike by Liam Sole to clinch the winner after a great display by Stirling Albion keeper Robert Duffy. The Binos had taken the lead with a tremendous strike by Ross Cunningham after half an hour. Chanka Zimba pulled us level five minutes later and that's how it stood until well into time added on when Sole produced the winner. Bar 94 will be open and the matchday bus service will be operating for the Challenge Cup game against Dundee that kicks off at 1945 on Tuesday 23 September. Bar 94 will open at 1730, with last orders at 1915 (the bar must be fully vacated by 1930). The bar reopens at full time. A bus will leave the Bus Station for the Stadium at 1900, returning from the Stadium 10 minutes after the full time whistle. The bus fare is £2.70 single (contactless payments or cash accepted), and Over 60 / Disabled and Under 22 Concession passes are valid, giving free travel on the service to passholders. Dundee B put this team together to face Forfar Athletic in their last fixture. After opening the scoring in the 18th minute through Finlay Allan, the Dee's young loons went down 4-1 to their hosts, the Forfar Loons. 21 ArabB 3 -2 3 22 Binos 3 -2 3 23 Annan 3 -3 1 24 Well B 3 -6 1 25 Gers B 3 -5 0 26 Jam B 3 -6 0 27 Killi B 3 -6 0 28 Don B 3 -7 0 29 Dee B 3 -7 0 30 Hibs B 3 -7 0 Position 21-30 will be eliminated It's fair to say that the teams at the top end of the table have probably already secured their knock-out status although a couple of wins for the Arabs or Binos could lift them into contention. Adults: £10, Concessions: £5 (Over 65s & Under 16s) Buy tickets HERE Tickets for this match available in the Main Stand only with Section Lower F available for Dundee B supporters. Also available in-store from the Club Shop and over the phone during opening hours (Mon-Fri, 9.30am – 4pm) Open on Matchday, 10am – KO. Under 16s Tickets are not available online but are available in-store from the Sarens PSG Stadium or over the phone on 01463 222880 during office hours.

Another very good performance from all the team including those that have not had much game time and the two young subs that came on later! Good passing and movement and six good goals from different players! The only real chance Dundee had was rattling the bar in the first half. Well done to the management and all the team for a very good game to watch

I’m enjoying the Challenge Cup as it is letting us see players who would otherwise get limited game time, and with a large squad that is valuable. It’s letting Adam MacKinnon and Paul Allan, for example, get minutes in them after injury. It was a routine win and could have been more but for several good saves by the Dundee goalie. MacKinnon ran the show, especially in the second half. Alonge scored a goal of the season contender. Robertson again looked the part. Kerr and Sam Thompson did not look out of place after they came on. Yes I’d rather see Highland League teams involved rather than B teams, but I cannot see the format changing. However, win promotion and we go straight in at the last 32 stage and that has to be our aim. So to sum up, a useful competition given the size of our squad, getting minutes into players and showing the competition we have for places in the league starting line up. And it’s nice to see us top of the table!

What can you say? Not sure this experiment needs to be repeated but that's another doing for a B team. The bottom 8 places are occupied by B teams. 😮

You had a better cake than me though !