By Sean Saranczuk
May 1 2002

Plans for the two Dundee clubs to share a new stadium have taken a step closer to becoming reality. Dundee City Council Planning Committee members have confirmed outline planning permission is to be granted for the 30,000-seater new stadium at Caird Park.

The news is a boost for Scotland and Ireland's joint bid to host the Euro 2008 championship finals as Scotland needs to find three more venues with a 30,000 capacity to satisfy Uefa criteria.

The joint bid is up against a number of rivals, including a Switzerland-Austria alliance, and is being launched at a time when domestic football is gripped by a serious cash crisis.

Indeed, neither Dundee club can command a current home gate average that would half fill the new stadium.

But Euro 2008 project director John Henderson was upbeat nonetheless.

He said: "I am delighted that the council have resolved to grant outline planning permission for the new Dundee Stadium.

"The stadium is an important part of our bid and I believe that this decision will clearly demonstrate our resolve to Uefa.

"We are ahead of our main rivals in the quality of our existing stadia and in the planning of new stadia."

The Euro 2008 bid team have just returned from a trip to Stockholm, where they took part in an exhibition at the Annual Uefa Congress.

Also in Stockholm to promote the bid were the First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell, Irish Sports Minister Jim McDaid and Mike Watson, the Scottish Minister of Sport, who held talks with key members of the Uefa Executive Committee, including Lennart Johansson.