While Scotland are by no means guaranteed the tournament, the deadline has passed for cities to submit proposals to stage games. With Glasgow hoping to provide three of the six required venues (Ibrox, Parkhead and Hampden) and Edinburgh (Murrayfield, home of the Scotland rugby union team) another, Dundee, Aberdeen, Falkirk and the two Edinburgh clubs are all applying to be granted one of the two new 30,000-seater stadiums Scotland must build.

But Dundee fans are anxious that ground-sharing does not lead to the two rivals merging - something which has been suggested regularly in the past by outsiders and rejected out of hand by locals.

"Most Dundee fans are in favour of ground-sharing at a new stadium so long as is doesn't lead to amalgamation," Bob Laird, editor of Dundee fans' site "Boab's Little Piece Of Scotland" told Football365. "There are concerns that it would be too big, but it seems that wouldn’t be a problem because they can remove seats and reduce capacity after the finals. I'm also worried about how the pitch would cope with two games a week. But everyone I've spoken to thinks it's a good idea."

Mike Barile, chair of the Federation of Dundee United Supporters Clubs, thinks merger is off the agenda but is concerned that United have spent millions on two new stands only to consider moving out of the perfectly-sized Tannadice.

"We agree with the plan in principle but I'm very cautious about leaving Tannadice having spent so much on it," he told Football365. "But I suppose between now and 2008 other clubs will have to spend that money on their grounds too."

In addition to both clubs, the local council and Scottish Enterprise Tayside are behind the project. All will contribute time, effort and money towards it but it is only expected to go ahead if Scotland win the Euro 2008 bid. Without it, there seems doubt over whether it would be financially viable, especially without Scottish Office money.

With two small all-seater stadiums across the road from each other at present, the initial notion was to rebuild either Tannadice or Dens Park. But neither has sufficient space around it, so the consortium are now looking at the Tay's riverfront or green-belt land to the north and west of the city. The new stadium could remain the property of the council, with both clubs as tenants, free to spend their income on football matters.

"Both are basically old grounds with new stands," admitted Laird. "The chance to get a new stadium with far better facilities and a school of excellence etc would be tremendous, but I think we would struggle to raise the money if we don’t get 2008 and it's a long way off. I personally won’t get excited until I see them start building it! It will have to be on the edge of town I think, but they'll need to update the infrastructure - there are no transport links. And it'll have to be more than a football ground. They should use what's been done in England as a benchmark and put conference facilities, cinemas and the like there for the whole community."

The project is a joint venture - Laird rejects any suggestion that the council may favour one club or the other - but there will be more obstacles to overcome before the two clubs move into a brand new home.

With a Euro 2008 venue up for grabs in Edinburgh, both Hibernian and Hearts are hoping they get chosen for outside investment. Hibs want to further redevelop the new-look Easter Road while Hearts prefer a move to a new out-of-town stadium near Edinburgh airport. Hibs will be hoping that the Scottish Premier League's own constitution will help their bid. The SPL currently outlaws any clubs from ground-sharing and to change the rules, 11 out of the 12 clubs must vote in favour. Hibs have already made it clear they are against, understandably pointing out that other clubs should invest money on their ground as they have, rather than spending it all on players and moving into someone else's stadium when their own falls apart!

If the new Dundee stadium got the go-ahead and the SPL stood firm, only one club could move in...unless they merged.

"When Dundee were trying to build their stadium in time for the SPL, the league said that Dundee was not big enough for two clubs, that we would be thrown out if Dens wasn't ready - it was all negative," claimed Laird. "It's all about having one team in each city for them. But that won't make football in Dundee stronger - just look at Aberdeen. If you play badly, you get no fans. If Dundee didn't exist, I'd play golf on Saturday afternoons rather than see a merged club play in a new stadium, and there'd be plenty more like me."

Barile is confident that United will always be a major force in the city but he and other Arabs are worried that if the new stadium is not their own, they won't feel at home there.

"Owning your own ground is part and parcel of football culture here. If we're sharing it or the council own it, it will dilute the club's influence of what happens there. We have been working with the club recently and got a good relationship. If we had no ground of our own, that close identity would be lost. They would only have one lot of personnel there for a start. It dilutes the whole system - it's not your club any more, there'd be a remoteness, it impersonalises things. Fans want to be associated with their club and you get that with your ground.

"They do that in Italy but the culture is different there. Perhaps we'll do what they do in Australia and have a base away from the ground where the fans and players go. It's paramount to have a centre where the club is based. But it's a marvellous opportunity in principle. If it all goes ahead, we've got to make sure we make it work. My biggest concern is no more away games at Dens- we've won two cup finals and clinched the league there so it's our favourite ground! A lot of Arabs will be very sad if we don't get to play there anymore."