Dundee and Dundee United’s stadiums are separated by just 200 yards, but plans around two decades ago would have brought the two clubs even closer.Dens Park and Tannadice Park are geographically the two closest senior football stadiums in the UK, quite literally a stones throw apart.Dundee and Dundee United are the closest football stadiums in the UKGettyThe rivalry is not vitriolic like the Old Firm with the derby much friendlier and often splits families.Therefore it is unsurprising that the Scottish Premiership teams previously joined forces on a shared stadium plan.They agreed to build a 30,000-seater stadium at Caird Park, which would have cost £30m, and formed part of Scotland’s Euro 2008 bid.Euro 2008 in ScotlandScotland launched a bid to host the major international tournament and needed six stadiums with a capacity of 30,000. At the time, they had four that could hold at least that amount – Hampden, Ibrox, Celtic Park and Murrayfield.Three of the four were in Glasgow and the other in Edinburgh.This meant two new stadiums would have needed to be built, or existing grounds upgraded to boost their capacity.Caird Park was chosen out of 25 sites looked at in Dundee that would be capable of holding a 30,000-seater site, although this would have been reduced to 20,000 after Euro 2008.The site was home to four holes of a golf course and two rugby pitches at the time.A joint statement issued by the clubs read: “The boards of Dundee FC and Dundee United FC believe that sharing a stadium would not present any major problems to either club.Caird Park would have hosted both Dundee and Dundee United“However, it is important that any rumours that a joint stadium would be a pre-cursor to amalgamation are quashed.“Neither Dundee FC or Dundee United FC have any interest in a merger.“Both have their own distinct and separate identities of which they are extremely proud.”Protests immediately took place from local residents, while supporters from both clubs were unhappy with the plans.UEFA would go on to up their requirement to eight stadiums that could hold 30,000, or more fans, to be able to host the tournament.This meant that Scotland enlisted the help of Ireland to launch a joint bid with Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee fighting for the two other stadium spots.Dens Park, home of Dundee, holds 11,850GettyAberdeen and Dundee were leading the race with this allowing the games to be spread over more of Scotland.The bid document said: “Three new stadiums are included in the bid and each will bring significant benefits.“Dundee Stadium will allow the city’s two professional football clubs to share vastly improved facilities just outside the city centre.“Aberdeen’s proposed new ground will provide a new centre of sporting excellence for the north-east of Scotland.”Those proposals were approved in 2002 despite more than 300 objections.Ireland also didn’t have enough venues over 30,000 to support the bid, so likewise would have needed to either build new stadiums or expand others.Tannadice Park, home of Dundee United, holds 14,223GettyThe Irish government said it could not back the plans with public money, effectively putting a death knell into the Euro 2008 bid.A joint-proposal from Austria and Switzerland was eventually awarded the tournament.