YOUTH HURTS
Dons supremo Cormack warns academies will suffer most as a result of Covid crisis as clubs protect their first teams
ABERDEEN chairman Dave Cormack believes the tsunami that is heading for Scottish football could sweep away a generation of rising stars.
The country may be basking in Steve Clarke’s squad ending 23 years of hurt by qualifying for next summer’s Euros but domestically the prospects don’t look as bright.
Money is tighter than ever and with no plans to get fans back into stadia it has left many clubs close to breaking point.
Aberdeen are in a better position than most but Cormack knows if they see a full-scale drop in season tickets in the next campaign – with so many jobs being lost and the supporters not knowing when they will be able to physically watch their team again – it would cause all clubs financial hell.
The Dons chairman, whose club has announced an operating loss of £3million because of the Covid-19 fallout, is in regular contact with the hierarchy at other clubs.
The concern with them is if they can’t find ways to bring in revenues then the majority of funds will be put into first-team pools and everything else, from the development to the academy and community trusts, will lose out.
Cormack knows it could have a devastating effect on our game, causing untold damage that could take years from which to recover.
He said: “My feeling talking to clubs across the board is that everyone will do their best to protect their first team’s competitiveness.
“It’s not the core activity, the first team, that will suffer. You’ll have to look at everything off the field – your academies and community trust. The game is going to survive but in what shape or form?
“What damage will be done to it with no plan? That’s the question.
“If there are significant cutbacks in academies we risk, from the national team’s perspective, our competitiveness.
“My concern is for the youth academy and up, what damage does this do?
“Again, it’s just my opinion. I’m not saying for Aberdeen but we have already seen cutbacks at those levels with clubs and if we cut back on our coaching at academy level and that suffers
then how long will it take for us to get back?
“You cut 30, 40 or 50 per cent of the coaching then that will have an effect on the players coming through, just by virtue of cutting back. What will it take for it to recover and that then has an effect on the national team at Under-17 to 21 level?”
The Aberdeen chief, who along with friends has brought around £20m of investment into the club, knows people will say if their club is struggling so badly financially then why has he allowed manager Derek McInnes to bring in Jonny Hayes, Greg Leigh, Tommie Hoban,
Gary Woods and Ross McCrorie, along with Marley Watkins and Ryan Edmondson on loan?
Cormack insists that the priority of the club has to be success on the pitch and that is why they budgeted accordingly. They did have to sell Scott McKenna to Nottingham Forest for £3m and bring in outside investment and ask staff to take wage cuts and deferrals.
Plans for the new stadium have also been put on hold.
He said: “Our turnover this season will drop to £10m, that will include £2m-£3m of prize money.
“We aim each year to get into Europe each year. If we budgeted to finish 12th then we might be in a different situation.
“We have to invest. If we took £1m out of our football budget it might cost us £2m-£3m in prime money. That is the dilemma clubs like Aberdeen have.
“We budget for getting to the latter stages of the cup, finishing high up in the league and in Europe.
“So when people say you’re investing in players but you’re having a hard time that is the dilemma we’ve got. We feel we’re making the right and prudent decisions on that investment.”
Cormack has also warned any circling predators that Aberdeen won’t be selling any of their top stars, like Lewis Ferguson and Sam Cosgrove, unless they get full market value.
He said: “You have to look at everything in context.
“I think one or two clubs thought with the players we had and going through Covid-19 we would be easy to deal with.
“I can tell you the negotiations with Nottingham Forest took two weeks. We will not sell any player for under their value at all!”