Dynamic response bodes well for Dons
Cormack promises he’ll be front and centre with Aberdeen to help bring back the red-letter days
IN a parallel universe Dave Cormack would have spent this morning looking out a sharp suit and carefully knotting his club tie, all in preparation for the moment he would stride into the Hampden directors’ box for his first marquee occasion as Aberdeen chairman.
Rather than gaze proudly at the 17,500 members of the Red Army who had bought tickets for a Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic, he will instead make do with a loving look at his assorted grandchildren as they assemble at a safe social distance on the driveway of his home in Atlanta, Georgia.
‘My wife Fiona has a weak immune system, so we’re isolating,’ he says via the now ubiquitous video call. ‘Two of our kids, their better halves and our five grandkids all live five minutes from us.
‘They come down to see us and the kids can’t understand why they can’t get come up and get hugs. ‘I never thought we would see this
in my lifetime. Hopefully we all come out of it feeling thankful for what we’ve got.’
Stuck 4,000 miles from his beloved football club, Cormack (below) has been equally grounded in leading Aberdeen’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
A very different style of chairman from his predecessor Stewart Milne, he clearly enjoys the profile of the role he assumed back in December and is using it not only to advance a football ambition, but to redefine the club’s place within the city.
Even before a package of investment and partial wage deferrals was announced to mitigate against an anticipated revenue shortfall of £5million, Cormack had mobilised the club’s entire staff in reaction to the shutdown.
There have been food parcel deliveries through the Dons community trust. Players have been hitting the phones, not only to encourage season-ticket sales, but also to offer a morale boost to the many fans struggling to cope mentally with lockdown. ‘The city council told us one in four people are suffering,’ says Cormack. ‘And the police tell us domestic violence is up, too. If people are in flats and feeling isolated, then it’s important we keep in touch.
‘The players have been brilliant. I’ve been making a few calls and some ask: “Is that really you calling from America? It must be a costing you a fortune!” Others just want to talk all day about the football.’
Cormack’s front-and-centre approach is, to put it mildly, not what the Aberdeen public have been used to.
The partnership of the low-key Milne and Derek McInnes brought on-field success, yet while Aberdeen are firmly established as Scotland’s third force, Cormack has ambitions to contest for more trophies and break into Europe’s top 100 clubs.
Prior to assuming the chair, the software mogul had diverted funds towards Aberdeen’s new training complex, the eponymously named Cormack Park.
Plans for a new stadium have been placed on pause as the Dons weather the financial storm yet, even as uncertainty abounds, he retains a big vision.
Aberdeen are not the only club to benefit from transatlantic investment over the last couple of years and Cormack hopes the American influence rubs off.
‘Hopefully, myself, Ron Gordon at Hibs and the Dundee United guys will bring a different perspective,’ he continues. ‘At Aberdeen, certainly, our fan engagement has to be much better.
‘I’m looking to lead from the front and be a catalyst for everybody else at the club to be lifted up.
‘If you do the right thing by people, then that comes around. Whether you’re spiritual or religious or not, I think that holds.’
This kind of evangelism contrasts somewhat with McInnes’s notoriously careful approach to football management.
Even amid lucrative approaches from Sunderland and Rangers, the manager’s attachment to the club has held firm since 2013 but he has had to adjust to a new dynamic.
‘I have known Derek for over three years but moving from vice-chairman to chairman does change things a bit,’ admits Cormack. ‘Early on, I told him not to call me chairman. Call me Dave, I’m one of the guys, part of the team.
‘Within the club, I have been accused of being relentless, hopefully in a nice way. I’m a workaholic, passionate about what we do and Derek is the same.
‘Ninety days in the job we had almost equalled our worst home record in history and now we’ve had this virus come in. If ever there is a time to test your relationship with someone, it’s round about now.’
And yet in the face of a crisis the two men have worked in a rather slick fashion.
Once the financial realities of the indefinite suspension of the football season became apparent, the pair put their heads together.
While the chairman set about raising £2m of emergency funding from a group of investors, McInnes had the task of trimming the club’s wage bill by negotiating deferrals with his playing squad.
‘We had a conversation around how we could make this a soft landing for everybody at the club,’ explains Cormack. ‘There are people who have maybe been here 20 or 30 years, especially those below a certain wage threshold, who we were not going to touch.
‘So I gave it to Derek. I said here’s what I would like to see. This feels like a good number for me. However you want to come up with it, come back to me.
‘I learned a long time ago that if you tell people what to do or dictate to them, you never get buy-in.
‘Derek was fantastic. He led from the front. He won’t thank me for saying it but he made a significant financial sacrifice himself.
‘I have heard some other CEOs and chairmen say they are dealing with agents and players.
‘I haven’t had to do any of that and so I am really thankful to Derek. We are in a good place.
‘Listen, we are both intense people. Adversity tests relationships. I think it has been very helpful for Derek to go through this.’
On the day of the season’s suspension, Aberdeen were due to face Motherwell at Fir Park. Win, and they would have overtaken their opponents to grab third spot in the Premiership.
Throw in the cup semi and the Dons have again remained a competitive force under McInnes’s relentlessly consistent management.
And yet all has not been well this term. On more than one occasion the fans have been heard chanting for their manager to go. The crowds remain an issue.
Then there is the new chairman’s publicly expressed desire to see ‘attacking and exciting football’ as he attempts to lure the spectators back to the stadium.
I’m looking to be a catalyst for everybody else at the club to be lifted up
Is friction inevitable? ‘We are at a stage now where we are comfortable saying things to each other,’ adds the chairman. ‘There are no hidden agendas. I’m a pretty open book.
‘If you are going to fail, then fail fast and learn quickly rather than bury your head in the sand.
‘I think Derek is very much the same. He has a way he likes to operate but he is not inflexible.
‘He has said himself that it has been a really frustrating 12-18 months. We haven’t won enough home games in that period, which is unlike Aberdeen.
‘We just need to think back about three years ago when we had Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn. We had that team humming and exciting.
‘I’m 61 now and wish that when I was 40 I knew what I do now. You need to be patient, supportive and collaborative.
‘We are seeing the players coming back from injury. I don’t think it’s a case of changing strategy, it’s a case of getting everybody healthy.
‘We also have some exciting young players coming through. Derek has been with us seven years and we are now in a position where we’re starting to see the rewards for the efforts Neil Simpson and our youth academy have put in over that time.
‘Our goal is to win games and be exciting. Yes, this season has been disappointing but I am confident we have the right manager and the right squad in place that will deliver for us.’
Cormack still calls Aberdeen home and, assuming air travel restrictions allow, will return for his next fix of live football.
‘People think I’m charging firstclass tickets and so on but I’m not,’ he laughs. ‘And I pay for every single match ticket. Every shirt.
‘When I’m home, I often stay in Kincorth with my 90-year-old mother-in-law at the council house we bought 20 years ago.’
Cormack’s favourite memory of growing up centres round the crowds that thronged on and around Union Street the day after the club’s Scottish Cup win under Eddie Turnbull in 1970.
‘I listened on the radio but that’s the one I remember best,’ he reflects. ‘There were 130,000 people out from Holborn Street to Union Street to the Town House.
‘As an 11-year-old boy, that really resonated with me. It was just fabulous.’
In 1990, he was at Hampden as Alex Smith’s team beat Celtic in a penalty shoot-out.
Three decades have passed since that last Scottish Cup win, too long for a club of Aberdeen’s size.
Even against a Celtic team who have not lost a domestic cup tie in four years, Cormack is bullish in his outlook.
‘I always fancy our chances,’ he insists. ‘Obviously, it’s a challenge. Celtic have a wage bill six times larger than ours.
‘But in a one-off game we would be up for it and certainly give them a run for their money.
‘I remember Brian Irvine scoring the penalty against them in 1990.
‘Maybe there is something significant in having the zero at the end of the year. 1970, 1990… 2020?’
Early on I told Derek not to call me ‘Chairman’. Call me Dave, I’m one of the guys, part of the team