Wicks’ high-octane past can send Dons into financial overdrive
He’s the ex-motorsports man tasked with supercharging Aberdeen’s earnings.
But the Dons commercial director, Robert Wicks, is also set on revving up Derek Mcinnes’ spending power.
Wicks arrived at Pittodrie in March with one clear aim – helping Aberdeen break into European football’s top 100 clubs.
Getting there means growing the Dons’ revenue from £14.5m to £20m – then translating that into success on the pitch. And the South African, who geared up for his move to the Granite City with a 19-year career in the superbike and powerboat worlds, is already fine-tuning the money-making engine that will power Derek Mcinnes’ side to new heights.
“I’m massively conscious of the need to deliver the kind of revenue boost that can be used on the pitch,” said Wicks. “That’s absolutely why I’m here. “I’ve got a great relationship with Derek. I think the work he’s done here over the last number of years is: a) fantastic, and b) very easily identifiable in terms of its consistency.
“We’ve got an excellent working relationship and he’s got a vision of what he wants to achieve at the club.
“He’s got a great team around him and, if you look at the way in which we finished last season, it was hugely impressive.”
Wicks has had an impressive career himself to date. Educated in his native South Africa (where he played in goal for his university football team), he moved to Europe 19 years ago to work for the World Superbike Championship.
A move to Suzuki’s Motogp team followed, before a switch to the Powerboat P1 organisation.
Wicks could easily have continued on his high-octane, globetrotting path.
But he revealed the potential he saw in Aberdeen convinced him to lay down roots in the North East, where his family will join him in August.
“I’m really encouraged by what I see here,” he said. “My feeling two months in – almost to the day – is that things are overwhelmingly positive.
“I sat in an initial interview with Stewart Milne, Dave Cormack and Duncan Fraser in London in December.
“It can often be the case that you’re told one thing, and when you get into it, the reality is very different. But that’s certainly not the case at Pittodrie.
“It has been very much as they sold and described the role to me, which is very encouraging, and I believe there is significant untapped potential.”
He added: “We’ve ostensibly got three goals – one is to be a UEFA top-100 club.
“Commercial can make a significant contribution towards that, but a lot of it is also driven by football performance.
“The second goal is to boost the turnover, and there are a number of things coming down the line that will give us scope, including a new TV deal. “Third is around the new stadium. “We’ve got a number of constraints at Pittodrie. We’re at capacity in terms of hospitality, and there are only so many advertising boards you can put up.
“So for the short-term that we’re still here, we’ve got to find some creative ways of bringing people on board in a capacity-strained environment.”
The granting of planning permission for the Dons’ new home at Kingsford has opened up a world of new possibilities for the club.
Chief amongst them, in financial terms, is the prospect of selling naming rights – an operation that is already well under way before a spade has hit the ground.
But while the future looks bright, Wicks is also conscious that – with that £20m revenue target on the horizon – the present must be looked after.
Financial success now will aid Derek Mcinnes in the short term as the Dons aim for Europa League progress, silverware and another Premiership challenge.
And the good news is that the first of Wicks’ major projects – the ABERDNA monthly membership scheme, from which all profits are ploughed into Mcinnes’ coffers – is already paying dividends.
“We’ve got some financial results to come in the not-too-distant future, and I think you’ll see a healthy uplift on last year,” revealed the South African.
“It has been a very positive year for the club. We’ve just had our latest budget signed off and we’ve been quite aggressive in what we want to try to achieve – that’s across the board.
“We’ve kicked off the ABERDNA membership, and that has gone very well – perhaps beyond our initial expectations.
“We’re close to getting 5,500 members within eight weeks of being on sale, which is very, very good. Those are annual recurring revenues for the club that are going to go towards the football operation.
“That’s really important.
“It’s all well and good talking to fans about contributing towards the club.
“But if we can demonstrate where those funds go, and that they have helped to secure the signing of a new player, or some new high-performance-related equipment, or an improvement in our sports science, that makes a massive difference.”