New training complex hasn’t hampered Del’s budget says Dons chief

ABERDEEN vice-chairman Dave Cormack insists manager Derek McInnes’s budget has not been hampered by the building of the club’s new training ground Cormack Park.

The training facility and community hub was officially opened by former manager Sir Alex Ferguson last Thursday.

Cormack is aware some Dons fans are concerned t h e c l u b ’s focus on delivering the new £13 million training ground means investment in the team has been adversely affected – but he insists that is not the case.

The Dons director concedes Aberdeen cannot compete financially with the Old Firm but insists manager McInnes has been supported by the board.

He said: “There is a bit of an arms race between Celtic and Rangers with Rangers coming back up and spending money. Celtic have upped the ante as well and those are tough things to compete with.

“Some people think we have skimped on t he football operations budget to take the money for the training ground.

“That was never the case because we are up significantly on our football wage bill over the last three years. The budgets for both were separated.”

One area where t he vice-chairman believes Cormack Park can help the manager is in attracting players and he says the new facility has already proven a valuable asset to McInnes in his attempts to attract talent to the club.

He said: “This is critical for the football club. You could argue t hat t he training ground is more critical than the stadium.

“It helped us bring the likes of Ryan Hedges and Funso Ojo to the club because they came to see these facilities.”

Aberdeen vice-chairman Dave Cormack.