THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
Cormack believes tie up with Atlanta will strengthen Aberdeen
THE success of the Dave Cormack era at Aberdeen will be gauged by his dexterity on a tightrope. The new chairman has inherited the task of raising the cash for a new £45million 20,000-seater stadium in the city’s Kingsford district, while striving to keep a competitive team on the pitch.
‘It’s a hard balancing act,’ he concedes in a fleeting moment of understatement.
With a teak tan and teeth as white as his freshly-pressed shirt, Cormack is an antidote to the grey walls of the Granite City. Raised in humble surroundings in the Garthdee district in Aberdeen, he now cuts a larger-than-life figure. Bullish and forthright in his opinions, the Atlanta-based businessman rejects the idea that the easiest thing would be to stay put at Pittodrie.
It may come to that anyway, of course. A recent valuation of the club’s iconic home valued the old place at no more than £11m.
And while a £5m investment by Cormack and AMB Sports & Entertainment, parent company of Atlanta United, provides cashflow to cover the annual £750,000 maintenance bill for the state-ofthe-art training ground, the new field of dreams needs another £34m to become a reality by what the chairman describes as a ‘moveable’ target date of 2023.
Pondering whether staying at Pittodrie may yet be the most realistic and viable option, Cormack admits: ‘You can never say never and if we can’t raise the money, then we can’t do it. But we are confident our best opportunity is to move out to Kingsford.
‘I’m not fixated on two years here or six years here. I want to make sure we are investing in the football team as there is no way we are going to invest in a stadium and have a team which is ninth in the league. The critical factor for us is the performance of the first team.
‘Listen, £45m is a lot to raise and if you look at our recent report, we’ve had Pittodrie valued recently and there is no point in us trying to sell. We wouldn’t maximise the value of Pittodrie in the current downturn.
‘We are working with consultants in London and we have a significant amount of money lined up from companies ready to invest. We also want Atlanta United to take a look at what the stadium would look like and the real costs associated with it.’
Atlanta United share the 70,000 Mercedes-Benz Arena with owner Arthur Blank’s Atlanta Falcons NFL team. A technological marvel with an iris-shaped retractable roof; the concession stands sell hot dogs for a knockdown $2.
And, best of all, hundreds of millions of dollars were contributed by the taxpayers of the state of Georgia. As Aberdeen City Council wrestles with budget cuts and jobs losses, that’s not an option at Cormack’s disposal.
‘Nobody can commit to money that isn’t there today,’ he acknowledges, ‘but a new stadium is our best option.
‘Let’s say we got £15m for the sale of Pittodrie. Well, Hearts spent £18m building their new stand.
‘It would cost us £55m to redevelop the stands here so when you weigh that up against £45m for a custom-built stadium and you have reduced the actual cost to £30m due to the sale of Pittodrie, then that’s a £25m difference at Kingsford.
‘Plus, we think we can raise £3m-5m more of income there, which will allow us to invest in the team.’
How the quest to raise funds for the new arena impacts on the current team is a trickier question to answer.
Aberdeen have turned down bids for defender Scott McKenna from the likes of Nottingham Forest. Asked if players might have to be sold to raise the cash for the stadium, Cormack is non-committal. ‘We have resisted offers for players,’ he says. ‘We did it in the summer and not just for Scott McKenna. ‘But at the right time when there are players coming through, of course we will look at accepting offers. Scott will move on at some stage of his career.
‘There are no cliques in our dressing room. We’ve got nice guys in the dressing room.
‘We are going to take a deep breath on this. Phase one (of the stadium) is done but we have a lot of work to do on phase two.
‘Meanwhile, we are going to do our utmost to improve the fan experience at Pittodrie.’
Commendable though the quest for an MLS fan experience might be, what supporters crave most is the taste of victory over Rangers at Pittodrie next Wednesday night.
The impossible quest to keep pace with the wage budgets of the Old Firm has also made some impatient for change in the technical area as much as the boardroom.
Insulated by a strong relationship of mutual respect with Stewart Milne, the focus will now be on how Derek McInnes gets on with his replacement. Cormack is a very different kind of Aberdonian to the man he succeeds, but he insists they share a mutual regard for how the manager goes about his business.
‘I’ve been on the board for almost three years and so obviously the relationship with Derek is already a close one,’ he says.
‘I’m a great believer in transparency when it comes to keeping the fans informed as it’s their club as well.’
Despite his interests in Atlanta, Cormack plans to be a hands-on figurehead. Embarking on a 90-day consultation period with Atlanta United, ideas will be exchanged and changes made where appropriate.
Technical director Carlos Bocanegra and assistant Jonathan Spector (once of Hibernian) have already been to Aberdeen and Cormack believes a Scottish club can learn from them.
‘I am going to take on the executive chairman role,’ he explains. ‘And the relationship with Atlanta, I learned a long time ago if you can’t innovate then imitate! We will pick the projects and get them done correctly rather than taking on too many.’
I want to make sure we are investing in the team as there is no way we are going to invest in a stadium and have a team sitting ninth in the league