Cormack: Dons can punch above weight

Dave Cormack is confident the financial gulf will not prevent Aberdeen from punching above their weight when tackling Glasgow heavyweights Celtic and Rangers.

Cormack will succeed Stewart Milne as chairman at the club’s AGM on December 16 and he is enlisting help from the United States as the prepares for the task of challenging the Old Firm.

He knows the Dons are at a distinct financial disadvantage but believes with the help of new strategic partner Atlanta United, who have invested £2 million in the club, Aberdeen can close the gap.

He said: “The challenge we have right now in Scottish football at the moment is with Celtic and Rangers upping the game with their investment.

“One of our fans likened it to an arms race between the two of them and it’s obviously tough to compete.

“But I had people telling me that none of my businesses would work but we ended up creating $2 billion of value between the companies.

“Not because of me, because of the people involved in the companies and we are going to give it a real go at Aberdeen. We can’t compete with Celtic spending £60m on wages but we can up our game in terms of getting players here like Funso Ojo and Ryan Hedges.

“They wouldn’t sign for us until they saw how the training ground was coming along.”

The new presence of Atlanta United, owned by billionaire business Arthur Blank, creator of the Home Depot chain of DIY stores in the US, gives the Dons access to one of the leading clubs in Major League Soccer.

Cormack is determined to make the newly-formed partnership a mutually beneficial one.

He said: “The relationship with Atlanta is a strategic relationship, it is fairly typical of Arthur Blank’s businesses to put some ‘skin in the game’ to show that a partnership means something which is why the £2 million has come in from them.

“What they like is the fact they are three years into the academy and we are 33 years and counting.

“It won’t be one-way traffic. The values and ethics are there and Arthur Blank is big into giving to the communities and is known as Uncle Arthur in Atlanta.

“Aberdeen FC have done a lot with our Community Trust, in winning awards and touching a lot of people.

“(Atlanta president) Darren Eales and I have known each other for a few years now. We got to know the Atlanta people, they have been here, there have been a number of visits.

“Their director of football Carlos Bocanegra has been here doing a best practice with our Youth Academy.”