Facility will help improve our team

Six-and-a-half years ago, on starting work here at Aberdeen, Tony Docherty and I took our first training session at the Barracks on a truly awful surface where simple passing drill was not possible.

Back then we were bottom of the league table when it came to facilities.

Tomorrow we’ll do the same drill, not because we haven’t moved on but because it’s a good one, on the new pitches here at Cormack Park where no player can have any complaint.

The board of Aberdeen FC deserve huge credit for delivering this today.

Dave Cormack’s financial support and expertise had a huge bearing on us being here but we must also thank the supporters who helped make this possible.

We have been able to invest in our team on and off the pitch and Cormack Park will help.

We’ve already seen how the facility, even while incomplete, has helped to attract players.

It is hugely fitting Sir Alex Ferguson opened the stadium as his legacy is developing young talent.

Together with Neil Simpson we will be working hard to ensure that legacy remains.

Our academy teams will benefit from increased contact time and the professional players will enjoy more time on the training ground, and floodlighting means greater flexibility.

The opening of Cormack Park gives us a facility we can be rightly proud of.

We have been able to create a true performance hub here to make our players stronger, quicker, more resilient and ultimately better.