Aberdeen have been left with a £3.8million funding gap due to the coronavirus but chairman Dave Cormack insists the club will not have to sell a player to plug it.
The Dons yesterday agreed a 20% wage cut with staff, players and management at Pittodrie who earn more than £30,000 per year with the reduction bringing the club’s wage bill down by £1million.
Following the wage deferral agreement, season ticket sales, AberDNA membership and £2million cash injection from investors in April the Dons have reduced the initial £10million funding gap by £6.2million and Cormack insists the club is under no pressure to sell a key player.
He said: “I’m telling you that, even though we have been transparent with our fans about filling these gaps, we will not bend over backwards and be taken for granted as far as selling players are concerned.
“That’s like a red rag to a bull to me. People not wanting to pay full and fair value for the players.
“It’s important to have the right strategy in place and to hold to your values.
“I can’t speak for other clubs in Scotland, but we most certainly have got an edict where we’ll get value for the players.
“We just need to wait and see, but we are going into this season not expecting to sell a player.
“The gap that we have got there, I believe we will fill that gap.
“For example, we’re way on the way to looking at a government loan, so we have many irons in the fire to deal with this.”
The Dons accepted an offer in excess of £2million from French club Guingamp earlier this month but Cosgrove opted to stay at Pittodrie.
The chairman insists the club is under no pressure to sell to balance the books.
He said: “The offer for Sam came in at the eleventh hour – literally. There wasn’t enough time for the player to consider what it might be.
“We have a £3.8million hole this season we need to fill. But, for me, it was about doing the right thing.
“The other thing is that when you get offers for players these days 99.9% of them are almost like hire purchase. They want to pay for the player over three or four years.
“Guingamp have a very very good track record of developing players and the package for us was substantial.
“It was over £2million and it was cash up front. It wasn’t hire purchase over a few years. So, look, we felt it was important to give that opportunity to Sam to have a look at it late in the day.
“It is what it is, there is no issue as that. But if you are going to spend more than you bring in each season – and we do that slightly – then you have to sell players down the line.”