Aberdeen City Council has severed ties with Dons historians over a commemorative plaque bearing the group’s name.
The local authority’s city growth and resources committee approved plans for the plaque at The Chanonry in February.
It marks the home ground of The Reds from 1888 to 1898 and forms part of a trail linking historic club sites.
In June, beaming Dons historians fixed the marker to a wall just beyond the gate to Cruickshank Botanic Gardens.
But that followed behind-the-scenes discussions about the inclusion of the “AFC Heritage” name at the bottom of it.
It was said to constitute “sponsorship”, which is a strict red card offence…
The historians say these talks culminated with a “last minute” U-turn from the local authority, “objecting to its inclusion”.
With plans in place, they opted to “push ahead” anyway.
What is the Aberdeen FC plaque row all about?
Now the local authority is claiming that the group committed a foul in doing so.
In a letter sent to members of the committee, council plaque bosses explain that the “AFC Heritage” engraving on the caste aluminium reminder of the past should have been disallowed.
The message states: “The council’s scheme does not allow any notice of sponsorship to appear on the plaque, in the interests of keeping the scheme consistent and clearly identifiable.
“As the nominating body, AFC Heritage wished to acknowledge their sponsorship of the plaque with ‘AFC Heritage’ added to the bottom edge of the plaque, in keeping with other plaques they have erected independently.”
Watch as the plaque is installed:
They think it’s all over… It is now!
The crucial difference is that the group’s other plaques on display at Correction Wynd and Pittodrie were installed without council involvement, and therefore did not need to adhere to these rules.
After their latest tribute being declared offside, AFC Heritage “have withdrawn from the official Aberdeen City Council commemorative plaque scheme”.
As for the Chanonry memento, the council says this means it “has no further responsibility for its promotion or upkeep”.
The Trust’s Stewart Eaton said the council had already approved plans for similar plaques – complete with the “AFC Heritage” design – elsewhere.
He told us: “We followed the same process for the Chanonry plaque and, again, the council approved the design.
“However, at the last minute, the council changed their minds and objected to the inclusion of AFC Heritage at the bottom of the plaque.
“Because we had already installed two plaques with AFC Heritage at the bottom, we decided to push ahead with the consistent design.”
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Mr Eaton also showed the P&J previous correspondence between his group and the council’s planning department which showed the “AFC Heritage” slogan being given the go-ahead.
During discussions in 2018, he explained that “AFC Heritage ” was not intended to advertise the group – but rather denote the theme of the plaque.
The messages show he was told that would be “absolutely fine”.
Read more here about how The Chanonry was once home to the top football venue in Aberdeen.Â
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