Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘When clubs are honest and up front, everybody can accept it a bit better’; ex-Don Darren Young on Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack’s bleak financial prediction

East Fife manager and former Don Darren Young.
East Fife manager and former Don Darren Young.

Former Aberdeen midfielder Darren Young reckons Dons chairman Dave Cormack was right to lay bare his prediction of dire financial consequences.

East Fife manager Young said the honesty of Cormack, who revealed the Dons face a shortfall of £5million during the expected coronavirus shutdown with no income, will be appreciated by players and fans.

Monthly outgoings at Pittodrie of £1.2million were part of the message Cormack issued on Wednesday, also stating that no club in Scotland could withstand a total lack of income for up to six months.

Young, who sees the opposite end of the financial scale with his part-time League 1 outfit, said at least those connected with the club will know the situation they are facing.

He said: “I saw what Dave Cormack was saying – he’s put the figures out there and he’s been honest. There’s a slight difference with the Hearts situation, where they came out without any real explanation and said ‘we want you to take a 50 per cent cut’.

“Aberdeen haven’t said that but said there’s going to be this deficit, this is where the money would be coming from and this is where it would be going. When clubs are honest and up front, everybody can accept it a bit better and understand where it’s coming from.

“I think they’ve done the right thing. At the end of the day it’s a business and everyone has to look after themselves. It’s clarity for fans and for players. Ideally you want to get back playing as soon as possible but first and foremost you need to make sure the lockdown is working and the disease has passed.

“Aberdeen have come out and said this is what our position is and for me, Hearts haven’t done that. It’s up to them if they want to explain why. Each to their own – every club will have their own wee bit.”

Young’s brother Derek works for Aberdeen as their under-17’s coach, with all football suspended in Scotland until at least April 30. Many clubs have warned of sustained periods without any income from gate receipts, hospitality and sponsorship, particularly in the lower leagues.

Young added: “It’s worrying for everybody because there’s no end date in sight. It’s just a case of ticking over until we know. They’re saying April 30 – do I think that’s going to happen? Probably not. You’re going, five weeks down the line, from isolation to 80,000 people going back to football grounds. I can’t see that happening.

“From my point of view, I don’t think the league will be voided, whether that means next season starting late or whatever. I think they’ll make sure they finish off this season first and take it from there.

“The boys wages will go in at the end of the week for this month and then we’ll probably be look most clubs and go month-to-month. There’s obviously the government helping out as well – everybody will be looking to see how the 80 per cent of wages being paid works out.

“At the start you do worry about your wages but when it gets a bit more serious, you’re like ‘do you know what, we’ll just make sure our health is alright’.”