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Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack insists club is on the road to recovery despite posting £5.29m operating loss

Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack.
Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack.

Aberdeen have posted an operating loss of £5.29 million for the period ended June 30, 2022.

The figure represents an additional £100,000 loss in comparison to the £5.19m loss recorded in 2021.

Despite the disappointing figures, which were recorded prior to the sale of Calvin Ramsay and Lewis Ferguson in the summer, Dons chairman Dave Cormack believes the club is on the road to recovery after the impact of the global Covid pandemic was laid bare at Pittodrie.

Turnover increased £2.79m from 2021 to £13.86m while wages increased from £9.36m to £10.23m during the period.

Cormack said: “The club’s wages to turnover ratio is still high at 74% because we have continued to invest in the first team.

“We are now spending around 80% more on our guaranteed player wage bill, compared to five years ago.

“But this ensures we remain competitive with other clubs, such as Hibs and Hearts, who are also making significant investments.

“To balance the books, we are developing and acquiring talent which, at the right time, we can monetise through player sales, as we did this summer with the sale of Lewis Ferguson to Bologna in August and Calvin Ramsay to Liverpool in July.”

Poor campaign last season has not prevented further investment in the squad

Summer signing Bojan Miovski is the joint leading goalscorer in the Scottish Premiership.

A disappointing season under former manager Stephen Glass impacted the club financially.

But the Dons chairman is confident the investment of almost £2m in transfer fees for players such as Bojan Miovski, Ylber Ramadani and Vicente Besuijen, and emerging home grown talent such as Connor Barron, Jack MacKenzie, Ryan Duncan and Alfie Bavidge, stands the club in good stead for the future.

Cormack said: “Ending the season in a very disappointing 10th place in the league, it was clear that a significant overhaul of the playing squad was needed.

“As a result, in this summer’s transfer window, 10 first team players left the club with 11 coming in.

“This rebuild was largely made possible by experienced EPL scout, Darren Mowbray, who was appointed head of recruitment in August 2021.

Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin and summer signing Ylber Ramadani.

“As a result of the significant recruitment work done in advance of the summer transfer window opening, right across Europe, by Darren and his team, working hand-in-hand with our director of football Steven Gunn and Jim Goodwin, the club got most of its summer transfer business done early.

“Whilst there’s no getting away from a poor 2021/22 season, an important and critical part of our strategy is being one of the best developers of young talent in Scotland, underpinned by our Youth Academy.

“In 2021/22 all academy age groups travelled to and competed in elite European youth tournaments.

“This massive logistical and financial commitment is critical to exposing young, developing players to elite level competition with the likes of Ajax, Liverpool and Chelsea at an early age.”

Chairman committed to club being at the heart of the community

Aberdeen Women’s five semi-professional players – Jess Broadrick, Eilidh Shore, Eva Thomson, Bayley Hutchison and Francesca Ogilvie. Image: Aberdeen FC.

Increased investment in the women’s team has been made with five players on professional contracts for the first time in the club’s history.

In addition to the ongoing strategy of investing in the men and women’s team, and increasing revenue through new initiatives, the Dons chairman insists the club remains committed to improving fan engagement, being at the heart of the community and developing plans for a new stadium.

Cormack said: “The board believes we have the right football strategy and management team in place, and that we’ve made the right investments in young talent.

“While first team performance is critical, there has been significant progress on the key pillars of our strategy, such as the youth academy, growing our commercial income, and fan engagement.

“Off the pitch, we have been highly successful with increased commercial revenues, improved match-day experience and fan engagement initiatives.

“Despite the pandemic creating ongoing uncertainty about when fans would be allowed back, we sold a record number, 8,922, of full season tickets for the 2021/22 season.

“I must sincerely thank all our supporters, sponsors and partners for their ongoing loyalty, particularly after such a disappointing end to last year’s season.

“I can reassure them that the board, management and staff continue to work tirelessly to push the club we all love forward.”

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