Aberdeen will fight on despite council opposition to stadium plan

Friday 24 August 2012

T hese are turbulent times for Aberdeen.

Aberdeen have yet to find a buyer for Pittodrie despite pursuing an ambition to develop a new £38m stadium.

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Frank Gilfeather

George Yule, a millionaire who has made his money in the North Sea oil and gas industry, was brought into the club just six weeks ago to take the reins as executive vice-chairman and has wasted little time in asserting his authority. Yesterday he berated Aberdeen City Council's new administration over access to the club's proposed new stadium.

His comments were mitigated somewhat by the fact that moments earlier he had admitted that not only had his club failed to secure a buyer for Pittodrie to help ease the financial path towards a new stadium, they still hadn't negotiated a deal for the land on which their proposed £38m development on the southern outskirts of the city would be built. That despite claims by the club only months ago that they would be operating from a new ground by the beginning of next season.A row has now broken out with the city council over a second access route to the site of the new stadium through nearby Calder Park, where Aberdeen and Cove Rangers planned a joint development to include a stadium for the Highland League club and training facilities for the Scottish Premier League side. It is an impasse which Yule insists has scuppered his club's plans."The significance of Calder Park isn't just because of the facilities for this club," said Yule. "Part of the plan for the complex included a second access route to the new stadium plus 300 car-park spaces. If you cannot deliver a second access route you are in breach of planning consent. The council have taken away this route and the car park spaces yet we have been working hand in glove with the council and officials for years."What has changed? The political party, who were opposed to the new stadium, has come in and effectively shut it down but I hope there is room for negotiation."Yule, who is also president of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, called a news conference yesterday to air his discontent at the council's decision. Yet he appeared to try and sideline the not insignificant issue of the sale of Pittodrie and the purchase of land at Loirston for the development of the new stadium."Negotiations are in progress to purchase the land, but market value comes into the discussions," said Yule. "The sale of Pittodrie is the first step in the chain, but there has been no great stampede to buy it. We would dearly love an auction to force the price up but we all realise there is an economic recession and create a market for the sale. "The money has to come from somewhere but you need to have something real to help fund the campaign. We know that in our position in the SPL, we can't pass the hat around and say 'give us your money'. We can't move out of Pittodrie until we have a stadium to move to. It's a chicken and egg situation."During his brief tenure at the club Yule, who has been charged by chairman Stewart Milne to effect changes off the pitch, has already ushered a quartet of directors and Willie Miller, the head of youth development, out of the Pittodrie exit before turning his attention to the new stadium development. He believes the council decision was politically motivated and had come as an unanticipated "kick in the groin". Given that everything had been running relatively smoothly with the previous administration at the local authority – before the current Labour, Conservative, Independents coalition – he now feels somewhat put out.As a local, Yule is nothing if not ambitious for the club, though he recognised the potentially perilous nature of their finances. Despite a deficit of around £15m he argued that the club are far from insolvency but the council's decision means the loss of an integral part of their year business plan."We're not on the brink I can assure you of that," he said. "Clearly we require the on-going support of the banks and of our supporters, but it makes it difficult when you get a kick in the groin when you're not expecting it. I can assure you 100% that we will not be rolling over."We now have to look also at the possibility of moving the stadium out with Aberdeen and into Aberdeenshire. If we redeveloped Pittodrie, we would be left with a 12,000 capacity stadium which is okay if you believe Aberdeen is going to be nothing else but a backwater and you forget about staging international games and stuff like that."If we're prepared to be a backwater and a mid-to-lower league team that's okay but is that any way for a business to look to the future? We need to have greater aspiration."

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Aberdeen will fight on despite council opposition to stadium plan

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