Stewart Milne has been around Scottish football long enough to know that the creation of solutions tends to be followed closely by a fresh volley of problems.

The proposal for a major restructuring of Aberdeen's finances, endorsed at the club's AGM, may have brought a sense of relief to Milne, the chairman, but there are still unanswered questions over the issues of a new training complex and a state-of-the-art stadium, the latter mooted for the south side of the Granite City.

For a man not keen to embrace the limelight, the head of one of the country's leading building companies was quite bullish as shareholders agreed that loans his company and Aberdeen Asset Management had given the club could be exchanged for around 10 million shares, while there was also a round of applause for Willie and Elaine Donald for their generosity in ploughing in a significant sum, thought to be in the region of £3m, to take up the slack and leave the club just £200,000 in the red.

The Donalds, who run a hugely successful civil engineering and construction company from their Aberdeenshire base, were not present to accept the plaudits. Coronation Street may have been the preference for this private couple rather than being required to take a bow.

That a near-£15m debt has now been obliterated brought immediate questions from the floor. Would Derek McInnes, the manager, be given funds to strengthen his already impressive squad in the January transfer window? What was the progress regarding the training facility and the stadium?

Milne was forthright on the matter of new players. None would be recruited, he insisted. What was the point of clearing the decks financially simply to enter into new debts?

There were noises, similar to those offered at last year's AGM, on the training and new ground projects, which sounded inconclusive. Talks were taking place with Aberdeen University, which owns the land in the Bridge of Don area of the city on which the training facility might be built, though it and a bright, shiny new home would require vast sums of money. Stand by by for another share issue - their fourth in the last 20 years - and a hope that new revenues might be found to plug any gap.

"Ideally we would like to move from Pittodrie as quickly as we can," Milne said, "but we live in the real world. We have taken a huge step in dealing with the debt and the next big step that we have to take is delivering the training facilities that Derek McInnes [the manager] and the guys badly need.

"Once we get that advanced to a serious stage then we can start looking at serious timescale for delivering the stadium."

There is, however, the not inconsiderable detail of a falling oil price with warnings from business leaders in the north-east that the area might be about to enter a world other parts of the country have known for several years, one of cuts and austerity.

"That has potential to have an impact on the football club," Milne admitted. "There is going to be a tightening up in lots of areas over the next 12 to 24 months. That is something we will just have to deal with.

"We have to focus on the things that we can manage and do something about. But the biggest single thing that is going to have an impact is what we do out on the pitch. That is where we can take a fair bit of confidence as we have a very good management team in place. They have a built squad that can compete at the top end of the game and we have got to continue to build over what they have done over the last 12 to 18 months."

While Milne brushed aside the recent comments of Barry Hearn, the snooker promoter who criticised Scottish football's inability to market itself, he yearned for a return to the top flight of Rangers, Hearts and Hibs to boost the game's economy.

"I think people have to put in context what Barry Hearn has said," he added. "I think most people would acknowledge there are some underlying messages there.

"It is always easy to fly in and make statements and fly out again. It is a totally different thing when you have to live with it and try to make things happen in the environment that has been prevailing in the last period. Without any doubt, it makes the situation an easier sell if we have all our clubs competing in the top league.

"I'm not sitting here saying we couldn't have done more over the last five years; I think we always have to be prepared to challenge ourselves and not just accept this is the best we can do."

Milne, meanwhile, accepts that the Dons will, in time, lose the services of McInnes, because of his success in the eighteen months he had been at Pittodrie; third in the league and winners of the League Cup last season.

But, the chairman, stressed, there was still much work for the manager to do before he thinks of departing. "We have achieved a lot lately," he said, "and the major factor in that has been the impact Derek has made since coming into the club.

"What happens on the pitch gives us momentum and is the driving force for everything else.

"It's part and parcel of football that a successful manager will attract attention from elsewhere and we know we have to work hard to keep Derek here. But I think he would be the first to admit that when he took on the job he was taking on a big task.

"He wasn't coming in to be a one or two year wonder as he has just started something at Aberdeen. We made really good progress on that journey in the last 18 months but he knows there is still a long way to go.

"I have no reason not to believe anything other than than the fact that Derek has every intention of seeing that through."