Aberdeen FC has accused a Scottish local authority of "disparaging what our supporters bring to this city" in an escalating war of words.
The club has been engaged in talks with Aberdeen City Council over the future of their presence in the city for several years.
The reigning Scottish Cup winners want to partner with the local authority to build a multimillion-pound community stadium at Aberdeen Beach, replacing their current ground at Pittodrie.
However, the current SNP and Liberal Democrat administration has been loath to commit any public funds to the project.
Now, in the latest salvo, Aberdeen FC says “they are at a loss” to explain recent comments by the council’s Finance Convenor Alex McLellan.
McLellan had told the Press and Journal that the club should sell their current ground to a private buyer, if “they need to raise capital”.
He quipped: “If Dave Cormack needs to raise capital to fund the stadium, he should be looking to the private market to sell Pittodrie.
“If he were confident in its value, I am sure he would be able to sell it.”
In response, the club says they are committing to investing ‘tens of millions’ into a new stadium.
They said in a statement: “As the anchor tenant of a new multi-sports, community stadium, Aberdeen FC will pay hefty rent and rates, adding tens of millions in new revenues to Aberdeen City Council, over a long-term lease.
“And, as if that wasn’t appealing enough to a cash-strapped local authority, a new economic impact report from BiGGAR Economics revealed that this transformational project will generate £3.2billion into the local economy over 50 years.
“It beggars' belief that Councillors, who are supposed to have the interests of our city at heart, are not taking this seriously.”
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The club went on to accuse leading councillors of providing “misleading briefings" to the media.
They added: “This beachfront vision can still be pulled off and, with the demise of our oil and gas industry being accelerated by government policy, it’s even more urgent that Aberdeen shows ambition by committing to deliver projects which will make companies and people want to remain here.
“The ball is not in our court, it is well and truly in the hands of our Council leaders – only they have the mandate and the ability to secure public, capital investment to drive a major infrastructure project like this.”
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