Miller: Don’t dare call us a bunch of penny-pinchers

All cash goes back into the team

By Willie Miller

Published:

UNHAPPY: Aberdeen football director Willie Miller.

NEW OUTFIT: Aberdeen players Lee Mair and Stuart Duff unveil the Dons' new kit alongside Cheryl Donaldson and George Allan of Team Recruitment.

IT INFURIATES me when I read headlines claiming the Aberdeen manager has no money to spend on players.

It happened again last week after the club confirmed Team Recruitment as our new club sponsors.

It was then incorrectly reported that none of the money from that deal would be going to help Jimmy Calderwood strengthen his squad.

All nonsense like that does is give false information to our fans and give ammunition to the people who are happy to grab any chance to make Aberdeen look bad.

I can promise our fans that the majority of the funds generated by the European run has been redirected towards the football budget as well as all the funds from the sale of Russell Anderson, Michael Hart and Chris Clark.

But that doesn’t mean we will suddenly go and splash all that money out on transfer fees and wages to bring in a host of new players in one go.

The revenue has to be spread over a three-year period because it is also needed to renew players’ contracts and to support our youth development programme.

That doesn’t make such good headlines, but it is the sensible way to do things.

It is also wrong to say the directors at Aberdeen do not try to give further support to the manager

When I came back to Pittodrie, I expressed concern over the budget that was available to the manager and asked that it be increased to avoid the club going in the wrong direction.

The directors agreed and we have been able to extend that budget each year and next season it will be £1m a year more than when Jimmy arrived

We also received funds so that we could pay fees for Barry Nicholson and Steve Lovell and get in other players to help improve things.

Money was needed because the club was heading towards an area that we were not comfortable with.

If nothing had been done, we could have been in real trouble today.

The directors have all bought into the vision of the way forward and extended the football budget, but that can only go so far.

There is a credit crunch in the country at the moment that is affecting everyone.

Football clubs are not immune.

We have agreements with our bankers and are able to service our requirements, which is a pleasing position to be in.

We can’t live in a dream world in which money is just suddenly produced so that we can sign anyone we want.

We are fully committed to Jimmy, which is why we invested in new three-year contracts for him and his coaching staff.

That cost money too, we are certainly not penny-pinching in any way.

If we get income from new sponsorship, every penny possible is redirected into helping Jimmy Calderwood improve the Aberdeen team.

If we sell players, every penny possible goes back to Jimmy to enhance his squad.

If an extra 1,000 fans turned up at Pittodrie each week, that additional money would also help Jimmy improve the squad.

The bigger the budget, the stronger the club will become.

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