It was arguably the best non-football good-news story to emerge from Pittodrie in years.
Yet, Aberdeen were either coy or downright anti-media when they announced via their website - at 4am yesterday - that their £14.5m debt had all but been wiped out.
Aside from two local newspapers, however, this information, which would have been shouted from the rooftops by other financially-squeezed clubs, was played-down by Aberdeen who may not have recognised that their fan base, eager to learn of such an astounding story, goes beyond the reach of their website subscribers and the readership of the morning and evening publications which cover the north and north-east specifically.
Willie and Elaine Donald would not have objected to such PR ineptitude. They are a quiet, likeable couple, founders of the Aberdeenshire-based WM Donald civil engineering and construction company who helped reduce the debt to under £200,000 by making their own sizeable investment, thought to be in the region of £3m. What makes this tale all the more interesting is that the couple, who shunned the media and were quoted only in a belated club press release, have no wish for a presence in the Pittodrie boardroom, despite now owning 20 per cent of the club.
A spokesman had no knowledge of the actual amount they had put into Aberdeen, but said it "would be used as part of a wider deal to buy out bank debt of £9.5m".
It was all part of a restructuring of the club as the Stewart Milne Group, led by club chairman Stewart Milne, and Aberdeen Asset Management, exchanged loans they had made to the club for equity and abracadabra, the millstone was gone.
In the official statement, Mr Donald said: "We decided some time ago that we wished to give something back to the community and we see the football club as a vital and central part of the community. We see our investment as an excellent opportunity to deliver our investment."
It was, indeed, an excellent piece of business all round for Aberdeen with chief executive, Duncan Fraser, reporting an increase in turnover from £7.85m to £11.15m after last season's in third place in the SPFL Premiership, their League Cup win and reaching the Scottish Cup last four. One would have forgiven them for shouting it from the rooftops . . .
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article