Aberdeen make £5m loss: Chairman Dave Cormack says club on right track
- Published
The development of young talent such as Calvin Ramsay is key to Aberdeen's strategy
Aberdeen have the correct strategies on and off the pitch despite losing more than £5m for the second year in succession, chairman Dave Cormack says.
Their accounts for the year ended June 2022 show turnover rose by £2.79m to £13.86m, but the Dons made an operating loss of £5.29m - up £100,000 on 2021.
Wages rose from £9.36m to £10.23m, with a high wage-to-turnover ratio of 74%.
However Cormack said: "The board believes we have the right football strategy and management team in place."
He added: "We've made the right investments in young talent.
"While first-team performance is critical, there has been significant progress on the key pillars of our strategy.
"We are now spending around 80% more on our guaranteed player wage bill compared to five years ago. But this ensures we remain competitive with other clubs, such as Hibs and Hearts, who are also making significant investments."
Cormack believes the policy of recruiting talented younger players as well as developing their own academy prospects is starting to reap rewards.
Vicente Besuijen, Ylber Ramadani and Bojan Miovski are among those to have arrived at Pittodrie this year, part of a near-£2m outlay in fees during 2022.
Meanwhile, home-grown youngsters Connor Barron, Jack MacKenzie, Ryan Duncan and Alfie Bavidge are making a mark in the first team.
"To balance the books, we are developing and acquiring talent which, at the right time, we can monetise through player sales, as we did this summer with Lewis Ferguson to Bologna in August and Calvin Ramsay to Liverpool in July," Cormack added.
The fees for Ferguson and Ramsay are not part of this accounting period, but it does include the departures of Stephen Glass and his management team.
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