Source: FOOTYMAD
Brown Bags Some Cash
In the lead up to January, money will be burning a hole in Craig Brown's pocket. Craig Brown will have some 'new money' to invest in new players at the turn of the year when the transfer window will open for business. Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne had promised to find resources from outside the budget in order to persuade Brown and his number two, Archie Knox, to leave Motherwell for Pittodrie. Brown looks keen to make former Livingston full-back David McNamee his first signing, if and when weather conditions allow him to travel to Aberdeen, with more deals likely to reduce the pot next month. Milne said: "There's not bags of money available in Scottish football, that's just the reality. But we said to Craig and Archie that we would work with them to find money to enable them to make the moves they want to make in January. The moves they make will probably end up being a combination of some new money and maybe moving some players on that they don't feel are part of their long-term plans." However, the housing magnate says that it is not just an injection of money that will move Aberdeen off the bottom of the SPL. He went on: "Fans will always say that if there's a chairman who they believe has money to burn, he should be throwing that into the football club. We have provided a lot of financial support to the football club over the years and we will continue to do that. But I've never been a believer that throwing money at problems is the way to deal with them. Sometimes it helps but quite often it's responsible for doing damage within the game. The real underlying issues are not addressed. Football is all about getting the best out of a squad available, that's a manager's job and that's what Craig and Archie will set out to do." Aberdeen's budget has been blown apart in the last 18 months as they had to take account of settlements for two management teams headed by Jimmy Calderwood and Mark McGhee which have been shown the door. Some fans believe that this money would have been better used to find improvements in the squad rather than changes in the dugout. However, Milne said: "When you don't make a change, there is potentially an even greater cost of not making a change. We came to the conclusion it was the right time to make a change. If you believe it's the right decision to make you have then got to find funds to make the change. In neither case funds have not come out of the football budget, we have found that money from elsewhere." The club, which is believed to have debts of around £10million, also needs to raise £15million to facilitate a move to a 21,000-seat stadium at Loriston Loch. Milne said: "We don't have the option of doing nothing. This stadium has a limited life and every year we stay here it costs us a heap of money. That's just going to continue to increase. At some point we have got to make the move." Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net)This is Scottish-Fitba.Net
