Scottish Premiership club Aberdeen Chair Stewart Milne "was a happy man as agreement over a restructuring of the Dons finances to virtually wipe out" a near-£15M ($24M) debt was endorsed by shareholders at the club's annual general meeting, according to Frank Gilfeather of the Scotland DAILY RECORD.
But Milne "warned that while the slate was clean there would be no money for team boss Derek McInnes to move into the transfer market next month."
And Milne paid tribute to Willie and Elaine Donald, partners in a successful Aberdeenshire civil engineering and building business, "for pitching-in with a sizeable sum" -- believed to be around £3M ($4.7M) -- to help reduce the debt to less than £200,000 ($315,000).
They now own 20% of Aberdeen.
In the meantime, the Stewart Milne Group and Aberdeen Asset Management "increased their shareholding" to take 10 million shares in the club. As the Reds seek a new training complex, Milne revealed that a new share issue -- their fourth -- "would be unveiled next year, though he could not put a target on the cash needed." Milne: "When we have a share issue we must try and keep any shortfall as low as possible and look to generate revenues in other ways to plug any gap" (DAILY RECORD, 12/15).
