Latest news with #DaveCormack
Daily Record
11-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
PSG president writes Aberdeen a glowing letter after decking Celtic as Scottish Cup exploits impress world's best
The Dons ended a 35-year wait to lift the trophy back in May and the accomplishment has not gone unnoticed in wider football circles Dave Cormack has revealed he received a personal letter of congratulations from Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi following Aberdeen's shock Scottish Cup triumph over Celtic. Against all the odds, Jimmy Thelin 's men fought back from a goal down to win the trophy for the first time since 1990 via a penalty shootout, with Dimtar Mitov keeping out Alistair Johnston 's spot-kick to send the Red Army inside the national stadium wild. That victory has also guaranteed the club a European campaign next season that will last until Christmas at the earliest, with the Reds entering the play-off qualification stage of the Europa League next month. An estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of Aberdeen on the following day to welcome their heroes home as Cormack, Thelin and the players paraded the trophy along Union Street. As well as reigning Champions League winners PSG -taking notice, the Atlanta-based software business tycoon revealed that the Aberdeen also obtained a touching letter from the board at 2022 Europa League winners' Eintracht Frankfurt, with the two clubs developing a healthy relationship from their group stage clash in the Conference League in the 2023/24 season. In an interview with Ally Begg ABTV, he said: "You get to know directors of other clubs when you play in Europe. "The guys at Frankfurt looked after us the last time we were over there in the group stages. They are great guys. "When they came to Aberdeen, we booked out Maryculter House (for them), and the old-dining room in there that goes back to 1225 and the Knight's Templar. "Germans love their whisky. Axel (Hellman) is the CEO and when we played them at Pittodrie and won 2-0, he was staying on in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire for three days after it to go on a whisky tour. Thankfully he had a driver! "We gave them a five litre bottle of whisky. "We then got a lovely letter from all the board and the sporting director Markus Krosche congratulating us on winning the Scottish Cup and they said 'now is the appropriate time for us as a board to open the bottle of whisky'. "I (also) got a lovely letter from Nasser Al-Khelaifi who is president of PSG and also the chairman of the ECA (European Club Association). "Aberdeen is a well-known club in Europe."
BBC News
07-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Aberdeen target Soumano signs for Dutch outfit NAC Breda
Reported Aberdeen target Moussa Soumano has signed for Eredivisie side NAC Thelin's side reportedly made multiple bids for the 19-year-old striker who scored 10 goals in 64 games for French outfit AC chairman Dave Cormack confirmed last week the Dons were "feverishly working" to sign another "three or four players".
Daily Record
04-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Dave Cormack insists Aberdeen are transfer analytics originals as Pittodrie losses are all part of the plan
Dave Cormack insists Aberdeen are ahead of the game on analytics despite Hearts hogging the headlines. The Jambos are one of a handful of clubs with access to Jamestown Analytics and have been boosted by a fresh £10million investment from Brighton owner and now Hearts shareholder Tony Bloom. But Dons chief Cormack points to the player trading that's been happening at Pittodrie for the last five or six years that is now allowing them to go out and spend more on players they are confident will only increase their transfer revenue in seasons to come. Cormack has promised to plough a further £8million into Aberdeen along with director Tom Crotty, with the majority going towards a new indoor pitch at the club's Cormack Park training centre. The investment is needed given Cormack confirmed the conscious move by the club not to make sure the books are balanced: 'We're making a decision to lose £3m or £4m operationally a year as a club," he said. However, Cormack has full faith the club's recruitment department to continue finding players that will provide a significan return when sold. 'We have got a squad planning and recruitment team in place now which I think will stand us in good stead," he said. "Everyone is talking about these analytics and algorithms which everybody is using. But we have been using those for five or six years now. Miovski, Ramadani, a number of players, have come through that. We have tapped in to that.' And Cormack expects Finnish winger Topi Keskinen to be the next big money exit from Pittodrie after dropping six figures on the wide man. 'There is a reason we have paid £1m for Topi,' he said. 'Listen, in the last five years we have managed to sell just over £20m worth of players. That is significant income for us. The trick is balancing that with being competitive. 'Our scouting needs to be excellent so we can unearth and get value from players. But people want to come to Aberdeen now because they know they will get an opportunity to move on to a bigger club.' Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season.
The Herald Scotland
04-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Why Aberdeen's loss-making business model can give them edge on rivals
Whether Aberdeen can build upon their historic Scottish Gas Scottish Cup triumph over their Parkhead rivals at Hampden back in May and add more silverware to their trophy cabinet has, despite the arrival of no fewer than four new players at Pittodrie in recent weeks, scarcely merited a mention. The announcement this week that chairman and majority shareholder Dave Cormack and director Tom Crotty have promised to plough in £8m of fresh investment has hardly given those who occupy boardrooms across the land palpitations either. Read more: That is, even on these shores, a trifling amount in the modern game. Plus, the vast majority of it will be spent building an indoor pitch at their training ground. The hour-long Red TV interview with Aberdeen-born, United States-based software entrepreneur Cormack that was posted on You Tube on Wednesday, however, was fascinating and suggested that more good times may well lie ahead for the north-east outfit in the forthcoming campaigns. Even if he did say, 'We're making a decision to lose £3m or £4m operationally a year as a club'. Much has been made about how data analytics will drive Hearts' recruitment efforts now that Bloom, who has enjoyed great joy with Brighton down in England and Royal Union Saint-Gilloise over in Belgium using such methods, is a major player behind the scenes. Hopes are high among the Jambos support that Jamestown Analytics, the company owned by the mathematics whizz who is known as The Lizard on the poker circuit, will be able to unearth a few outstanding players for affordable fees in the transfer market who can enable them to compete with larger and richer rivals. It was a route which Rangers decided to go down back in 2023 when they overhauled their scouting department, brought in a raft of new personnel to key positions and moved to a data-led operation which relied more heavily on video analysis than had previously been the case. But Cormack, who stated that he expected Swedish manager Jimmy Thelin to bring in around eight new recruits in total before the summer window closes on August 31, pointed out that is exactly the approach which Aberdeen have been taking for some time now. It is a strategy which has enabled them to turn a profit on their incomings and outgoings and to spend far more money on transfer fees and player wages than they would be able to if they relied on gate receipts, sponsorship money and television income alone because they are confident they will recoup their outlay and more further down the line. (Image: Craig Foy - SNS Group) They made in excess of £8m from the departures of Bojan Miovski (Giron), Duk (Leganes) and Connor Barron (Rangers) last season. The year before that they banked over £3m from Ylber Ramadani (Lecce) and Ross McCrorie (Bristol City) being offloaded. Three years ago, the sales of Calvin Ramsay (Liverpool) and Lewis Ferguson (Bologna) swelled their bank balance by over £7m. A couple of seasons before that, Scott McKenna (Nottingham Forest) and Sam Cosgrove (Birmingham City) exited for over £5m. 'We have got a squad planning and recruitment team in place now which I think will stand us in good stead,' said Cormack. 'Everyone is talking about these analytics and algorithms which everybody is using. But we have been using those for five or six years now. Miovski, Ramadani, a number of players, have come through that. We have tapped in to that.' The Aberdeen chairman expects winger Topi Keskinen, who featured prominently for Finland at the European Under-21 Championship finals in Slovakia this summer and scored goals in draws with the Netherlands and Denmark, to be the next recruit to bring in a sizeable return on their investment. 'There is a reason we have paid £1m for Topi,' he said. 'Listen, in the last five years we have managed to sell just over £20m worth of players. That is significant income for us. The trick is balancing that with being competitive. 'Our scouting needs to be excellent so we can unearth and get value from players. But people want to come to Aberdeen now because they know they will get an opportunity to move on to a bigger club.' Read more: Cormack has come in for fierce criticism from supporters and media commentators – including from this correspondent – during the six years that he has been chairman despite the huge sums of money which he has personally ploughed in to his boyhood heroes. Before Thelin was brought in last summer, he had a poor track record when it came to appointing managers. The team's results at home and abroad had often left a great deal to be desired because of his bad choices. But he is hopeful that Graeme Shinnie and his team mates can improve further despite having to deal with European group stage football once again next term – something which they struggled badly with when they got into the Conference League two years ago – and play against revitalised Hearts and Rangers teams. 'It's always good to have competition,' he said. 'It's never a worry, it's a challenge. This multi-club environment is an approach other clubs (Hearts, Hibernian and Rangers) are taking is new. But I think it is important we focus on what Aberdeen are doing. You will never get all of your recruitment right. The industry average is 50 per cent. We need to be at 70 to 80 per cent. 'Listen, if I fall under a bus tomorrow I don't want to leave the club in a poor financial position. It has to stand on its own two feet. But we're making a decision to lose £3m or £4m operationally a year as a club. What we have got today is a player trading environment which is allowing us to punch above our weight in terms of recruiting and player wages.'
BBC News
02-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Aberdeen 'feverishly working' on new recruits, says Cormack
Aberdeen are "feverishly working" through various recruitment processes to identify players who can "fit the key roles" in Jimmy Thelin's side, says chairman Dave Scottish Cup winners have added forwards Nicolas Milanovic and Kusini Yengi, defender Emmanuel Gyamfi and goalkeeper Nick Suman to their insists "patience" is required as the Dons remain "disciplined" in their pursuit of more incomings, but he expects "another three or four" to come in this summer."The important thing for us is to be disciplined in the decisions we make in bringing players in," the chairman said in a wide-ranging interview, external. "There's a lot of competition for the same players, particularly young players in Scotland. "We just need to be disciplined because with this player trading approach we have, we're making a decision to lose £3m or £4m operationally a year as a club."To do that, you need to balance out with, if we're going to spend that more on wages, which will help us - for example, on transfer fees - then the player training model is important for the club."At the forefront of that model is head of recruitment Nuno de Almeida, who worked with manager Thelin at Elfsborg."We've probably doubled our scouting [with the team in place]," added Cormack. "We've got full-time scouts in Scandinavia and in southern Europe working with Nuno and they are feverishly working through groups of players we believe can fit the key roles Jimmy's still looking to fill."It really is a case of trying to be patient and allowing these guys to get on with their work."
