Dave Cormack

Even if we're talking about a tiny dilution of the overall shareholding, I just think the tokenism of that would have been important and surely not beyond the club.

um or perhaps some kind of mechanism whereby the members were able to elect a representative onto the board again small fly in the grand scheme of things obviously isn't going to be able to sway the voting in terms of any kind of um balance of power of what is now clearly a private limited company where dave cormack owns the vast majority of the shares um And I'd also rather it wasn't quite so transactional.

I guess following on from what Martin said with regards to loyalty points, the shirt, the season ticket discount, etc.

But I strongly suspect that in the absence of the sort of near-death experience that Hearts went through, they felt that they kind of had to make it that way in order to sell some memberships.

I kind of pass to you, in a sense, because you'll obviously be looking at it through more neutral glasses than I am, but it seems like an impressive calibre of individual to be getting in at a boardroom level in Scotland.

It's interesting, to say the least, as well, because of the job that Burrows did at Motherwell, evidently got him to move to Aberdeen, and for him to be let's say, take a step back, I suppose, the most neutral way of putting it, and then for this guy to come in who seems to have had ambitions for working in Scotland, the only worry is, is this the new shiny toy that Dave Cormack sees? And is it actually going to produce anything different on the park and in the boardroom? You hope so, for your sake anyway.

But it's very hard to judge because backroom technical directors, whoever you want to call it, they've got to have the right structures in place at a business level.

And from my point of view, under Dave Cormack, Dave Cormack's got a lot of great ideas, he's got a lot of passion.

But whether he's been suited to run in a football club in an efficient manner Not quite seen it just yet.

This might be the turning point for him.

Aberdeen confirmed the news in a statement this morning and an update on the search for a new chief executive will be released in due course.

Burrows commented, I've thoroughly enjoyed being at Aberdeen and want to place on record my sincere thanks to Dave Cormack and the board for giving me the opportunity.

to lead this great club over the past three and a half years.

I have had the privilege of working with a phenomenal group of staff, past and present, across Petaudry and Cormac Park.

Their achievements on and off the pitch are something I am immensely proud to have been a part of.

I want to thank each of them for their hard work, determination and willingness to innovate and embrace change.

Dave Cormack added, it goes without saying that Alan leaves with our very best wishes.

Personally, I've enjoyed working with him.

What have you made of his time at Aberdeen and the kind of legacy that he's gonna leave?

Well, I think it was interesting that in the statement that, um, Dave Cormack put his name to, he praised the commercial, uh, improvements at the club over Alan Burrows' three and a half years.

Um, it's always difficult, I guess, for us on the outside to know exactly what, what do you give a chief executive credit for and what do you give him criticism for, you know? To what extent is he involved in the recruitment of the manager? And what inv- in what extent is he deserving of credit for a season ticket rise, um, sales rise? You know, there was, they set the, the club record twice under him, but you think, well, do you, does Burrows get the credit for that or does the team get the credit? Because, you know, nobody's buying a season ticket 'cause they, 'cause they like the chief executive, you know?

[laughs]

But the, but the growth in the club generally, I think, is to his credit.

Um, he's, he's a well-known and well-liked guy in, in football in general, Alan Burrows, you know? Um, and I think that he's been a useful foil for, for Dave Cormack.

He's allowed Cormack to kind of pull back a little bit from the kind of frontline stuff.

Um, and, uh, I know that Alan has given a lot of time personally to, to, and commitment to the club.

Um, w- we've given most managers at the very least 12 months so far s- in the Cormack era.

Um, but that trigger point has been slight, ever so slightly earlier season on season since, um, the, the, the, the, the Dave Cormack regime began in, uh, earnest.

The, the obvious exception to the rule being that, uh, Jimmy Thelin managed to stay on for more than the full season.

Then it took winning the Scottish Cup to save his bacon.

Um, it's been a series of failures.

Um, and as much as I think Dave Cormack's heart is in the right place, and his money certainly has been in the right place.

Well, it's been spent in the wrong place.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that's a problem for me.

Dave Cormack as well, uh, he has put his money where his mouth is, but, um, these are decisions which are dumb- dumbfounding to me, and Aberdeen should be m- far, far better than that.

I can't call this one.