Aberdeen Chairman Stewart Milne has apologised to fans on behalf of the Club following last night's Scottish Communities League Cup loss to East Fife on penalty kicks.

 

"Firstly, congratulations to John Robertson and his team who thoroughly deserved their victory. However, from our perspective, the manner of the defeat was totally unacceptable and I would like to take this opportunity to say sorry to all of our supporters who most certainly do not deserve to have to endure what was yet a further thoroughly humiliating experience.

 

"Quite simply, we should have had more than adequate resources to win the game. I truly believe the squad we have at our disposal is comparable to any in the SPL outwith the Old Firm but, for whatever reason, too many of them are performing at levels way below what they are capable of. As Chairman, it is my job, and that of my fellow board members, to support the management team in whatever way we can to turn things round.

 

"When we were looking for a new management team less than a year ago, Craig and Archie were top of our list of candidates and, as you know, we went out of our way to ensure we brought them to Pittodrie as we firmly believed they were the duo to take this Club forward. Nothing that has occurred subsequently has changed my opinion, although last night's result was a massive setback.

 

"Everyone at the Club, including myself, the manager and the players, needs to take a long hard look at themselves, at the preparation ahead of games, what we could do differently and, how we can improve to ensure there is no repeat of the type of feelings we all experienced last night.

 

"We're all in this together and we have to try and move forward, something I am well aware is far from easy. As a Club, we owe you, our loyal supporters, big time. We have let you down massively and we need to turn things round. Saturday's game at Fir Park is another huge one for this Club and an early opportunity to at least redress some of the hurt everyone is suffering right now. It will take a long time to get over this one and the only way we can do is through the performances on the park and that needs to start this weekend."

 

Stewart Milne, Chairman AFC

he knows his head is on the block with the fans too. He's shiting it.

 

He can take a flying fuck to himself too, incidentally.

Big bit from Duncan Fraser and Craig Brown praising the work of the ex wig purchaser in the Daily Record this morning

 

IN CRISIS on the pitch - flirting with financial meltdown off it.

The latest in a long line of cup exits to a bunch of lower-league minnows is devastating enough for Pittodrie punters long used to suffering.

But chief executive Duncan Fraser last night laid bare the extent of Aberdeen's plight - and revealed only the support of Stewart Milne is keeping the club out of the administrator's clutches.

Chairman and building magnate Milne, often the target for frustrated fans, has had to give his personal guarantee to Dons' bankers as their debt has soared above £12million.

And with gates dropping more than 3000 below the break-even figure - meaning Aberdeen are losing around £60,000 at every home game - Milne has had to dip into his own pocket to keep the club going.

He even personally funded the signing of Rory Fallon after Craig Brown insisted the striker would turn their dismal season around.

And Fraser admitted the only way to entice Red Army deserters back is by putting a winning team on the park.

Asked whether Aberdeen could continue to sustain these losses, keep their bankers happy and source finance to build a new stadium, the Dons chief insisted: "There are other clubs in a helluva lot more trouble than Aberdeen but we are fortunate to have the backing we do from our major shareholder.

"That's the bottom line. Our guys have been pushing the boat out as much as they can.

"Stewart supports the club in terms of its overall operation while we live within our budget which is the highest in my time here.

"There are not a lot of people prepared to do that. It's a thankless task."

Milne has offered to step aside if a suitable buyer comes forward but interest so far is scarce.

Despite the latest cup debacle against East Fife, the Pittodrie board, after holding their own post-mortem on the costly loss, remain convinced Brown is the right man to turn the club around.

Fraser said: "Our belief we have the right men in charge won't be changed by one bad cup result.

"The meeting was about coming up with ways to help Craig and Archie Knox.

"Lots of ideas were kicked around and we hope they will prove beneficial.

"We appointed Craig and Archie because we needed the best experienced management team available to take us through a period of transition. Craig and Archie have worked tirelessly to lay the foundations for a more successful team.

"The defeat by East Fife is a massive setback and the manager has admitted that but no one at the club is trying to hide from their share of the responsibility.

"The result was totally unacceptable and the fact it was only the latest in a long line of poor cup results adds to the disappointment.

"But it is the first since Craig and Archie took over and they made it clear they are determined it won't happen again.

"Despite the League Cup defeat, progress has been made under Craig and Archie and most observers have praised them for the improvement and organisation shown on the pitch.

"They have also made signings over the last period and we have a far stronger squad than last season but that's why the result against East Fife was such a shock.

"Everything will now be aimed at improving our league results and giving Craig and Archie everything they need to fulfil their ambitions for our club.

"I don't think we should ever put a timescale on results improving.

"That is not the road to go down, you don't do that to guys of Craig and Archie's experience. You must make sure you give them as much support as possible. It would do no good to create an uncertain atmosphere among the players at this time.

"I have stated our squad is stronger and it's now up to them to respond for the manager and our fans.

"I'm sure there will be more changes, as there has been during every transfer window so far.

"The manager placed his faith in the players he has now when the last window closed and it's up to them to repay that.

"It's not for me to tell our fans what to do. The only way to get them back is by winning games and they have always shown a willingness to do that."

Dons boss Brown agreed his chairman had gone the extra mile to back his plans to build a successful team.

And he revealed former Pittodrie manager Sir Alex Ferguson had advised him to take the job because Milne would do everything possible to help him.

Brown said: "I don't know who is criticising the chairman but I would rather listen to Sir Alex.

"When we were considering coming here he phoned and said Aberdeen have a very good chairman.

"He is no mug, he has an antenna for everything and is the godfather as far as I am concerned.

"We have seen nothing to change our minds on that.

"Whether it was Steven Smith or Nick Blackman on loan, or to go and get Fallon, the chairman has found the funding to sign these players. I'm not ingratiating myself here. I'm not a crawler and if I thought otherwise I would say it.

"He has been very supportive and there has been a lot of money put in over the years.

"The chairman was right, the East Fife result was unacceptable. We had a meeting at Gleneagles and he told us he was putting a statement out, mainly because of the calls he was taking. The statement was spot on.

"This is a wonderful club that should not have the kind of result we had on Tuesday against East Fife.

"People told me about previous results and we were determined it would not happen to us but it did and it's unacceptable."

 

God fucking help us.

you know the screw is getting turned when the "fergie approves" line gets trotted out. 

Thank fuck for Stewart Milne!

 

If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have the debt in the first fucking place the cunt.