Chairman Dave Cormack says the club's position had become "unsustainable"
Aberdeen have announced £1m of pay cuts to help plug a £10m shortfall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Staff earning over £30,000 per year have agreed to take reductions averaging 20%.
The club say the deal will close a "widening funding gap" caused by being unable to start the new campaign in front of fans.
"Our situation was becoming unsustainable," said chairman Dave Cormack.
"These cuts help to further reduce our running costs to a more sustainable level against what income we can continue to generate through season ticket sales, AberDNA [fan contribution scheme] memberships and broadcast revenue."
After initially estimating their funding gap to be about £5m in April, Aberdeen announced £2m of extra funding and wage deferrals for manager Derek McInnes, staff and players.
But the club say that projection was based on fans being allowed into matches by September, and now estimate a potential shortfall of £10m for the 2020-21 season.
The club's statement says the following measures taken will help reduce to gap to £3.8m:
£2m cash injection from investors
£2m savings from government support through the job retention scheme and rates relief, as well as operational cost‐cutting
£1m from higher than expected season ticket and AberDNA membership sales
£200,000 less than expected from 2019-20 season ticket and seasonal hospitality refunds
£1m from wage cuts
"We're not out of the woods, by any means," Cormack added.
"But everyone at the club is buoyed by our supporters and corporate clients' desire for us to work together to get through this. And I believe we will.
"Along with our goal of avoiding redundancies and looking after our lower paid staff, we must stay competitive as a team and continue our investment in our youth academy."
