Milne is reluctant to pour money into the Aberdeen squad
Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne insists he will not gamble with the club's future by ploughing in cash to try to challenge for domestic honours.
Milne was speaking after the Dons' annual general meeting at Pittodrie.
"Unfortunately, Scottish football is not well-placed at the moment for the environment we're going through," Milne told BBC Scotland.
"I think Aberdeen Football Club is as well-placed as any other club and possibly a lot better than some."
The Dons were the last team to finish ahead of both Old Firm clubs by winning the old Scottish League Premier Division title in 1985.
Currently, Hibernian and Dundee United are each within a victory of Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers and second-place Celtic, with the Dons seven points outside the top four.
But Milne does not believe now is the time to invest heavily in the squad with new manager Mark McGhee having added three players during the summer.
I've always said that if somebody steps forward and wants to make a commitment to the club going forward, my ears will always be open
Stewart Milne
"We're very conscious here that we don't want to set a cost-base that the club can't afford going forward," he added.
"We've always got to be taking a medium-to-long-term outlook on things.
"We genuinely believe we're on the right tracks. We've got a new manager in, we believe he's doing a great job in shaping up the squad he inherited and he's bringing through youngsters, where there's been a lot of investment going in over the last three-five years."
Large investment will be required for the club's proposed move to a new stadium and Milne admits raising the finance will be difficult.
"That is going to be a huge challenge for the club, it's a little bit way down the line though," said Milne.
"We're speaking about the new stadium coming on board in summer 2013 so we've got a bit of time to work on things to drive through the planning, to get the land all assembled and to get our funding in place.
"But it's not going to be an easy task."
Dons supporters have often questioned the board's approach in recent years with the club having not won a trophy since 1995 and some have called for Milne's resignation.
But he added: "I've always said that if somebody steps forward and wants to make a commitment to the club going forward, my ears will always be open but I still see there's a lot of unfinished business here."
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