Former Aberdeen director Jim Cummings slams club board
Cummings hopes investment will help to fill the seats at Pittodrie
The largest individual shareholder in Aberdeen has called for investment in the club in light of its dwindling crowds and falling revenues.
Former director Jim Cummings, who holds a 13% stake in the club, said: "We just cannot continue the way we are.
"It is imperative we raise new funding to offset the financial black hole caused mainly by falling gates and the demise of Setanta.
"We must give Mark McGhee the resources he needs to help revive the team".
In his first season at the club, team manager McGhee has spoken on several occasions about the need to sign new players and sell others, but has also stated how difficult it is for Aberdeen to compete even with lower league English clubs in the transfer market.
Attendances at Pittodrie dropped as it became apparent that the Dons were going to finish in the bottom half of the Scottish Premier League when the league split.
Only 6,097 spectators turned out to witness the Dons' final league game of the season, against Kilmarnock.
Cummings said: "Aberdeen is a proud club with the most loyal supporters in the land. We're in a single club city with a huge rural support throughout the fairly affluent north east.
"We have to try to persuade those who love Aberdeen Football Club to come and help us, while at the same time tapping into what I believe to be a large latent fan-base, disaffected supporters who must be attracted back into the fold.
"For my part I'm very worried about my investment in Aberdeen as I just cannot see where the club is going. There seems to be no vision, ambition or enthusiasm.
"Look at Ross County, for goodness' sake. They are a perfect example of what a small club can achieve with a bit of drive, ambition and attitude in the boardroom."
Cummings, who resigned from the club's board in a high-profile attempted coup in 2003, believes it is time the directors displayed to fans how they can help the club to progress.
"The Aberdeen directors have to lead the way. We now have a board of eight men, and we have to ask them to step up to the mark," he said.
"Some members have little or no financial investment in the club and that's just not good enough, particularly at a time when we desperately need new funding to support the manager and to stop the slide into oblivion.
"As things stand, not only are we trailing way behind the Old Firm, we are effectively in a third tier of Scottish football, having been left in the wake of the likes of Hibs, Hearts, Motherwell and Dundee United.
"I would assume that the Stewart Milne Group and Aberdeen Asset Management would have little problem in taking up their rights, thus raising significant new funds, but I think the other directors must also get involved.
"If not, the fans will begin to question why they are there, and whether they should be replaced by a new group of people who are prepared to make some level of investment."
If we had a successful rights issue, the club would receive significant new funds, some of which could be used to help strengthen McGhee's team for the new campaign
Former Dons director Jim Cummings
Cummings' suggestion is for the club to issue new shares to allow fans to invest. Currently, there are more than 2,000 small shareholders and the former director believes that the club would benefit from greater investment from a broader base.
"Would the small shareholders be prepared to help get this club back on the rails following years of stagnation?" said Cummings.
"Furthermore, and critically, would we be able to attract new, wealthy investors in return for a say in what goes on?
"If we had a successful rights issue, the club would receive significant new funds, some of which could be used to help strengthen McGhee's team for the new campaign.
"If the 'big two' shareholders decided they didn't want to take up their rights, the new money from the other directors, shareholders and fans would dilute their ownership of the club, thus giving small shareholders a stronger voice.
"In fact I believe this would help to galvanise the fans and get them fully behind us. Let's bring a wider shareholding and some democracy to this football club."
And Cummings, who admits he himself is undecided whether he would invest more in the club, added: "Barcelona are the model for 21st century football clubs. The days of the local industrialist also being the owner of the local football club should be condemned to history.
"It worked in the old days for Dick Donald, but it's no longer relevant in this century.
"Aberdeen Football Club is an institution and belongs to the people of the North East and Dons fans everywhere."
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