SPFL: Aberdeen 'burning £1m a month' during lockdown - Dave Cormack
2 hours ago From the sectionAberdeen
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Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack
Dave Cormack says Aberdeen back calls for an independent review into the SPFL's recent actions
Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack has urged the SPFL to "take a deep breath" and focus on how Scottish football can ensure a safe return.

Hearts owner Ann Budge and Hamilton vice-chairman Les Gray are leading a taskforce on reorganising the SPFL.

"Clubs are burning £1m a month on this. We need to be getting back to: how do we play football safely again and survive?" Cormack told BBC Scotland.

"That should be the focus of the SPFL and leadership."

Cormack added: "The sensible thing to do would be to take a deep breath and say: 'Look, let's get a temporary change in place for this coming season.' Because, boy, we have so many other things to focus on."

Cormack said Aberdeen back calls by Rangers and Hearts for an independent investigation into the SPFL's handling of the vote to end the lower league season.

The Dons chairman added: "[SPFL chief executive] Neil Doncaster and I had a Zoom [meeting] yesterday.

"The four key aspects for us are: how can we get back to playing football safely and survive; how do we end the Premiership; what is the task force and its terms of reference; how do we draw a line in the sand on this investigation on what happened.

"We can sit and talk for hours on what happened and why it happened - but look, it's happened. We need to learn from this.

"I said to Neil: 'If I were in your position, then I would show some contrition for what has happened.' Because it clearly is a vote that was forced down our throats in many ways, and that's obvious.

"We'd be as well taking £1m out to the car park at Pittodrie and setting fire to it. Every month that this goes by, it's costing us £1m and costing other clubs different amounts.

"I said to Neil that we want to see some clear leadership from the SPFL, setting out terms of reference for us to get back playing football safely. Let's look at [playing games behind] closed doors.

"We haven't ended the Premiership yet... the task force is to expand the Premiership and it hasn't ended yet.

"It all comes back to the 48 hours we were given [before voting on the SPFL proposal to call the lower leagues] and this needed a lot more time for discussion."

Cormack says Aberdeen are in favour of an expanded 14-team Scottish Premiership for one or two seasons.

"We think that's the fair thing to do for everybody," he said.