The 2014 League Cup success was Stewart Milne’s only trophy win during his time as Aberdeen chairman.
A nervy penalty shoot-out ensured victory over Caley Thistle with more than 40,000 Dons supporters making the journey to Celtic Park to witness the club end a 19-year wait for silverware.
The club had reached two cup finals in the 1999-2000 season in the early stages of Mr Milne’s tenure under Danish boss Ebbe Skovdahl, losing 2-0 against Celtic in the League Cup before a 4-0 reverse against Rangers in the Scottish Cup.
Dons confirm Dave Cormack will replace Stewart Milne at the top
The Dons also finished bottom of the Scottish Premier League that season but were spared the threat of relegation as Falkirk’s stadium did not meet SPL criteria.
Mr Milne made the decision to replace Skovdahl with Steve Paterson in December 2002 but this was to prove an unsuccessful appointment with the former Caley Thistle manager sacked two years later after a string of bad results.
His next appointment, Jimmy Calderwood, proved more successful with the former Dunfermline boss guiding the Dons into Europe on three occasions before being replaced by Mark McGhee in the summer of 2009.
However the Gothenburgh Great’s tenure transpired to be a disaster and included a humbling 9-0 defeat at Celtic and he was sacked in December 2010 with the club sitting second bottom of the table.
Mr Milne turned to former Scotland manager Craig Brown to steady the ship and the former Motherwell boss helped spark an upturn in the club’s fortunes.
But Mr Milne’s most successful appointment was Brown’s successor Derek McInnes.
The former St Johnstone and Bristol City manager replaced Brown in March 2013 and led the Dons to League Cup glory in his first full season in charge.
The Dons were beaten by Celtic in three other cup finals under McInnes and have finished second on four occasions as well as third and fourth-place finishes.
Aberdeen have also qualified for European football in every season under McInnes.
One of the main successes of Milne’s time at Pittodrie was helping the club become debt-free.
The Dons revealed in 2014 that investment from Willie and Elaine Donald, owners of a Stonehaven-based engineering company, would enable the club to clear their net debt of £14.49million.
This gave the Dons the ability to press ahead with plans for a new £12million training complex and £45million stadium on the outskirts of the city at Kingsford.
