A cinema experience paying tribute to Aberdeen FC’s proud history could be included in plans for the club’s £40million new home.
The Dons’ replacement for Pittodrie would seat 20,000 fans – and could feature a new club store, a “red cafe” and memorial garden and offer “day out” experiences for visitors.
And a heritage museum – charting the history of the club, including the exploits of the Gothenburg Greats – is also contained in the plans.
A 12-week consultation on the ambitious proposals for a new stadium at Kingsford – between Kingswells and Westhill – will open today.
And yesterday club chiefs outlined their vision for the new site as a community focal point which would offer a range of facilities for locals of all ages.
It would have 1,300 parking spaces, three first team training pitches, two community ones and a pavilion for locals which would include offices, changing rooms and a gym.
Members of the public using the facilities could be doing so “in the shadow” of first team players training on neighbouring pitches.
Members of the No Kingsford Stadium group – which is battling to block the project – have claimed there is no need for the new community facilities and have also raised fears about the loss of green belt land along the A944 and potential traffic problems.
The site would be at a location off of the under-construction Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR).
Aberdeen FC executive vice-chairman, George Yule, acknowledged the objectors had “valid concerns” and that the club would try to resolve any potential issues
And he stressed: “We’re not presumptuous – we are not making any presumptions about the outcome of this.
“Part of the misperception that exists just now is people are looking selectively at a club only on a match day, and they see thousands of fans and people parking wherever, but there is more to the football club than that.”
He said there was “some justification” for the traffic management issues raised by the objectors.
But he said the scheme could bring huge benefits to the community, the city and the wider north-east and the stadium would be far more than just a place to host football matches.
Mr Yule said: “We have some plans provisional at this time for a kind of 3D fly view of Pittodrie, so the heritage of the building and the whole fabric of Pittodrie will be captured there on film.
“And as part of the new facility make up at Kingsford we are looking to create a heritage centre encompassing a museum, and some kind of cinema so we can look back on things like the stadium at Pittodrie, the 1983 Gothernburg Greats cup finals and other memorable occasions.
“You can’t move forward as an ambitious and progressive football club and community trust continually looking behind us and relying on heritage to get us there.”
Last night, spokesman for the No Kingsford Stadium group, Angus Jamieson, said there remained “significant concerns” among residents of Westhill and Kingswells.
Mr Jamieson said: “We have seen the degradation of the green belt already with the Prime Four expansion.
“This is the last bit of significant green belt that is left along the A944 and there is a duty to safeguard the visual aspect of the area.
“Residents of Westhill and Kingswells have come out of the city, these communities don’t want the development, the disruption that will come with a large football development.
“Across Westhill and Kingswells already there are sporting facilities available. We can’t see there being a significant benefit to residents.”
Chairman of the Aberdeen FC Community Trust, Duncan Skinner, said: “People have justifiable concerns because they don’t know what it is going to be like.
“And it is our job to allay any fears that they have got.
“I think the community trust has a big part to play in that, the non-footballing fraternity is something that they hadn’t expected in terms of benefit to their lives in their area.
“My take on the no to Kingsford campaign is you are always going to get some opposition and you just need to be respectful of their views and deal with them in a professional manner.”
What will big move mean for Dons?
The move to the edge of the city could create space for sports beyond football as the Dons aim to make the site a hive of community activity.
Last night it was suggested the club’s new Kingsford stadium would offer “more potential” to the Aberdeen FC Community Trust – a standalone charitable organisation.
Chairman of the trust, Duncan Skinner, said: “At the moment we have 22 full-time staff and 30 to 40 part-time coaches, and about 50% of our activities are non-football-related.
“We take people out of care homes and give them walks in the park, we work with people with dementia, we do a lot of different activities that have nothing to do with football.
“It’s just football is the medium used to get people’s attention.
“We just want to do more. We can use these facilities 365-days-a-year when the club’s not using them, and when the development academy is not using them, for the community in any shape, size or form they wish.
“Whereas the club has ambitions with new facilities, we also want to up our game in the community.”
He added the group was currently “shoe-horned in and use the facilities that are available”.
Club vice-chairman George Yule said: “Local community groups would also have access to the facilities there.
“One of the things we’re also considering at this stage is multi-sport use.
“Not everything we do will be with a football. Recently we set up a local collaboration with a basketball team, we’re looking to speak to the schools about having sports days there.
“Clearly we won’t be able to accommodate everybody’s needs, but the plans is for it to be much more than a football centre.”
New Aberdeen stadium: Keeping Uefa happy
The Dons risk being banned from European competitions matches if they continue to play at Pittodrie.
They are currently eligible to stage Europa League and Champions League fixtures at their historic home under “dispensation” – or “grandfather rights” – through the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa).
But Aberdeen FC executive vice-chairman, George Yule, warned the governing body’s patience would wear thin over time as Pittodrie does not meet all of its “technical criteria”.
Mr Yule said: “From a footballing point of view we are operating under a dispensation currently from Uefa.
“At some point that patience will wear and we may lose the opportunity to stage Uefa games here, that is a fact.
“When we qualify for Europe we play there, as do other teams under dispensation, through grandfather rights as this stadium is so old.
“If you were to start with a clean sheet of paper then there are certain technical criteria for stadiums and pitches you need to meet.
“To simplify it you need this five-metre (16ft) radius if you like between the pitch and the crowd.
“We have got that at the beach end and Merkland end, but not at the south side and main stand.
“But off the pitch there is a whole bunch of stuff like Uefa delegates offices, doping testing rooms and stuff like that.
“What we’re having to do here, because of the layout of the stadium, is a lot of the rooms we’ve got have to be decanted and re-morphed as a Uefa delegate room or a doping test room or stuff like that.”
