Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack has issued a rallying cry for the football club to be at the heart of the city’s fight against coronavirus.
The Dons announced earlier on Thursday that they were offering the Richard Donald Stand as a potential area for testing for Covid-19, which has to-date 24 cases in the Grampian region.
Cormack has also made put forward staff from the club’s management team, players and community trust to help the local community, with measures such as arranging food deliveries, over-the-phone conversations with those in isolation and an online campaign to promote local businesses affected by the outbreak.
Cormack said: “We live in unprecedented times for everyone. Football needs to be put in the background and in context; we can’t ignore it, because it’s an important part of our lives and business.
“But as a club, we feel like we’re part of the community, which we have been for over 100 years. I got back late on Saturday to the States and our youngest daughter, who is a nurse, has confined myself and me wife Fiona in isolation at home. My wife, like other people , has a weakened immune system, so it’s really important we isolate.
“Thinking about back home, our home town of Aberdeen and the involvement of the football club, mental health is a huge issue in Scotland. As we are about to embark from my perspective, on perhaps a number of months of isolation, many people are going to be home on their own.
#StillStandingFree – A message for the Red Army from @CormackDavie pic.twitter.com/UlOGAnJTIr
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) March 19, 2020
“We have the benefit of this medium, of social media, to be in contact with each other. The club wants to be at the heart of this, be a vehicle, whether it’s players, management team or staff, team members at the club and our community trust. It’s really important for us to feel like we’re offering something to the community.
“Today’s announcement is clearly important. I feel personally that many of us, particularly men, we like to solve things on their own and don’t like to bother people. That’s the worst thing anyone can do, keep their problems to themselves.
“This is just the first of a number of announcements from myself, the club and the community trust, who really are at the heart of the community. My message is take this seriously; we will get through this but we need to take this seriously.
“It’s really clear from the medical experts, that if we want to contain this in a shorter period of time, that isolation is critical for us to be able to support the emergency services and NHS as best we can at this time.”
The community trust has access to 80 volunteers to carry out aforementioned tasks, with the club also setting up an email address, info@afc.co.uk, for those wishing to get in touch about the initiatives.