Aberdeen Football Club has received a further £1million towards its community sports hub and training facilities at Kingsford. This announcement follows the news that the youth development academy within these facilities is to be named The Bobby Clark Football Academy in honour of the Aberdeen and Scotland goalkeeper.

American businessman, Tom Crotty, who last year invested £775,000 into AFC through the acquisition of shares, is pledging an additional £500,000 which is being matched by Board Director, Dave Cormack. This additional £1 million of investment is being made by way of subscription for new shares in the Club.

Mr Crotty is excited about strengthening his ties with AFC and helping to achieve the Club’s long-held ambition to deliver community sports facilities. He added: “In my experience, and particularly through my work with Grassroot Soccer, football has a hugely positive impact across whole communities. The Club has to be congratulated on its approach to delivering sports facilities for the wider community, not just a footballing academy for its own players, and for the exceptional work of AFC Community Trust. I’m thrilled to further support these ambitions.”

AFC Board Director, Dave Cormack, and his wife Fiona, are pleased to have been able to further contribute to the community sports and training facilities through the Cormack Family Foundation. He said: “Bobby has been both a mentor and friend for over 40 years and our additional investment will help deliver an academy that will be a fitting tribute to him. The Club has done a tremendous job in securing about half the money required for phase one. It’s a tough balancing act to generate additional revenues for short-term, on-the-pitch performance that allows us to compete, while fund-raising for the training facilities which will keep us at the top by attracting and nurturing talent for the longer-term.”

Both investors welcomed the decision to recognise the achievements of one of the Club’s all-time greats and his contribution to AFC and to football in both Scotland and the USA.

“My initial connection with Aberdeen came about through my association with Bobby at Notre Dame almost 20 years ago,” explained Mr Crotty. “Our friendship was further cemented as a result of my involvement in Grassroot Soccer – an organisation founded by Bobby’s son, Tommy. I’m so pleased that the Club has honoured Bobby in this way. Not only was he a Dons and Scotland goalkeeping legend, but he has been an inspirational coach and a positive driving force for the game across the USA.”

Bobby Clark said he was stunned and humbled by this honour and thanked the AFC board for the recognition. He added: “My special thanks to both Dave Cormack and Tom Crotty as I feel they were very strong supporters of the academy and associating my name with it. Playing and teaching have been my life and to be associated with this new academy is one of the greatest honours I’ve ever been given.”

Commenting on the naming of the youth development academy, Sir Alex Ferguson said: “First of all I must thank Aberdeen FC for recognising one of their greatest players of all time, Bobby Clark. His abilities as a goalkeeper were obviously recognised throughout the country and, when I managed Aberdeen, I was privileged to benefit from his loyalty and honesty. His work as a coach was a tremendous asset to the Club where his discipline and knowledge were highlighted by the emergence of the likes of Neale Cooper, Neil Simpson, John Hewitt, Bryan Gunn and Eric Black. Who would have forecast that these five payers would go on to lift the European Cup Winners’ Cup? I followed Bobby’s career as a coach, which was success after success, and had the privilege to spend time with him at Notre Dame where the fine job he did was recognised by everyone I met there. Well done Bobby and congratulations on a tremendous achievement.”

The community sports facilities and training academy proposed for Kingsford include outdoor, floodlit 3G pitches as well as areas for other outdoor sports and indoor spaces for a variety of community-based sporting and recreational activities. It will also mean that the AFC Community Trust will have a dedicated home and purpose-built facilities to increase their reach and positive influence on people’s lives across North-east Scotland.

Chairman of AFC, Stewart Milne, concluded: “These are two important additional investments for which we are incredibly grateful. Despite the on-going challenges in the market, we are very much on-track with our fund-raising for phase one: the community sports hub and training facilities and we plan to announce further exciting fund-raising plans in the coming weeks. Work on the site is progressing well and we hope to have this phase ready for next summer, when we can officially launch the Bobby Clark Football Academy.”