Aberdeen FC have branded the city council "disingenuous" over the administration's handling of the proposed community sports stadium at the beach and "not taking it seriously".
The Dons last night released a blistering statement taking aim at the administration and SNP finance convener Alex McLellan in response to comments made by the councillor in Saturday's Press and Journal.
Cllr McLellan poured cold water on the club's offer of the land at Pittodrie as part of a deal to push through the beach stadium.
He said: “If Dave Cormack needs to raise capital to fund the stadium, he should be looking to the private market to sell Pittodrie.
“If he were confident in its value, I am sure he would be able to sell it.”
Now, in a strongly worded statement, Aberdeen Football Club has hit back, saying: "The club is at a loss to understand what prompted Cllr McLellan to make such personal and mis-leading remarks about Aberdeen Football Club in relation to the community stadium project in Saturday’s P&J.
"He knows full well that the site at Pittodrie is only a small part of what the club offered to bring to this project."
The statement goes on: "As the anchor tenant of a new multi-sports, community stadium, Aberdeen FC will pay hefty rent and rates, adding tens of millions in new revenues to Aberdeen City Council, over a long-term lease.
"And, as if that wasn’t appealing enough to a cash-strapped local authority, a new economic impact report from BiGGAR Economics revealed that this transformational project will generate £3.2billion into the local economy over 50 years. It beggars’ belief that councillors, who are supposed to have the interests of our city at heart, are not taking this seriously."
It adds: "It’s not about what the club wants or needs, it’s about what’s best for our city and its citizens at this pivotal time for our future prosperity.
"But we can only move forward when the ambition for such a transformational project is recognised and there is the political will to make it happen.
"Yes, there has been significant investment at the beach, but spending £55million on an urban park does not create jobs or generate wealth into the economy. Instead, they are a drain on council resources, adding considerable, annual maintenance costs to an already-constrained operating budget."
The club highlighted that at a recent meeting with council chiefs, it was agreed to jointly work on a heads of terms agreement to be led by the council.
However, the statement goes on: "But instead, all we’ve seen from them are mis-leading briefings to the media, dismissing the economic report, by a reputable company used by the Scottish Government, and disparaging what our supporters bring to this city, including the 130,000 who turned up for the open top bus parade after the Scottish Cup win.
"This beachfront vision can still be pulled off and, with the demise of our oil and gas industry being accelerated by government policy, it’s even more urgent that Aberdeen shows ambition by committing to deliver projects which will make companies and people want to remain here.
"The ball is not in our court, it is well and truly in the hands of our council leaders – only they have the mandate and the ability to secure public, capital investment to drive a major infrastructure project like this.
"The leaders of the opposition parties understand this. Sadly, our current administration does not and continues to deliberately miss the point which is both disappointing and disingenuous."