Jim Goodwin knows Dave Cormack could have ploughed his cash into the MLS but instead wants to give his home city of Aberdeen a team it can be proud of.
And the Irishman is determined to help his chairman deliver his ambition - starting by getting the Dons challenging at the right end of the Scottish Premiership.
Cormack has come in for a lot of criticism from his own fans for appointing Stephen Glass as manager back at the end of the 2020-21 season.
It was an experiment that failed to see Aberdeen hit the previous heights they had under Derek McInnes, who had led the team into Europe for eight consecutive seasons.
Cormack and the Pittodrie board decided to pull the plug on Glass in February and turned to Goodwin.
The former St Mirren manager has failed to inspire either, missing out on the top six and finishing in a disappointing 10th spot.
Goodwin, however, will now have his first transfer window to begin the rebuild and knows he will have the full backing of the Pittodrie hierarchy.
Goodwin said: “Mr Cormack has put millions of his own money in to make his team better. He could have stayed in America and invested in a Major League Soccer side but his allegiances are here to Aberdeen, the city and the football club.
“He wants to give the people of Aberdeen a team that they can be proud of. Yes, he has held his hands up for one or two mistakes he has made - and you have to admire that - but he is determined to put it right. There is no doubt about that.”
Cormack has made no secret of his ambitious plans for Aberdeen, to get them up challenging the big two and to make them one of Europe’s top 100 clubs. Goodwin believes he is building a good relationship with Cormack but there will be times where they will clash because they have similar characteristics.
The Aberdeen boss added: “I don’t think anyone watching this would expect me to say anything negative about the chairman. All I can be is honest.
“The relationship we are building - and we're still at the very early stages of it - is a really strong and positive one. I’ve been involved in clubs in the past where chairman have wanted to run things from top to bottom but don’t actually invest in it, their own individual wealth.
“Him and myself both have very similar characteristics in terms of that we want everything done yesterday. We both lack patience but when I get back to accountability and people taking responsibility for their roles then the chairman has done that.
“He is also out there with the fans because there are a lot of clubs I’ve been at in the past where supporters are forever criticising the club for not being transparent enough or having enough dialogue with the supporters.
“There is nobody who can label that at the chairman. He is involved in all these supporters groups to different groups on matchdays where he sits down and talks to them and gives them his ideas.”
Elements of the Red Army are unhappy with results and performances on the pitch. Goodwin claims that Cormack has put a lot of good things in place off-the-field that will eventually come to fruition further down the line, like revamping the player recruitment structure at Pittodrie.
“He is used to being successful and I am in no doubt he will bring success to Aberdeen,” the former Alloa and St Mirren manager, speaking on RedTV, claimed. “Some of the things that have already happened the fans don’t really get to see. When you speak about the recruitment, it was Dave Cormack that promoted Steven Gunn into a director of football role which is a position a club like Aberdeen should have.
“It was Dave Cormack who restructured the recruitment along with Steven and they brought in Darren Mowbray (head of recruitment).
“I was a little apprehensive about meeting him because I felt if I can’t build a relationship with him then I am going to make a change but thankfully he has a real eye for a player and we have a similar understanding of what we need for the team to take it forward.
“Dave has to be congratulated for a lot of what he has done.”
