Derek McInnes’s side have an itch to scratch in the League Cup final against Celtic on Sunday and a trophy would sit well for a club with off-pitch developments in the works

It would be no consolation to Brendan Rodgers but if Aberdeen were to be the side to loosen Celtic’s grip on Scottish domestic silverware, that outcome would seem fair. There will be debate about how meaningfully they have done it but no team have recently threatened Celtic more than Aberdeen. The Dons have been runners-up for the past four seasons.

Under Derek McInnes, Aberdeen have an itch to scratch. Six semi‑finals and three finals have returned one trophy, the 2014 League Cup. McInnes takes his players back to the final of what is generally regarded as the lesser of the two knockout competitions on Sunday with Celtic in wait at Hampden Park.

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If McInnes can rightly bemoan unfortunate timing – running head first into Rodgers’s relentless side – then the fact Ross County, St Johnstone and Inverness have also won a cup each during his Pittodrie tenure is a criticism Aberdeen’s manager will know all about.

The broader Aberdeen scene is fascinating. Work is under way on an £11m training facility to form part of a £45m development that will see the club leave Pittodrie. The sale of the old ground, possibly for as much as £20m, is key but more fundraising is required. Aberdeen made Robert Wicks the club’s commercial director with precisely that in mind.

“I can see an uplift in hospitality revenue and we will make significant changes to what we offer there,” says Wicks of the future in a new home. “An enhanced match-day experience will help to bring crowds to the stadium earlier and hopefully more of them. From a broader commercial perspective, there is nothing like a shiny new stadium to trigger conversations with people about new partnership opportunities.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Aberdeen fans pack Pittodrie for the Europa League play-off with Burnley. The club’s long-term aim is to move to a new stadium. Photograph: Ian Rutherford/PA

“You only have to drive round the stadium once to get the sense that it’s landlocked. We can’t expand in the way others have. We can’t afford to take individual sides of the stadium out for a year or more for redevelopment. The only real solution is a new stadium and to make sure it is done right.”

A quiet couple have played a key role in Aberdeen’s off-field rejuvenation. Elaine and Willie Donald, owners of a successful engineering firm near Stonehaven, wanted no publicity whatsoever when providing several millions to help clear a club debt that peaked at more than £14m. Aberdeen had earlier been hampered by interest repayments to such an extent that even contributing amounts in the hundreds of pounds per week towards the wages of loanees from England was problematic. Players were often sold out of necessity.

With finances stabilised, McInnes has been allowed to build and retain a team with resources behind only those of the Old Firm. Accounts released last week show Aberdeen staff costs at £8.5m from a turnover of £15.4m. “We are probably 85% down the line on the funding for the training facility,” Wicks says. “We are looking at naming rights for the new stadium and a variety of funding solutions.

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“Anything that we do around the stadium will involve new funds. If anything over the next couple of seasons we want to invest more in the football operation. We launched a new initiative nine months ago, a global membership scheme, which now has 6,500 members and generated £1.3m that the club didn’t previously have access to.”

Two other ways Scottish clubs can make serious money are by player sales and progress in Europe. That McInnes has not guided Aberdeen as far as a play-off round in five Europa League attempts has to be a disappointment, albeit drawing Burnley this season was hardly in the Pittodrie club’s favour. In Scott McKenna, Aberdeen have an asset rendered even more significant by the backdrop of a stadium plan. A £10m price has been placed on the physically imposing centre-back, for whom this cup final has wider meaning.

“He’ll go to the English Premier League and we’ll get the bigger ticket on the back of that,” said McInnes amid Celtic interest in McKenna three months ago. “I’m very confident of that.”

As the Aberdeen chairman, Stewart Milne has invested far more time and money in the club than he will ever get back. As a hugely successful businessman, Milne is acutely aware of the big picture. Adding another trophy to the cabinet would boost Aberdeen’s status at a time when they are trying so hard to back up grand plans with actions.