Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne has confirmed they intend to include a standing area in the new stadium they hope to build at Kingsford.

Milne was speaking after the club’s 113th annual meeting at Pittodrie.

The Dons will lodge their official planning application for the £50 million stadium and training complex in January and hope to get clearance to start building it by next June.

Milne says it will include many features requested by Dons fans, which include a standing area similar to the one already in place at Celtic Park.

Milne said: “We will have a stadium with all the corporate facilities we need and a stadium with the facilities the fans need inside and out in the fanzone.

“When we come down to developing the detail, and we won’t be doing that for a few years yet, we will have had the feedback from some of the other clubs (such as Celtic) who will have been trialling safe standing.

“We would like to think by the time we finalise the plans for the stadium we will incorporate a standing area in it.”

Milne admitted securing the £50 million needed to build the facility will be a “huge challenge”.

He added: “The important thing is that we tackle it in manageable stages.

“The focus at the moment is not on the stadium, it is delivering the community and training facilities.

“We know that we are going to have to raise £10 million for that and we have to try and raise the bulk of these funds by the middle of next year as we believe the planning application will be in front of council next summer.

“We are hopeful we will get the right decision on that front but no one is taking anything for granted.

“We want to have sufficient funds lined up so when we get planning through we can commit to start delivering the first phase.

“That is number one priority over the next 12-18 months.

“Once we get that on the ground it gives us a great platform to then move on and start the fundraising for phase two.

“If you don’t believe you can raise the money there is no point in starting.

“We don’t have all the answers to how the money will be in place but we have been working on plans for some time now.

“We are looking at how we can pull support on board.

“If we can raise the first £10 million we know that the sale of Pittodrie will be a good start for raising the £40 million needed for the stadium.

“We will be holding a share issue and will be selling the naming rights for the stadium.

“There will also be various other elements and the reality is that if there is a funding gap, the club will need to take on board a long-term mortgage on the stadium.”

The Dons are hopeful they will get the support required to enable them to finally quit Pittodrie.

It’s now more than 15 years since they made the first steps towards that.

Milne said: “I think a lot of people who had concerns initially are now supporting the move to Kingsford.

“The last poll was organised by one of the fans groups and something like 75% were in favour of the move and behind us.

“There will always be an element out there who will oppose it, whether it is the stadium or some other project.

“I don’t think all the answers to the arguments we put on the table will satisfy these people because they have made up their minds.

“And people have the right to do that.

“The genuine people who have real concerns, we have spent a lot of time with them over recent months and we will continue to spend time with them to try and demonstrate we are going to come up with solutions within the areas they have concerns on.

“We have won a lot of people round by doing that in recent months and hopefully by the time we come to building the stadium we will have convinced most people.

“I think from the evidence to date, and from the public statements made by some of the councillors, they recognise the importance of the club to the city.

“The councillors recognise we also have real issues with Pittodrie and don’t have proper training facilities.

“They see the importance of that in keeping a top management team and top players at the club.

“I would like to believe the will of the people in the city is behind this project.

“But we have to wait until it has gone through the full planning process.”