Aberdeen managing director Duncan Fraser has welcomed the club's new sponsorship deal and vowed to support Jimmy Calderwood in his player hunt.The Dons announced a shirt deal with locally-based firm Team Recruitment which will bring in welcome funds, and Fraser pointed to Calderwood's achievements at Pittodrie as a factor which helped with the negotiations.

Aberdeen finished fourth in the SPL and had a profitable UEFA Cup run which boosted finances last season.

Fraser, director of football Willie Miller and Calderwood have key roles to play in bringing new players to the club.

And Fraser said: "We always look at ways and means of strengthening the squad.

"As Willie has pointed out recently, we're investing £1million more in the football budget since Jimmy arrived (in 2004).

"To maintain it at that level you've got to try to generate some success. We've done that. We can see for the foreseeable future that sort of money being ploughed back into the product."

Fraser highlighted the factor of signing-on fees as supporters wait to see which players arrive at Aberdeen during the rest of the summer break.

He pointed out that free transfers have hidden costs, and if Aberdeen are not splashing out fees for players he stressed that does not mean the club are showing a lack of ambition.

"If a player is out of contract and is coming as a 'Bosman', the player has expectation levels of what a club would get for him if he was under contract," Fraser told RedTV on the Dons' website.

"So 'Bosmans' should not be seen as free transfers.

"There is generally quite a bit of cash involved in those deals as well."

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