Speaking at the club’s annual general meeting this week, the executive chairman of the Stewart Milne Group admitted that raising the necessary cash could be “challenging” but he envisaged being in the new ground in less than three years’ time.

Mr Milne also revealed that the preferred option would be for the club to remain near Loirston Loch in the south of the city.

He said: “There is progress with the new stadium in as much as the site that was originally planned out at the Loirston development has changed substantially since we originally got the planning permission. We are now integrating a new Academy on the south side of the city into the overall development and that has delayed things. All the different elements within the master plan have to be revised so that for example there is a transport strategy that works for the stadium, works for the school, works for the new settlement that takes place, as well as the new Cove Rangers stadium. All of that work is quietly going on in the background, but it does mean that the time period is getting extended.

“By the time everything is planned out at Loirston, it is going to be well into next year and maybe slightly beyond. Raising the funds in the current environment could be quite challenging, but we would like to think we could be in a new stadium for the start of season 2019/2020. I think that is the type of timescale we are looking at now.”