Aberdeen appoint St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson as new Head Coach
Last updated 13 hours ago
Aberdeen have appointed St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson as their new Head Coach.
The Northern Irishman leaves Paisley with assistant Brian Kerr to sign a three-year deal at Pittodrie.
Robinson is the permanent replacement for Jimmy Thelin who was sacked by the club at the beginning of January.
Several names have been linked with the vacancy with former Saint-Étienne manager Eirik Horneland and ex-Mainz and New York Red Bulls boss Sandro Schwarz both front runners at different points.
However, Aberdeen have decided to look closer to home and appoint the Buddies head coach.
Robinson leaves St Mirren with legendary status having led the club to a historic League Cup victory over Celtic earlier this season.
The 51-year old has also achieved three consecutive top six finishes and taken the club into Europe.
He leaves them sitting 10th in the Premiership this campaign - five points behind his new club.
Craig McLeish and Jamie Langfield will take interim charge of the Paisley side for their Premiership match against Rangers on Sunday.
Following the appointment, Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack told the club's official website: “We are pleased to welcome Stephen and Brian to Pittodrie.
“Stephen is a proven leader with a strong track record of overachieving at Motherwell and St. Mirren, where he delivered three Cup Finals, including winning the Scottish League Cup this season, multiple top six league finishes, including a third place and qualifying for Europe twice.
“He has demonstrated he can consistently deliver strong results, punching well above the resources he’s had to work with, during the last eight years in Scottish football and proven he can build resilient, competitive teams with solid foundations.
“There is a strong desire to re-establish a clear identity for our club, to become harder to play against and restore competitiveness in our matches. For those reasons we believe Stephen is the right Head Coach to deliver exactly that.
“He has also developed a number of young players at previous clubs which fits with our overarching ambition to be the best developer of young talent. Solidifying that pathway for our young players will be vital to his success here at Aberdeen.
“Nobody within the football club would dispute that performances and results this season have been unacceptable and well below that of what is expected here at Aberdeen. However, during these testing periods comes an opportunity to sharpen focus and re-evaluate where changes are required and given recent results, we recognised the need to make the permanent appointment quickly.”
Hear the latest news on Clyde 1 on FM, DAB, smart speaker or the Rayo app.