Panda

Had Robson stayed, I was convinced we would not lose, as was sure he would get a result to convince the board to stick with him. Now he's gone I'm actually less confident

We're not one of the four clubs looking at Van Veen. Hearts, Motherwell, St Mirren and Kilmarnock were all after him. Looks like one of the latter two most likely to get him.

Think you've been bought in by that Agent Alba joker, either directly or indirectly. Forrest is Cardiff bound I'm sure.

Transfer deadline is 23:30 GMT tonight. It wasn't wrong, Rico admits he misread it. BBC 2-0 BigAl/Rico.

Jimmy Thelin. Have been reading a few articles on him and watched some Elfsborg highlights. What intrigues me is his way of playing is kinda what Barry Robson was trying to do at times, but Thelin does it much more effectively. He plays a fast-paced direct style of football, and even against smaller teams Elfsborg often have fewer than 50% possession. But it's all about high pressing, winning the ball in the opposition half, and if they win it in their own half then it's often a long ball to get them up the pitch quickly. But the formation is more of a 4-2-3-1 with more width, the defensive line high up, and often the advanced midfielder stays up to form a front two when they're defending so they have two men to aim for. It almost like Thelin has a solution to a few things Robson was doing wrong in his own quest to make that style work at Aberdeen. That type of football isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think back to what was, for me, the high point of Robson's reign and possibly the game that landed him the job permanently. Against Hearts at home in April we played at a pace Hearts couldn't live with, pressed their midfield, and forced them into errors. We turned them over 3-0 and could have won by more. And yet, we had just 38% possession that day. But a lot of Hearts passes were among their back line. We had 47% accuracy with long balls (compared to hearts 32%). We had a 60% success rate with passes into the final third (Hearts 45%). I thought that would be how we'd always be under Robson but it then became a long ball shambles after that. I dunno if Aberdeen just fluked it that day v Hearts. If Thelin can recreate it though then I'm all for him. We just need to go and poach the manager who finished second in the Swedish top flight last season...

Stephen Kenny would be interesting. His Ireland stint, he was labelled as tactically naive because he stubbornly stuck to wanting to be a possession based team when Ireland didn't have the players for it. He also mainly favoured 3-4-2-1. Didn't offer enough of a threat against smaller teams who played a low block. So there's a hybrid of Glass and Robson in there. But Dunfermline apart, his club record as a manager is exceptional. His time in charge of Ireland wasn't a total waste of time either as he gave 21 young players their debuts - think Jamie McGrath and Liam Scales are among them. Dunno if he's my first choice, but would certainly consider him.

It won't be Neil Lennon. He has his cheerleaders every time a job comes up, but the one thing I respect our board for is they haven't bought into it. Neil Warnock - see if he was interim until we found someone permanent, then fine. Give him the Celtic, Rangers and Bonnyrigg Rose games - if anything it'll be intriguing and I tend to think the results in those three games will be the same no matter who is in charge. But, this end of season chat worries me. We did this last season, had three months to find someone but were quite happy to let Robson crack on (in fairness he was doing well) then didn't find anyone. Do we really need to do the same again, 3/4 months to find a manager? I'd rather our permanent boss was in sooner rather than later so they can start making their stamp on the team. Yeh, it didn't do Glass, Goodwin or Robson much good in the long term, but it's still preferable to their first competitive game potentially being a European qualifier.

Technically, they found them at Pittodrie...

Warnock isn't a surprise, because the FMB are more likely to be impressed by a 76-year-old Neil Warnock than they are with a young manager who has been doing the business in Scandinavia.

Seen Sweden's Jimmy Thelin name bandied about. Interesting article on him here when he was linked with Sunderland last month. https://www.si.com/soccer/sunderland/analysis/jimmy-thelin-who-is-sunderland-linked-coach-and-what-tactics-does-he-play

McGhee won't be interested.

Michael O'Neill? Did well in first spell at Northern Ireland. Saved Stoke from relegation but couldn't quite take them above mid-table after that but you would hope has learned from the experience. Now back at Northern Ireland but could be tempted into club management again. Alex Neil - I dunno. I've heard good arguments for and against him. Absolutely not to Neil Lennon, Stephen Robinson, Derek McInnes, John Kennedy and Neil Warnock.

We genuinely expected nothing to happen. Was no whispers of anything. Dave Cormack has sacked him in the middle of the night it seems considering he's in the US.

Club statement:- Barry was appointed as interim manager in early 2023 and, after an impressive run of seven consecutive victories, was awarded the role on a permanent basis, during which time he won two SPFL manager of the month awards. He led the team to third in the Scottish Premiership, qualifying for the UEFA Europa Conference League group stages, the first time in 15 seasons the Club had reached a group stage. The Club invested heavily to rebuild the squad during the summer in preparation for a busy schedule on four fronts. This helped to produce some extremely credible European performances and progression to the Viaplay Cup Final in December. However, league results and performances over the course of the 2023/24 campaign have been well below the expectations set. Following our failure to defeat Dundee at Pittodrie last night, the decision was taken to replace the management team. “Although it has been a difficult call, the Board felt the change was necessary and in the best interests of Aberdeen FC,” Chairman Dave Cormack said. “Barry earned the right to be Aberdeen manager and knew the high level of expectation we had when he took the role. We gave Barry as much time and support as we possibly could in the hope, and expectation, he could return us to the league form we witnessed in the spring of last year. “There is a talented squad of players at the Club which makes our current league position unacceptable. “With 17 games left in the league and still in the Scottish Cup, this change is necessary to help us refocus on our ambitions for the rest of the season. “It’s important we thank Barry for his significant contribution to Aberdeen as a player, a coach and manager. He’s a good man who worked extremely hard in everything he did for us, and it goes without saying that we wish him, and Steve, our very best. “The Club, as a business, is in good shape. We have no bank debt, significant commercial growth, record season ticket and AberDNA membership sales. We also have an evolving player trading model that is allowing us to invest significantly more in the football operation than the operating income we generate. “But, as chairman I accept responsibility, along with the board, for the managerial upheavals. It’s exhausting for everyone to go through, not least our fans and the managers who gave their all and lost their jobs. “We have asked First Team Coach Peter Leven, assisted by Scott Anderson, to lead training on an interim basis.”

Robson gone. Well, that was much quicker than I expected.

Talks today with the board. I'd be surprised if that leads to the sack. My understanding is a week ago the club were nonplussed about the criticism and felt the games in hand meant we were in a false position. But fan anger appears to have moved the dial. Maybe, just maybe, they have learned their lesson from Goodwin post-Darvel last year when they released THAT statement.

I'm not ready to say goodbye to Duk yet and I refuse to sanction this transfer.

Why revert to four at the back with 10 minutes to go? His whole philosophy - subs and tactics - is to wait until there's barely any time left then make the changes too late. "We looked leggy" - well why not have an extra midfielder in there then? Why have three at the back and ask Shinnie and Miovski in particular to do far more running than they need to be doing? We had three must win games there and haven't won any of them.

Don't blame him. Stay well away from this place pal.

Her TikTok channel shows her at a lot of Aberdeen games, so she was probably coming to watch him.

Duk is ill. Apparently. Odd line-up. Edit: Live commentary from Pittodrie on BBC Radio Scotland 810 MW and BBC Sounds

Probably too early to start the Rangers-Aberdeen thread so I'll just dump it here, but just bought my ticket and fair to say the sales aren't going well, more than half the away section still available. Midweek, away from home, live on TV, Aberdeen likely to get horsed - understandable. But we will win so looking forward to it. £36 (technically £72 as I'll have to pay for both most likely) is money well spent.

Hopefully not. Has been injured all season, and is now being loaned out by a League One team essentially to get him fit. I don't think that's the type of player we're looking for at the moment unless they really add something to the team. Already heard enough about Gueye's fitness issues.

Be interesting to see if this new fella plays and if so where. I imagine he might play ahead of Polvara. MacDonald presumably starts. Maybe Duk in ahead of McGrath. Win or lose Robson isn't getting sacked this wee. A win crucial with the Old Firm up next. Never mind Hearts, lose this and we stay nine behind Kilmarnock in the battle for fourth. Dundee would be five ahead of us. I think if we play like we did in the first 30 minutes at Tynecastle then we'll do enough to get our noses in front, but can't say I'm confident.

Mattie Pollock being considered according to Scott Burns. What might make it tricky is he actually started for Watford on Sunday and won rave reviews for his performance, so maybe the manager down there will have a change of heart.