Aberdeen

Stephen Robinson feels his side are officially in the relegation battle after a 4-1 defeat at Ibrox. While speaking to Premier Sports, Robinson made it clear he wasn’t pleased with the manner in conceding the goals as the Gers’ put four past the struggling Dons. The Dons boss said: “If you concede goals like that you won’t win football matches and that’s the reason we are where we are. It’s too easy to concede goals. We make changes, you know to give yourself a chance after half-time, for thirty minutes we were solid, we frustrated them, and then you come out in the second half, where you go further forward, you bring subs on and you concede a really, really poor goal. All three goals, the only goal that was a really good goal was Tavernier’s, obviously, with the free-kick. Way, way too easy. It’s been the story of the season. It’s not acceptable for Aberdeen Football Club, for us to let goals in that easy as a collective. Some people can run forward quicker than they can run back and that has to change. I’ve told a few home truths tonight and it has to be. It should have been done six months ago because there’s certainly talent there, but we have to have the same desire to run back and defend and put our bodies on the line as we do running forward. It’s frustrating, the reality is we’re in a dogfight and that’s been told tonight and people have to react to that.” Robinson is against using any excuses in his sides recent performances as the players really need to start performing before Aberdeen are dragged further down. He added: “The excuses are gone. People need to step up now. Aberdeen Football Club doesn’t owe anybody, they owe Aberdeen Football Club and all of us do to make sure we fight and scrap to get ourselves out of this position before we reset anything for next year.” Aberdeen are now fully in a relegation battle as Aberdeen currently sit ninth, just three points ahead of both St Mirren and Kilmarnock who both picked up wins on the weekend to continue the pressure on Aberdeen. Up next is an International break for time to re-group ahead of a tricky two games before the split as Stephen Robinson travels to face his former club in St Mirren before Hibernian travel up North.

Aberdeen have this morning announced Stephen Robinson as their new first-team manager on a three-year deal. Aberdeen’s two-month wait for a manager since Jimmy Thelin departed has came to an end as Stephen Robinson has agreed to become the new boss in the Granite City. Robinson started managing in the youth systems of the Northern Irish National Team, managing the U17s, U19s and U21s before joining Oldham Athletic in 2016 where the Ex-St Mirren man was let go following a poor run. Stephen then agreed to join the Steelmen making his move to Motherwell in 2017 guiding the Fir Park side to a third place finish as well as qualification into the Europa League Qualifiers. He also let the Steelmen to two cup finals – losing both to Celtic. He then moved onto Morecambe before joining the Buddies where he gained three back-to-back top six finishes as well as bringing European Football back to St Mirren. He also brought home silverware at the beginning of the current campaign, defeating Celtic 3-1 in the Scottish League Cup final. Robinson has been at the heart of giving youngsters the chance and developing well which saw them gain big moves down south as we saw with Evan Mooney making the switch to Arsenal. New Dons boss, Stephen Robinson said: “When this opportunity arose, there was no way I could turn it down. “Aberdeen has a tremendous history and there’s no mistaking it is a huge Club. The facilities and resources that will be at my disposal are excellent and more importantly, the fan base is tremendous so I’m excited to work for a Club of this size and strive to take it forward. “I appreciate it has been a tough period for everyone, but players respond to positivity so we’ve got to stick together going forward. “We will put a team out on the pitch to get the points we need to finish this season as strongly as we can. “Aberdeen have clear ambition but it needs an identity, it needs direction and I aim to give the club that so we need everyone to get behind myself, the staff and the players.” AFC Sporting Director, Lutz Pfannenstiel, said: “Results have clearly not been what we had hoped for or expected in recent weeks. “The Board and I recognised we needed a new Head Coach in position sooner rather than later and Stephen, who was part of this process from the outset, was the clear candidate to take on the role now. “He is a highly experienced coach with a strong track record of delivering results in this league and we believe he will bring stability in the short term whilst also providing the vision to build success for this club in the future.” Aberdeen have a tricky run of fixtures with meetings against Falkirk, Rangers and Hibernian coming up as well as a trip to his former side, St Mirren in Paisley.

Peter Leven believes Aberdeen are in big trouble following their 3-0 defeat at the hands of Dunfermline at East End Park. Dunfermline defeat the cup holders with goals from Matty Todd and Olly Thomas brace put the Pars’ into their first semi-final since 2009. Peter Leven wasn’t afraid to criticize his side’s display as Aberdeen put up a horror display in Dunfermline. Aberdeen started the first 5-10 minutes well but going down hill as soon as the hosts went ahead with Peter Leven saying: “We started okay, we had a chance with Stuart Armstrong, but after that, I can’t defend the players any more, that was unacceptable. I can only apologise to the fans for what they’ve seen. “We had so many experienced players on there, but we never won the battle. First balls, second balls, a lack of fight, a lack of confidence, it’s really poor. We’re the holders, and we’ve limped out the Scottish Cup, that’s unacceptable for me. I can take losing, but after going 1-0 down, the fight was gone, and that was so disappointing.” Aberdeen have been miles off it with just three wins since the start of 2026. The Dons currently sit 9th in the Scottish Premiership following Dundee’s win over Motherwell on Saturday. If things weren’t to get any worse, Peter Leven’s men have a very tough run of fixtures in the lead up to the split with visits from Falkirk and Hibernian as well as away days to St Mirren and Rangers in store. With the way things are going, Peter Leven said: “We’re in trouble, we’re in serious trouble, because we’re not picking up wins, we’re not picking up points, and we’re out of the Scottish Cup. There’s a real possibility we can get dragged into the relegation fight, I said that to the players after the game. “We cannot go on like this, but I can’t protect them any longer. They’ve got to stand up and be counted. They have to show the character because we can’t do anything else, there’s no transfer window, so they’re going to have to pick it up.”

Sandro Schwarz has landed in the Granite City as talks begin as Horneland’s move to Aberdeen has faced ‘unforeseen circumstances’. This afternoon, Sandro Schwarz flew into Aberdeen to hold talks about the chance of becoming the new boss after the sacking of Jimmy Thelin at the start of the year. He will meet with Dave Cormack, Alan Burrows and Lutz Pfannenstield over the available job at Pittodrie this afternoon. Eirik Horneland remains the main target to take the job in Scotland but ‘unforeseen circumstances’ have appeared with Sandro becoming a possible back-up option should the talks with the Norwegian break down. Lutz knows him from his time in Germany and the USA where he managed New York City Red Bulls with Lutz being at St Louis City. The German boss has had a handful of managerial jobs such as Mainz, FC Eschborn, Hertha Berlin, Wehen Weisbaden and Russian side, Dynamo Moscow. Sandro who was most recently boss in New York had a win percentage of 38% which was a win rate of 1.4 points per game in MLS football. Aberdeen currently have Peter Leven in charge on interim basis with Ex-Ross County boss, Tony Docherty in as assistant. Aberdeen have struggled big time this season, sitting eighth in the Scottish Premiership with top-six looking like mission impossible. Horneland joining Aberdeen may still happen but it has been made clear that the appointment won’t be any earlier than the summer.

Aberdeen have had a struggle of a season as they sit eighth with a difficult run to come for Peter Leven’s men. It’s been a difficult season for Aberdeen after a poor start which saw Scottish Cup winner, Jimmy Thelin sacked at the start of the year after a defeat away at Falkirk. Aberdeen have only won three times this year so far which came against Championship side, Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup, a 6-2 win over bottom of the league Livingston and an impressive 2-0 win over 9-men Motherwell in the Scottish Cup. Aberdeen have failed to win away since early December and this year hasn’t been great at all. The Dons’ new manager search has taken quite a while as still no manager has taken the role yet despite huge talk of Eirik Horneland taking the job which looks like it may not be until next season. Peter Leven is currently in charge as interim boss with former Ross County and Dundee boss Tony Docherty alongside Leven. Aberdeen also added former Notts County boss, Ian Burchnall to the coaching staff for the remainder of the season. The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Dons with a trip to Tynecastle on the cards tomorrow – a place they haven’t won at since 2017 before they take on Celtic on Wednesday night. They then look to defend their Scottish Cup as they travel to East End Park next Saturday night to face Dunfermline. Aberdeen will also have to face the likes of Rangers, Hibernian, Falkirk and St Mirren ahead of the split which is far from ideal as Aberdeen are in dire need of grabbing wins to make a late push for top six. It is highly unlikely Aberdeen will go down due to the amount of quality but Peter Leven’s men certainly need to up their game to prevent being dragged closer to the bottom with sides around that area improving week by week.

Aberdeen man Lyall Cameron fully believes Aberdeen can go to Tynecastle and pick up points against the league leaders. The on-loan Rangers man feels his side can go to Gorgie and cause a shock and beat Hearts who sit top of the league and ending Aberdeen’s winless record which goes all the way back to 2017. Current Hearts boss, Derek McInnes was the last Aberdeen boss to secure victory at Tynecastle where McInnes defeated his current side 2-1 on the 7th of May, 2017. Aberdeen look likely to be involved in the bottom-six this season following their goalless draw in the City of Discovery on Tuesday evening at Tannadice. Lyall Cameron said: “We definitely need a win. We can win any game in this league. It has been shown this year with teams dropping points everywhere. “We just need to go there and play our own game. Play as well as possible and hopefully we get the three points.” Hearts have only suffered defeat on home soil once this season which came back in the Scottish Cup with Falkirk ending Scottish Cup dreams for the Jambos but has proven to be a very difficult venue for visiting sides. Cameron added: “We know the atmosphere at Tynecastle is going to be magnificent,” he insisted. “Their fans are really behind them. “We just need to go there, do our best, match their energy and give it back to them. We have players in our dressing room who can hurt them and players coming back who are good footballers, so we are looking forward to it.” This has been a clash where it has been the home side who appear to come away with all three points in. Aberdeen have failed to win away ever since December in a 3-1 win at Dens Park with there last away goal coming just before Christmas where Bilalovic netted late on in a 3-1 defeat at Celtic Park. As well as that, Aberdeen have suffered major blows at the backline with no Tobers or Knoester and now McIntyre adding to the list. He said: “That is the benchmark now. We have shown we can defend ugly and play ugly. We have players in the team who want to play football, myself included. “Every time I got the ball at Tannadice, I had to bang it in the channel. It is not what I want to be doing, but that was what the game was like on Wednesday. Hopefully, Saturday will be better and the travelling fans will get a better watch than that.” A win on Saturday may boost any remaining top-six hopes although those hopes already look to be deflated. Hearts will certainly be needing the win ahead of the Old Firm meeting on Sunday as they look to extend the gap but will need to deal with Aberdeen first.