PEDAL TO THE GERRARD MOMENT AT PITTODRIE
STEPHEN GLASS has lifted a trophy as an Aberdeen player and now he wants to start the cycle all over again as their manager.
The new boss famously was handed a bike for his man-ofthe-match display in the Dons’ Coca-Cola Cup triumph over Dundee in 1995.
Glass has now swapped Atlanta United’s B team for a return to his first senior club to try to bring more glory days to the Pittodrie giants.
The Dons have won just one trophy in the last 26 years – the League Cup under Derek McInnes back in 2014 – and that is something Glass is keen to remedy.
He said: “I don’t know if anyone has ever been a player and a manager at Aberdeen and won a trophy.
“But for me it’s important that the city has a team to be proud of.
“I saw the pictures when Derek’s team brought back a trophy and the place was full.
“When we did it, it was pouring rain the day we brought it back.
“It wasn’t as busy and it would be amazing to have that opportunity to do it.
Glass wants to put Dons on track for silverware like ’95
“I know what it means to the city, I know what the city wants from their team.
“There is an Aberdeen way of doing things and I want to play a part in bringing that back and really embracing it.’
Glass has been coaching in America for the last decade and insists he wouldn’t have come back home for any job.
He said:“When a club like Aberdeen is open and you get the opportunity to put your name forward for an interview, then it was something I wanted to do.
“I wouldn’t have come home for something I didn’t think I could make a success of.
“I am leaving behind an opportunity to work at the best club in the United States.
“It had to be right. The club is right, the people I am going to work for are right and the existing staff.
“There are some great young players and there is a potential for the team to do really well.
“I am looking forward to putting a bit of my stamp, along with the rest of the staff’s stamp, on it. The opportunity is enormous.”
Glass was always chairman Dave Cormack’s first choice and he aims to repay him. He also thinks adding Scott Brown and Allan Russell to his coaching team will strengthen Aberdeen.
He said: “The trust people are putting in me is big and I believe I will repay it. The people I am hoping to get on board want to do the same thing and there is a reason for that.”
A big thing in Aberdeen going forward is attacking football and promoting youth. Those are both things Glass is big on, having been brought up in the Pittodrie tradition.
He added: “I think the thing I want to put on the pitch is an attacking style.
“It’s honestly nothing new for the people at Aberdeen. When I came into the club, that was what was expected.
“I came in as a really young kid and saw it. And Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams did things that people are still talking about now as almost a new wave but he was doing it in the eighties.
“Alex Smith was doing it in the eighties – attacking, trying to win games every week.
“When you’re going to Glasgow, you’re going to win.
“If you can put an Aberdeen team on that people can believe in, people will come and watch and believe in what is going to happen.
“That’s the aim – fast, attacking football and scoring hopefully as well. There’s a huge incentive to do well.”
Glass has played under some top managers like Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli but it was Tony Mowbray who opened his eyes to coaching when playing for Hibs alongside Brown.
Glass, speaking to RedTV, said: “I’ve definitely taken something from all of them, good and bad.
“In terms of coaching and a philosophy and a structure, Tony was incredible when he came in at Hibs and he was in a similar position.
“He’d been an interim manager, he’d been a secondteam coach but he’d been at great clubs.
“I was one of the senior players, so I’ll big myself up. But he had good senior players.
“There were a crop of young players nurtured, there was success, there was a playing style people wanted to come and watch. Season-ticket sales went through the roof and those things inspired me to become a coach.
“Hopefully I can replicate a good bit of that at Aberdeen and possibly even more.”
have got to know him over two years. People will say that’s how he got the job. Absolutely not!
“People who know me, know we want to be successful and the last thing I and the board will do is to appoint a manager we don’t believe can take us forward.
“We are getting an Aberdeen guy, who knows the Aberdeen way and is committed to success.
“When we talk about Scotland and England, we seem to have an aversion to emerging talent and we go with the merry-go-round of experienced managers.
“The most recent example of emerging talent is Gerrard from the Under-23s at Liverpool. Look at Rangers’ season and how they are playing.
“Guardiola was coaching younger teams before he got the Barcelona role. Its similar with Zidane. All over Europe, America and Americas, this emerging talent is the way forward.”