Aberdeen sack Stephen Glass as Celtic beat Raith Rovers in Scottish Cup
Aberdeen have sacked Stephen Glass following their Scottish Cup exit. The Pittodrie club confirmed the change in management within 24 hours of Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Motherwell.
A poor start to 2022 had increased the pressure on Glass, who leaves after 11 months in the dugout with Aberdeen out of all three cup competitions and currently ninth in the Premiership.
A club statement on Sunday read: “Aberdeen FC this morning confirms the departure of manager Stephen Glass. Stephen has left the Dons with immediate effect alongside coaches Allan Russell and Henry Apaloo. The club would like to thank Stephen, Allan and Henry for their efforts and wish them the best in their future careers.
“The process to appoint a new manager will commence immediately and a further update regarding the club’s interim coaching team will be communicated shortly.”
Glass replaced Derek McInnes, who had been at the helm for eight years, in March and in the process returned to a club where he made more than 100 appearances as a player between 1994 and 1998.
After leading Aberdeen to a fourthplaced finish last season, the 45year-old has struggled for results this term. Having failed to qualify for the Europa Conference League group stage in August, a five-match losing streak in the cinch Premiership further increased the pressure, but four wins in December before the winter break eased some of the scrutiny on the exShamrock Rovers assistant.
No league victory since the turn of the year saw more speculation over
Glass’s future and some of the 2,000 visiting fans at Motherwell on Saturday vented their anger at the now departed Dons manager. Bottom-of-the-table St Johnstone visit Aberdeen on Tuesday.
Celtic secured their place in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with comprehensive 4-0 win at home to the Championship side Raith Rovers. Celtic led at the end of a rather low-key first half through a fine strike from Liam Scales and second-half goals from Giorgos Giakoumakis, the substitute Daizen Maeda and the stand-in captain Nir Bitton put gloss on the scoreline.
Ange Postecoglou’s side have thrilled in recent months with a 20game unbeaten run in the Premiership to take them top but this performance took time to warm up, albeit credit should go to John McGlynn’s side who were, for the most part, determined and well-organised. A bonus for Celtic was the return of the defender Christopher Jullien as a second-half substitute after a long spell out with a knee injury.
The backdrop to the game saw Raith embroiled in the controversial signing of David Goodwillie, who was found by a judge in a civil case in 2017 to have raped a woman.
Hibernian also progressed, with a 3-1 win at Arbroath. They came from behind thanks to goals from Demetri Mitchell, Kevin Nisbet and Chris Mueller.