Robson takes reins at Pittodrie and looks to restore Dons’ thunder

Barry Robson will aim to restore the “thunder” to the Aberdeen team following the departure of Stephen Glass.

Robson has taken caretaker charge after Glass was sacked in the wake of Saturday’s Scottish Cup exit at Motherwell.

Many Aberdeen players faced the fury of their fans at Fir Park as they walked up to the stand housing the away support, and Christian Ramirez expressed his frustration at Sunday’s news when he simply tweeted an expletive.

Robson knows the players will be feeling guilty as well as suffering confidence-wise after taking one point from their last four cinch Premiership games.

The Dons host bottom club St Johnstone on Tuesday knowing defeat could see them looking over their shoulders at the bottom end of the table. Robson said: “It’s never easy when a manager loses his job. It’s difficult for him and everybody connected to the club.

“I felt for him, but the one thing you sign up for when you become a manager is that inevitably this will happen at some stage. I have seen it happen a million times, as a player and as a coach. I just have to try to pick the players up.

“The players know they are responsible for it as well. It’s a case of let’s try and move the club forward and get a decent result on Tuesday.

“The one thing you have to do as a player, you have to bounce back. You need to make sure you are doing the right thing for the football club as well as yourself, and that’s what we have to do with them now, make sure they start performing the way we expect them to perform and try to put some results together.”

The former Dons midfielder added: “When you haven’t won for a few games, confidence can make you look a bit slower than you actually are. Mentally it can be a bit draining. What we will try to do is bring a bit of thunder back.

“I said to the players, when things aren’t going well, sometimes you just have to work harder, run harder and be a good team-mate and try to simplify your game a wee bit. It’s amazing how far that can take you sometimes.”

Robson was brought on to the coaching staff by previous manager Derek Mcinnes and has been based at Pittodrie this season, working below the first team.

The former Celtic and Dundee United player said he had not been part of first-team operations at Cormack Park but was handed the reins with the help of Neil Simpson, Scott Anderson and team captain Scott Brown, who was part of the coaching set-up under Glass.

Robson said chairman Dave Cormack “just asked me to take the team for Tuesday”. He added: “We have a game, we need to win it. I am in here to try to help us win it.

“We have another game at the weekend, we will sit down with the chairman in the next couple of days, see where we’re at and what’s best for Aberdeen Football Club.”

Barry Robson has caretaker charge of Aberdeen.