Aberdeen announce Robinson as new head coach

Stephen Robinson has been confirmed as the new head coach at Aberdeen, joining from Scottish Premiership rivals St Mirren.

The 51-year-old has agreed a contract until the summer of 2029 and takes assistant Brian Kerr with him to Pittodrie.

Robinson was described as “a proven leader with a strong track record of overachieving” by Dons chairman Dave Cormack.

In a club statement, Cormack added: “He has demonstrated he can consistently deliver strong results, punching well above the resources he’s had to work with, during the last eight years in Scottish football and proven he can build resilient, competitive teams with solid foundations.

“There is a strong desire to re-establish a clear identity for our club, to become harder to play against and restore competitiveness in our matches. For those reasons we believe Stephen is the right head coach to deliver exactly that.”

Former Motherwell boss Robinson joined St Mirren in February 2022 and steered them to League Cup glory in December, following three successive top-six finishes.

However, the Paisley club currently sit 10th, one place and five points below Aberdeen and just three ahead of Kilmarnock in the relegation play-off spot.

Having been under contract until 2028, St Mirren say Aberdeen triggered a compensation clause to release Robinson.

“While we are sad to see Stephen leave the club, he departs with the best wishes of everyone after four years of outstanding service,” said chairman John Needham.

Craig McLeish, Jamie Langfield and Allan McManus will take temporary charge at St Mirren until a replacement is found.

On his departure, Robinson explained: “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.

“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.”

Peter Leven had been the caretaker at Aberdeen, with help from Tony Docherty, following the sacking of Jimmy Thelin in early January.

The Scottish Cup holders suffered a 3-0 defeat by second-tier Dunfermline Athletic in Saturday’s quarter-final and have won just once in eight outings.

“Nobody within the football club would dispute that performances and results this season have been unacceptable and well below that of what is expected here at Aberdeen,” added Cormack.

“However, during these testing periods comes an opportunity to sharpen focus and re-evaluate where changes are required and given recent results, we recognised the need to make the permanent appointment quickly.”

The Dons had previously been linked with Eirik Horneland and held talks Sandro Schwarz.