Northern Ireland’s Stephen Robinson promises clean slate as Aberdeen reign begins
New Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson promised his players a clean slate ahead of his first match in charge against Falkirk.
Northern Ireland-born Robinson knows plenty about the Dons squad after facing them with St Mirren but he will cast aside any preconceptions and give everyone a chance to impress up close.
The former Motherwell manager said: “There’s a lot of injuries, a lot of injuries at the back, which will dictate certain things and the system we have to play.
“But everyone’s got a chance. Everyone’s coming in fresh. When you look at people from afar you don’t get a full picture, you don’t know the circumstances.
“We’ve had a meeting and we said that everybody will start from scratch. I demand total respect and I demand that everybody respects each other and works as hard as they possibly can and shows their talent, and we’ll pick the team accordingly.
“Every player that walks into Aberdeen Football Club will get an opportunity to be the best version of themselves.”
The players were told in no uncertain terms by caretaker boss Peter Leven that their performance in Saturday’s 3-0 Scottish Cup defeat by Dunfermline was unacceptable and warned they were in serious trouble at the foot of the William Hill Premiership.
But Robinson hopes the new start will allow supporters to get behind the players again.
“Players don’t respond to criticism,” he said. “Nobody in life goes to work and responds when you’re told you’re not very good or you get booed. So we ask the fans to get behind the players.
“We can all have an opinion after the game. Any time that I’ve been to Aberdeen and any time Aberdeen have come to any team I’ve been involved with, it’s been an incredible support.
“The Red Army, I’ve seen them down at St Mirren, I saw them at Motherwell, and they give tremendous backing.”