Aberdeen have been told John McGlynn ticks all the boss boxes after the Dons pulled the plug on Stephen Robinson. The Pittodrie board held a crisis summit last night and the decision was made to end the Northern Irishman’s eight months at the helm.
Robinson’s time was up in the wake of Saturday night’s shocking 4-0 home defeat to Hibs as the Reds slumped to second bottom of the Premiership. New chief executive Adrian Bevington is now set to front up the search for a successor.
Levein’s case for McGlynn
Former Hearts and Scotland boss Craig Levein is convinced his old Tynecastle colleague McGlynn should be in the frame after working wonders at Falkirk. The 65-year-old has led the Bairns from League One to third spot in the Premiership and has beaten Celtic and thumped the Jambos in recent weeks.
Levein touted McGlynn for the Scotland job before Sebastien Pogcogloli landed the role – and he insisted the Falkirk gaffer should be a man in demand.
He said: “John’s proved that over the years. This is quite easy for me. What boxes do you want ticked? I think he ticks them all because of the body of evidence that he's got. I think he deserves an opportunity to have a go at a bigger club.
“If I'm a chairman, all day long I'd be looking for somebody like him. He's meticulous in his work and everything's done properly. He stays within the bandwidth of emotions.
“He doesn't get overly emotional during matches and he stays in this area, which I think is good for him and good for his players. You don't often see him throwing stuff about in the dugout or anything like that. He's a top manager who has improved enormously in the last five or six years.
“I was promoting him for the Scotland job when it came around. If you look at his record, it's pretty impressive.
Record and style
“Raith Rovers and Falkirk, pulling up trees at Falkirk just now. I just think he is undervalued, maybe not by the supporters that have had him as their manager but certainly in a wider sense in Scotland. He has done a brilliant job so far. He's done all the work that he needs to do in my eyes to get an opportunity.”
Levein is mystified why big clubs – or Scotland – have not already come calling for McGlynn. But he admitted football clubs follow fashions with younger foreign gaffers a current trend.
Levein, who was part of the announcement of William Hill’s five-figure backing of Walking Football Scotland, said: “I don't know what it is. Looking at what he's done, his whole body of work.
“When I went to Hearts at the tail end of my career, I was helping John do some training with the youngsters. Even then, you could tell immediately that he knows what he's talking about.
“After that, I think he adopted Brendan Rodgers’s style of football with some changes and altered two or three bits. Essentially, he went to Celtic, watched and learned everything on top of the knowledge he already had. His team at Raith started to play in the same way as Celtic did. Then he's continued that when he's gone to Falkirk.
“If it was some foreign guy that had come in and done the same sort of job as him, I'm pretty sure he would have been promoted or moved to a higher level. I don't want to be disparaging towards Falkirk but I think he deserves to be working at a bigger club.
“If there are young guys in place and they get rid of a young guy, they'll get an older guy in. Then they have a run of two or three older guys, and then they'll get a younger guy. John has passed every test that's been put in front of him and I don't know what he needs to do. Falkirk supporters of course won't like me saying that, but I've worked with the guy.
“He's got integrity, knowledge, he delves into the minutiae when he's doing his team talks and makes sure everybody knows what's expected. I'm biased, I like the guy but I think he's done a wonderful job.”
Levein was speaking at the announcement of William Hill as Official Sponsor and Proper Supporter of Walking Football Scotland.
