Leighton Clarkson has revealed he was told he could leave Aberdeen just months after helping Jimmy Thelin make Scottish Cup history. The playmaker went into the summer of 2025 on a high after becoming a dad for the first time and helping the Dons bring the trophy back to the Granite City for the first time in 35 years, following their win over Celtic.
The former Liverpool youngster then received a bombshell call from then-director of football Steven Gunn, who told him that manager Thelin no longer saw him as a first-team starter and he should look elsewhere. Clarkson chose a Daily Record ‘In Conversation’ interview to reveal the shock events that led to his eventual Pittodrie exit.
Phone call bombshell
Clarkson said: "My missus had the baby so I had to come back from a pre-season camp and sort all that out. I remember getting a phone call off Steven Gunn basically saying 'try and look for somewhere else. You are not going to play as much. I have spoken with the gaffer (Thelin) and he doesn't see how you fit in the team'. I just felt like that by getting Steven Gunn to ring me up and tell me why I wasn't wanted I was going 'are you alright? What is going on?' I was at the point now where I have came off such a high thinking 'right I have got another year to crack down on' so then getting told that was a massive, massive shock."
Clarkson admitted he was disappointed that Thelin never made the call personally. "I think that was where the relationship (with the manager) differed a little bit," he acknowledged. "I just thought he could have maybe told me to my face. But I will always have respect for him for what he done with the club winning the cup."
Timing and transfer frustration
The timing was far from ideal as the summer window was drawing to a close. The Dons had moves in the pipeline as they tried to cash in, but Clarkson turned them down as they didn’t suit him and his family. The 24-year-old recalled: "It also happened at the time where it was close to the end of the window, so I didn't have a lot of time. Then they tried sending me to different places and I'm like 'hold on a minute, you can't just give me a phone call and say you are going there, that's not how it works'. I felt like I deserved a little bit of respect for coming back (on a permanent deal) and winning the cup. I felt like I deserved even a conversation off them and in the end I decided not to go to where they tried to send me and fight for my place."
The Englishman ended up staying put but was no longer a first pick. He was eventually sold to Blackpool in February just after Thelin had been sacked. Clarkson admitted: "But as soon as I had that phone call I kind of knew that in January of that season, I needed to get out. I couldn't do another year of not playing. I played a couple of games in Europe but having not played regularly, I wasn't fit and was playing in a position I had never played in before. I was thinking 'you have just dropped me right in it here'. It did end a little bit sour but in terms of my time there, I loved it and say to the missus often that we will come back up. I made a lot of relationships off the pitch that make me want to fly up and see them."
Turnaround under Thelin
It was a complete turnaround for Clarkson under Thelin, who had initially told him he would be a key player in his new-look Aberdeen side. Clarkson claimed: "When Jimmy (Thelin) first came in, the first conversation I had with him was when he said 'I am going to play you as a number 10' which I had never done before. He said 'you are going to be our main player and we are going to get your goals and assists up'. But by the end of the season he said 'I don't want you to be here. It's not a case of me not loving you as a player, it's a case of trying to get money in (for the club)'. I understood that and it was half the reason I came to Aberdeen because I knew I probably wasn't going to be there long, and hopefully I did so well that I'd get a move that Aberdeen would make profit on. But I got injured in pre-season (in 2025) and I was out for the first two months where the team were flying and winning so many games. You can't change a winning team and I had no issues with that. After that, I was coming on here and there when we were not winning games. That was one of the most weird seasons I have ever been involved in and it won't happen again."
Clarkson looks back on his time at Aberdeen fondly, admitting he arrived as a boy and left as a man. He first went on loan from Liverpool and after finishing third under Barry Robson he knocked back more lucrative offers to sign for the Dons permanently. Clarkson moved north in a cut-price deal and the plan was always for him to shine and Aberdeen to sell him on.
Clarkson confirmed: "To be fair, it was probably over an 18-month period really. I had nearly moved in every window and for different reasons. Some had came from me because I was not playing and some from above or managers. But there were moves that just never felt right. In January 2025, I had a good one in Europe but my missus was pregnant and it was one of them that didn't feel right from that side of it. But it was never like 'for God sake, I haven't moved', I always thought, 'I am still at Aberdeen, this is what I wanted'. It was only until last January, when I wasn't playing, that I got told one or two things that I needed and wanted to leave. When you are kind of no longer wanted, it makes you feel a certain type of way. I was thankful to Blackpool for getting the deal done as everything was aligned to the way I wanted it to."
