Aberdeen CEO unfazed by prospect of interest in boss Jimmy Thelin

Alan Burrows says he's looking forward to long-term success under Jimmy Thelin.

Aberdeen CEO Alan Burrows unfazed by prospect of interest in boss Jimmy ThelinSNS Group

Alan Burrows is unfazed by the prospect of Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin being headhunted and fully expects the Swede to remain at Pittodrie for the long term.

The 46-year-old took charge of the Dons in the summer on a three-year contract and kicked off his reign with a stunning 16-game unbeaten run featuring 15 victories.

Although their form has dipped over the past month, with just one win in the last seven, Thelin’s work in the Granite City has earned widespread praise and led to the former Jonkoping Sodra and Elfsborg boss being linked with managerial vacancies elsewhere.

“My only focus is working with Jimmy on the long term at Aberdeen Football Club, of that there is no doubt,” chief executive Burrows said in the wake of the Dons’ annual general meeting.

“I think Jimmy has given a commitment to Aberdeen. I think you can take some comfort from how his relationship was with his previous clubs, where I think he’s seen it as a project that he committed to over a period of time, so I don’t have concerns about that.

“I don’t sit awake at night worrying if other clubs would be interested in our manager. In fact, if clubs are interested in your manager, it’s a compliment.

“Our entire focus right now is on continuing to get good results in the short term, continuing to plan for the January window and the summer window with Jimmy in charge.

“I’m not naive, I also know that if a manager continues to do well, then of course he’ll (attract) interest at some point in the future, but I hope that can be in a significant period of time.

“In the short and medium term, we are very much looking forward to Jimmy being at the helm at Aberdeen and hopefully driving us and achieving the aims and objectives that we set out when he took on the role as Aberdeen manager.”

Key Dons trio Jamie McGrath, Duk and Jack MacKenzie are all out of contract at the end of the season and Burrows hopes for some clarity soon.

“We remain in good dialogue with those players,” he said. “We would like those players to stay, but we’ve also got to factor in Aberdeen and our squad planning both in January and the summer.

“The dialogue remains open, we remain hopeful that they’ll stay, but if in a scenario whereby they don’t and they leave at the end of their contracts, then we’ll be planning in advance for that if that were to happen. But at this stage, in December, we’re still remaining positive.”

Burrows revealed frustration at the length of time a Scottish Professional Football League tribunal is taking to decide what development fee Rangers are due Aberdeen after Dons academy graduate Connor Barron, 22, moved to Ibrox under freedom of contract in the summer.

“This situation has dragged on too long, in my opinion,” he said. “It’s been a long process, it’s been a time-consuming process.

“On reflection I think it should be a catalyst for us to have a better process when it comes to players that go out of contract and move to another club within the same league who can’t then come to an agreement on what the value should be on the cost recovery.”

Burrows admitted Aberdeen, who have been assessing options in recent years at both Kingsford and on Aberdeen beachfront, are no closer to settling on plans for a new stadium and expect to remain at Pittodrie for the time being.

“I think there’s a realisation that, even if something were to move forward with a new stadium, it would take several years to see that to come to any sort of fruition,” said Burrows.

“So there’s an acknowledgement that we need to invest more in the facility here at Pittodrie because the likelihood is it will be here for a period of time yet.”

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