By GARY KEOWN
Published: | Updated:
Few places are quite as spicy as Pittodrie when the locals have swapped the rustle of sweetie papers for the scent of blood in the nostrils.
Derek McInnes has been there. As have Stephen Glass and Jim Goodwin and Jimmy Thelin and plenty of others.
Current manager Stephen Robinson has been having a heck of a time of late too. The injury list is getting bigger and bigger as the patience with him dries up and everything points to it reaching crisis point on Saturday evening if the Dons, toiling for numbers or not, can’t see off Hibernian at home.
A number of punters didn’t fancy the ex-St Mirren boss from the off. And let’s be frank, results haven’t been good enough since he came in the door in March.
The reality is that Hearts are now the third force in Scottish football after a few years of jousting with Aberdeen, but that doesn’t mean expectations don’t remain high at Pittodrie.
A top-four finish is vital there in the wake of last term’s bottom-half struggles and beating the likes of Hibs, a club in a mess of its own right now, can be taken as a fair yardstick of how likely that is to happen.
Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson faces a must-win game against Hibernian this weekend
Robinson needs a win. Should he suffer a fifth loss in six outings, he’ll be running the gauntlet for sure.
That’s the name of the game, but there’s just a couple of things before they bring out the tar and feathers and plan the great procession down King Street.
Not so long ago, sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel was sitting around the dugout with interim Peter Leven. He was a big presence. Had plenty to say. What’s he up to these days?
Same goes for chairman Dave Cormack. He has chucked a load of money into his first loves, for sure, but he is seven years in charge now and it’s not exactly easy to figure out where the club is going with no new stadium, little mention nowadays about the ties with Atlanta United, the club in danger of ending in the bottom six again and the summer suggesting there maybe isn’t quite the same moolah bouncing around to go on transfer fees.
If it all goes belly-up against Hibs and Robinson cops it over another season looking destined for the doldrums, fair enough. But shouldn’t Cormack and Pfannenstiel be getting it in the neck too?
