The new Dons boss has spoken publicly for the first time since being appointed manager at Pittodrie
16:53, 12 Mar 2026
Stephen Robinson at his first Aberdeen press conference
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Stephen Robinson at his first Aberdeen press conference(Image: SNS Group)
Stephen Robinson has insisted some fans would even question if Jurgen Klopp was named as Aberdeen manager.
The 51-year-old was unveiled as the Dons' 26th boss on a deal until 2029.
The cup-winning St Mirren manager's appointment hasn’t been universally welcomed by the Aberdeen support, but he reckoned that even if former Liverpool boss Klopp was put in place their would still be doubters.
Robinson said: “Win football matches. It's quite simple. I say to people, make your own opinion when you see the team play.
“Sometimes there's a lot of false narratives in football. At a club the size of Aberdeen, a lot of fans, big fan base, you're never going to keep everybody happy. You can't fight every single critic.
“My body of work that I've done in the last eight to ten years with three top six finishes, third place with Motherwell, cup finals with Motherwell, cup wins, European adventures with both clubs, selling young players, developing young players. I think that should speak for itself.
“Listen, if Jurgen Klopp was appointed, there'd be somebody not happy. So I can deal with that.
“I am very, very confident in my own ability and the staff that I've brought along with me and I'm also confident when I look around at this football club, there's a real willingness for everyone to be brought together and go in one direction.“I aim to do that."
Robinson has made Europe and led Motherwell to a third place finish. At St Mirren, he had three consecutive top six finishes, a European adventure and he lifted the Premier Sports Cup this season.
The experienced boss has insisted he has the ambition to match any Aberdeen fan. He admitted: “Time's not something that's overly given in football. So we all want time.
"Of course, that's exactly what you need. You need to be patient.
“I think the club now has to go from being a club where when you win a game, we're the best in the world. You lose the game, everything's awful. We have to start getting a little bit of perspective into losing and winning and that will end. It won't be a case of everything's wrong or everything's right. We constantly need to make this football club go forward.
“I know the parameters of management. I'm well aware of that. You win football matches, you stay in the job. You lose football matches, you don't.
Stephen Robinson after being unveiled as Aberdeen manager
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Stephen Robinson after being unveiled as Aberdeen manager(Image: SNS Group)
“So I intend to stay in the job. I intend to win football matches. I intend to meet Aberdeen's ambitions and my ambitions because I'm as ambitious as every Aberdeen fan.
“As I alluded to, the resources at this football club, the expectations at this football club, which are rightly so. We aim to meet those expectations.
“There'll be a stability and that will go all the way right through the football club.”
Robinson didn’t have to be asked twice when he was asked to replace Jimmy Thelin.
He knows what Aberdeen can achieve, and it is about doing it continually. Robinson insisted: “It's a huge football club. A huge football club with a great tradition, a great history.
“It's a club that now needs stability. It needs not to be going up then down, up then down in terms of top six and struggling after that.
“There has to be now a joined up approach to how we win games, how we play, a real structure and a real identity at the football clubs and I believe I can give that to the football club.”
The new man acknowledged leaving St Mirren in a relegation fight wasn’t ideal but is confident that they and Aberdeen will still be in the Premiership next season.
Robinson admitted: “Football's never ideal. You can't pick and choose your time. In an ideal world, everything happens at the end of the season.
“You have loads of time to prepare for it, but yeah, I've had fantastic times, memories that will last a lifetime.
“I had a real great relationship with the fans, with the board, with the playing staff and the coaching staff.
“It was a fantastic journey and I just felt that was a journey that I'd gone on and when this opportunity arose to come to a club with Aberdeen's stature, with the resources that Aberdeen have, the training facilities that they have and the plans that they have going forward, it was so hard not to say no to it.
“It was something I wanted to embrace and grab with open arms.”
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