People talk about tactics, style of play and philosophies but Barry Robson knows at Aberdeen it is all about winning.
The new Dons boss knows football has got caught up with flipcharts and boardroom presentations but he knows the be all and end all are results on the park. Robson has seen that first hand as the seven game winning run that he is currently on has gone a long way to him winning his new two year Pittodrie contract. The 44-year-old has never been one to look too far ahead or make bold predictions.
He has preferred to take a more grounded approach and take it one game at a time. It is a way that has more than worked and has Aberdeen clear in third place and looking at an immediate return to European football. “I’ve always said Aberdeen is associated with winning,” Robson insisted. "We want to win games and that is the most important thing, first and foremost.
“All the rest of it comes afterwards because it’s not easy to win, we know that. We’re not going to win every game, I understand that and I get that. But we have to go and try to win every game.
“That’s what the players have done well and when you do win you see the confidence and when you don’t you see it going the other way. The most important thing is trying to achieve those three points.
“If we can do that more often than now we should be where we want to be.”
Robson has also put in a work ethic to his team and although he refuses to make any bold predictions he has promised to put an Aberdeen side on the pitch that the Red Army can be proud of and to try and get them off their seats.
The former Scotland cap added: “You can’t always have a team that is magnificent to look at as other Scottish teams and good coaches will stop you playing as the season goes on.
“The pitches and weather gets worse and you have to be able to deal with that. You need players that can handle all of these situations.
“For me it is getting the right people in with the right mindset who want to win and want to perform. Who wants to run, work hard and who are humble and will give everything for the club.
“I don’t want to go down that route ever of saying we will do this or be this team. We are going to try to work hard, win games and get the fans on the edge of their seats.
“There have been too many over the years saying we are going to do this and do that at all different clubs. That is not my style. I know what I want to do and I know how I am going to do it. And I am going to put a team on the pitch the fans can be proud of.”
Robson might be inexperienced in terms of being a manager but he pulled off a masterstroke when he brought in his former Middlesbrough coach Steve Agnew as his No. 2 and then later added Liam Fox. He revealed that he had even had Agnew’s flights to Aberdeen before he had even asked him to join his red revolution.
“I actually booked the flight before I phoned him,” Robson claimed. He didn’t know that! I knew he wasn’t working just now and I wanted to put someone next to me who would challenge me and who was experienced and who was a terrific coach.
“He’s not a yes man. I didn’t want anyone around me like that. He ticked all the boxes. I knew the players would love him and I knew the club would appreciate someone of his stature.
“First and foremost, he’s a good human being. I’ve said it many times, anyone can come in and we can all put on a brilliant presentation on a screen with nice arrows, structure and so on.
“That’s the easy part. But can you do it on a football pitch when bodies are moving everywhere and you have to get the best out of a player?
“You’ve got to make him run when it’s easier not to run and tackle when it’s probably easier not to tackle. Make the right pass, be brave.
“Steve’s got that gift of giving that to players. That’s what I look at it, rather than someone who can put a presentation on and hit you with a lot of football lingo. That for me is not an old school type. That’s new school, clever school. Someone who knows how to make a player better.”
Robson has served the club as a player, coach and now manager. He admitted when he was asked to come in and steady the ship after the 6-0 defeat at Hibs, which cost Jim Goodwin his job, in January that getting the job long-term was the furthest thing from his mind.
He claimed: “I never ever thought of it as being my chance, I always thought about it as being here to help the football club.
“Obviously when I came in I had my own ideas, which everyone does, but all I wanted to do was help the team start to do well again. It was a really difficult time for the football club when I took over.
“I remember watching the game at Hibs and where we were, it was a very difficult period we were in at that time. I had to come in and try to help the team and the club. Luckily we have managed to do that. The players have been fantastic.”
