Barry Robson Aberdeen sacking was on cards when even club TV turned but Neil Warnock link has alarm bells ringing louder

Do Aberdeen really want someone who is viewing the move north as just a bit of fun?

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson was sacked following the 1-1 draw with Dundee at Pittodrie. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Even the Aberdeen in-house TV team gave the impression the game was up as Barry Robson’s side were held at home by Dundee in the manager’s last game in charge.

He was spared the leg-over-advertising hoarding exit of his predecessor as well as the emotional, slightly cringeworthy post-match interview from his chairman. It might, on the face of it, sound like a more dignified end for Aberdeen manager Barry Robson after his year-long tenure.

But departing Pittodrie with the jeers of home supporters ringing in your ears is not an experience one would wish on anyone. Fleeing holdall in hand, as Jim Goodwin did following a 6-0 defeat to Hibs 12 months ago, might be preferable.

Neil Warnock, who has been linked with Aberdeen, has been out of work since departing Huddersfield Town in September. (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

Stephen Glass, sacked just short of two years ago, was also granted the slender mercy of being jettisoned following an away defeat, although the anger was still palpable at Fir Park after Aberdeen exited the Scottish Cup at Motherwell.

The Pittodrie side are currently still in that tournament. They are a win over Bonnyrigg Rose away from reaching the last eight. That game starts a run of three home matches where Aberdeen might or might not revive their season. The fifth round tie is likely to be the new manager's coronation.

Before then come two assignments against either side of the Old Firm. Any prospective candidate will deserve to fall at the opening interview hurdle if he bungles the first test of shrewdness by failing to demand a start date of next Wednesday morning, hours after the last of this potentially bruising couple of appointments has concluded at Ibrox.

Neil Warnock has reportedly already been sounded out: the alarm bells grow louder. The 75-year-old is a Scottish football enthusiast, who has even applied for the Pittodrie post in the past (he didn't receive a reply).

Warnock has spoken on several occasions about his wish to have a more significant tie to Scotland than just his wife’s grandparents’ house in Dunoon. But as the Dave Cormack tenure at Aberdeen is increasingly showing to be the case, people go on longer holidays than managers are given time at Pittodrie.

Warnock is not doing anything else – he hasn’t been involved in management since his second spell at Huddersfield Town came to an end in September – so perhaps job security is not high in his list of priorities. But do Aberdeen really want someone who is viewing the move north as just a bit of fun?

Although that said, fun is something that’s been missing from the fan’s matchday experience at Pittodrie for quite some time now. Home defeats against Kilmarnock and St Mirren, the former at the hands of former manager Derek McInnes, and the latter a 3-0 spanking just before Christmas, were both hard to digest. So, too, the latest setback against Dundee on Tuesday and one that proved Robson’s last hurrah – although hurrah is not an appropriate word to use in this context, since it is an expression of approval. There was little of that in evidence at Pittodrie at around 9.35pm two nights ago.

"Booooo!" resounded around the ground when Nick Walsh blew the final whistle. It wasn't even as if Aberdeen had lost. Who knows? Perhaps had the manner of the 1-1 draw been different then Robson might still be in situ. If Aberdeen were the ones forced on the front foot by an early Dundee goal and who had then responded to secure a draw it may have proved less damaging to Robson, although even this argument seems a forlorn one. Unhappy fans were distributing leaflets calling for a protest before the game had even kicked-off. The crowd, given as 15,512, might not have been much more than half that (absent season ticket holders were included).

All this and Aberdeen were in a League Cup final as recently as December, while also emerging with credit from their Conference League group. This time last year, shortly after Robson had inherited the reins from Goodwin, they embarked on a run of eight league wins in nine to take control of the race for third place. If not quite the dream team, Robson and the experienced Steve Agnew looked a more than competent managerial pairing.

So how did we get to here? Have Aberdeen become unmanageable? Is fan expectation simply too high? Perhaps. But these supporters are not even asking for their team to be world beaters. Just for them to show a little invention and adventure.

Just for them to not be penalised for a foul throw two minutes into injury time when in a promising position in the opposition half while desperately seeking a late winner, as substitute Shayden Morris was guilty of doing against Dundee. “We didn’t need that,” said Rob MacLean, commentator for the club’s in-house TV channel, RedTV. “Scandalous,” added Steve Tosh, the former Aberdeen midfielder-turned-pundit.

It continued a theme of increasing exasperation, from Tosh in particular. “I tell you what is disappointing for me Rob,” he said as the minutes ticked on, and Dundee were pushing Aberdeen ever deeper. “I am waiting for Barry to make the change. I’m waiting for him to go four at the back….we cannae be keeping it with three at the back against Dundee because we don’t look like we are going to create much chances. It’s going to fizzle out to a 1-1 draw…

“And one other thing, phone Dundee tomorrow morning before the transfer window finishes and make a bid for Lyall Cameron. He is something we need. I know I’ll hear about Leighton Clarkson, Graeme Shinnie and Connor Barron, but he’s the only one I’ve seen tonight who just wants to drive forward from the middle of the park…”

Tosh had been advocating a change in shape from around the hour mark but such appeals towards the dugout fell on deaf ears. “Rob I can tell you right now, Barry’s got to be brave. He’s at that point, he’s got to be brave. If he’s got anything about him, he shouts for (substitutes) Killian Phillips and either Shayden Morris or Ryan Duncan and goes 4-4-2. This crowd is now starting to turn...”

No one is handing out any prizes at Aberdeen at present, that’s for sure. But if they were, they would surely be due one for honesty, if nothing else. Or at least the in-house TV team would.