The Aberdeen fans' view on Stephen Glass - 18 games into replacing Derek McInnes

“We’re going to win the league”. The optimistic – and tongue-in-cheek – chant echoed from the Red Shed after full-time. Aberdeen had just seen their European campaign ended in the qualifiers once more.

Aberdeen fans in the Red Shed were in fine voice. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

It wasn’t for a lack of effort against Qarabag, both in terms of the players on the pitch and the atmosphere generated in the stands. It simply came down to a lack of quality.

Going into the second-leg at Pittodrie, trailing 1-0 from the first, there was a real belief that Stephen Glass could steer the team into the knockout stages of a European competition for the first time since 2007.

"I think we are all pretty confident,” Dons fan Lewis Walker told the Scotsman pre-match. “There is a decent mood amongst us.”

There was confidence before the game with Qarabag. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

For Glass, it had the potential to be a pivotal moment early on in his managerial career at Pittodrie. Win, and the optimism regarding the new manager would be dialled up to ten, while many of those with doubts would be won over.

"Tonight is a hugely important fixture for fan mood as much as anything else,” Aberdeen supporter Johnny Sinclair said.

"Getting knocked out the League Cup by Raith Rovers is forgivable if we are going to make it through in Europe.”

Up and down

It wasn't to be for Aberdeen or Glass.

Eighteen games into his tenure and it's seven wins, seven defeats and four draws. In that time they have been knocked out early in three cup competitions.

Glass has been one of the most interesting appointments in Scotland recently. Replacing a totemic figure in Derek McInnes was never going to be linear.

"It's been a bit up and down to be honest, more positive than negative,” Walker said.

"A fair amount of us were wishing for McInnes’ reign to end. Then it did and it was a bit flat afterwards. McInnes was here for so long. Everything was very samey. It’s now like getting a whole new house in order.”

When discussing Aberdeen and Glass it is difficult to look forward without looking back to the former boss.

“I think there is a section of the support waiting to say ‘I told you so’ and that came out after Raith saying McInnes wouldn't have lost," Jim Douglas noted.

“The last 18 months of McInnes' reign has tarnished the rest of it."

Those last 18 months were a struggle for watching fans.

"The expectations are almost the same but you want to have more fun,” Walker said.

Story yet to be told

Glass has provided a freshness. He’s talked a good game and there have been positive signs.

“The change in the type of signings, the type of football," Walker said. “A bit more pressing, on the front foot. That’s the biggest change and the most positive part of it.”

Sinclair added:”I’m really encouraged by the way Stephen Glass can change a game. He is capable of analysing a fixture as it develops but at the same time why can’t he put out the right team to start the game?

“The story is yet to be told, it's still very early on in his career.

"There's clear signs Cormack is going to support him no matter what. He will be given the time to prove himself, or not prove himself.

"I’m optimistic, cautiously so.”

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