Stephen Glass will bring passion along with his coaching pedigree to Aberdeen, according to one of his managerial mentors.
Blackburn Rovers boss Tony Mowbray has carefully tracked the career of Glass, who is the strong favourite to replace Derek McInnes at Pittodrie.
He knows him better than most within the game after working with the former midfielder at Hibs.
The Easter Road job was Mowbray’s first step into management proper back in 2004, having had spells as first-team coach and caretaker gaffer at Ipswich Town.
Glass helped the Englishman enormously by playing the role of senior pro in a youthful dressing room that contained a 17-year-old Scott Brown as well a host of other rising stars including Derek Riordan, Steven Whittaker, Kevin Thomson, Steven Fletcher and Garry O’Connor.
Mowbray stressed that while Glass was always the “voice of reason” behind the scenes at the Edinburgh club, he will take no nonsense from any under-performing member of his squad and the Aberdeen supporters will soon see how enthusiastic he is about the game.
Mowbray said: “When I first went to Hibs, Stephen was one of the most respected senior pros – someone the younger lads looked up to.
“We had some real characters in that dressing room and I would say Stephen was always the voice of reason.
“He is sensible and intelligent, but there is a lot more to Stephen than that.
“He was definitely a player who always had an opinion and voiced it. I encouraged that.
“Indeed, he was one of the strongest voices in our dressing room and we had a lot of personalities at Hibs at that time.
“I have no doubt at all that, if he does become Aberdeen manager, he will bring an awful lot of emotion and passion to the job.
“The fans wouldn’t have to wait long to discover that.”
Mowbray sees a lot of himself in Glass.
When he took charge of the Hibees he had just turned 40, having never been a full-time, permanent boss before. He had, however, a successful playing career behind him and coached the Ipswich first team and taken interim charge of the side.
Glass is 44 and would be getting his first full-time gaffer’s role, but has had a spell as caretaker boss of Atlanta United in the United States as well as running the second team set-up.
Mowbray proved to be an instant success at the Edinburgh side in that 2004-05 season, leading them to third place in the SPL and being named the Scottish Football Writers’ Association manager of the year.
He would, of course, go on to boss West Bromwich Albion, Celtic, Middlesbrough and Coventry, before arriving at Blackburn, where he has stayed since 2017.
Mowbray added: “I can see a comparison between Stephen and myself when you look back to when I joined Hibs.
“Like him, I had been coaching and learning about management before making that step.
“Like me, he brings his morals and principles to the work he does and has a blueprint for the job that he will stick to.
“He has called me from time to chat about the game and one of those occasions was when he was thinking over the move to Atlanta. My advice was to go for it.
“I speak to him a fair bit and like his thought processes. He clearly knows the game inside out.”
Indeed, Glass’s footballing education is almost as impressive as it gets.
At the Dons, he played under Willie Miller, Roy Aitken – under whom he won the Coca-Cola Cup in November 1995 – and Alex Miller.
The greatest Scotland player of them all, Kenny Dalglish, signed him on a pre-contract for Newcastle United, where he also played under Dutch superstar Ruud Gullit and legendary England boss Bobby Robson.
He was then signed for Watford by none other than Italian megastar Gianluca Vialli.
At Easter Road, as well as Mowbray, he played under Bobby Williamson and John Collins. Then, after joining Dunfermline, he worked with the now Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny.
The list got even more impressive when he joined the Atlanta United set-up as a coach, with Glass learning from Tata Martino – the current Mexico national manager who has also bossed Argentina and Paraguay – as well as the now Netherlands national coach Frank de Boer.
That is a formidable list.
Mowbray, agreed, saying: “Stephen is schooled in the game to a very high level.
“He has worked with an impressive array of football people.
“He even dipped his toe into management in interim charge at Atlanta before resuming his role at their second team.
“Being involved at that kind of level in America is a big deal.
“Every job is a test and challenge but he comes from an impressive coaching culture.
“He will bring that culture to Aberdeen, if he gets the job, just as I did to Hibs.
“The quality I like most about him as a coach is that he buys into the growth mindset. He has always wanted to improve himself as a player and coach.”
Like many in the game, Mowbray was impressed with the quality of the backroom team Glass will assemble if appointed by Dons owner Dave Cormack.
Celtic and Scotland midfielder Brown will become player-assistant, while current England strikers’ coach Allan Russell will also assist Glass while retaining his role with the English national side.
Mowbray said: “That would be a clever and inventive move on his part.
“For me, if that all comes together, Aberdeen will be an exciting club to be at.
“Allan is such a respected coach and Scott is really one of the most iconic Scottish footballers of the last decade or so.
“It would be a terrific combination.”
