It has been good to talk at Aberdeen as Paul Sheerin finds himself thrust into the frontline at the Dons.
The task of rallying the players has fallen to the Dons coach following the departure of Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty and Sheerin has been quick to make the rebuilding of the squad’s understandably fragile morale a real team effort.
Barry Robson, Neil Simpson, Scott Anderson and Gordon Marshall have led the coaching effort while captain Joe Lewis and long serving Andy Considine have also been consulted.
Sheerin is grateful for the support of those around him in the most trying of circumstances.
He said: “You are inexperienced, so you do lean on the senior ones, although I don’t want to lean too heavily on them.
“I’ve got a good staff in Barry, Scott, Simmy and Marsh – who is a massive part of that. I have probably spoken to guys like Andy Considine and Joe Lewis more, bounced wee bits off of them.
“But more often than not it’s been the staff rather than the players.”
The challenge facing the interim management team is a huge one with the trio of Sheerin, Robson and Simpson taking charge with the Dons six points adrift of third placed Hibernian with six games remaining.
Sheerin believes the drive and determination of both will be valuable tools in the weeks ahead.
He said: “Barry has got a wealth of experience at the top level of the game. He played in the Champions League at Celtic, also at Dundee United and he played down south.
“Simmy’s experience speaks for itself. He has a closeness to the club and the success he has had in the past.
“In terms of learning on those two, Barry and I have worked together for the past four or five years for the development and the younger squad. We know how to work as a pair and there are no problems with that.
“Simmy is head of the academy and we have had strong dealings with each other for a number of years as well. We are all close to each other.”
Sheerin knows it is advantage Hibs in the race but he insists no-one at Pittodrie accepts the chase is a forlorn one following the Hibees’ 2-1 win at Ross County last weekend.
He said: “Hibs opening up a bigger gap is a blow, although I’m not so sure about calling it a hammer blow, as such.
“It makes things a lot more difficult now to get that third sport.
“But we have to keep winning and, if we can pick up three points on Saturday, then we look for the Hibs results.
“It’s certainly going to be a lot more difficult than if they’d lost the game last weekend.”
Reeling in the six point deficit is the aim but the immediate target is a far simpler one for the players – rediscover a killer instinct in front of goal and try to enjoy that winning feeling again.
The task begins tomorrow in the New Firm derby against Dundee United at Tannadice.
Sheerin said: “We are trying to get results again. We need to win football matches, no matter what stage of the season.
“We will set out to do that Saturday and after that we will take it a game at a time. We can’t say much more beyond that.”
