New Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass insists his friendship with chairman Dave Cormack will cut no ice if he does not deliver success.
Glass was unveiled as Aberdeen boss earlier today and stressed, while he knew the chairman before taking the job, it would matter little if he does not achieve what he hopes to at Pittodrie.
He said: “I think it’s getting overstated, the relationship between myself and the chairman. I know the chairman pretty well, but I’m under no illusions, that if I’m not successful at this club, I know what happens to managers at football clubs. That’s real.
“But I think I’m going to be successful. The relationship is one of that I’m a manager at a football club that wants better players. I’ll be asking for backing, to him and the board, it’s not just him.
“The staff that I work with want more from the board, as much as we can. We’re not different to any other managers. Of course I am here to keep the chairman happy, but my priority is to make Aberdeen successful.
“I know what happens to managers that aren’t successful and there will no extra leeway because I know the chairman. I’ve got to know him over the last couple of years in Atlanta, but I also had the last couple of years to prove that I wasn’t the right person for the job, that I didn’t live my life right. I didn’t meet him thinking ‘I might be the Aberdeen manager’.
“Living in America, most of my friends were Scottish. Stuart Sharp, who coaches the American Paralympic team is a friend of mine. Dave Cormack, who is Aberdeen chairman, is a friend of mine. There’s a guy who produced the vaccines that lives in North Carolina that is a friend of mine. Andrew Staunton, the British consulate in Atlanta, is a friend of mine.
“Dave Cormack just happens to be the chairman of Aberdeen Football Club. Yeah, he’s a family friend, but he’s probably the guy that could fire me at some point. The relationship will still continue then, but I would just potentially not be the manager of the football club.”
Glass will take charge of the Dons for the first time on Saturday when they face Livingston in the Scottish Cup.
New Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass puts Dons through their paces at Cormack Park – In pictures https://t.co/TnsAkxNDV5 pic.twitter.com/KMEbEgWRZc
— P&J Sport (@PandJSport) April 15, 2021
Glass left behind his role as head coach of Atlanta United’s second team, a club with which Aberdeen have a pre-existing strategic partnership.
The new boss stressed that, while bringing in loan players from the MLS side was a possibility, Aberdeen are not an inferior partner in any deal.
Glass added: “This is not a feeder club from Atlanta. The feeling and perception is there that I am here because of Atlanta. I am not here because of Atlanta United.
“If I can use and help Atlanta at the same time as helping Aberdeen (I will), but Aberdeen is my priority, 100 per cent. I am back home, I want the best for this club. If that means I can get players on loan from Atlanta, I will – we might get one, we might get 10 over the next 10 years. I don’t know.
“If any player comes over to help us, that is what will happen.”
ICYMI – ⚽️🔴 Stephen Glass finally arrives at Cormack Park – but what will be the new Dons boss' immediate priorities?
(📸: @AberdeenFC)
🎙️ Listen to this week's Northern Goal podcast here:
Apple: https://t.co/Jj9qi3OAG8
Spotify: https://t.co/hrMJsv4WDr pic.twitter.com/W0cFWCCluf— P&J Sport (@PandJSport) April 15, 2021