He laid the foundations for the success which followed under Derek McInnes but former Aberdeen boss Craig Brown insists none of it would have been possible without Russell Anderson.
The former Dons boss can lay claim to seven players from his time in charge being in the starting 11 which won the League Cup win on this day eight years ago but Brown insists the role Anderson played on and off the pitch cannot be underestimated.
Derek McInnes takes the accolades for ending Aberdeen’s trophy drought – and rightfully so – but Brown and Knox gave him a platform to deliver that success.
The additions of Adam Rooney, Shay Logan, Barry Robson and Willo Flood were the final pieces in a cup winning jigsaw.
Niall McGinn, Jonny Hayes and Mark Reynolds were mainstays of Brown’s team before he stepped down but it was the decision to bring Anderson back to Pittodrie in January 2012 which Brown regards as pivotal.
He said: “Our best signing was Russell. He helped the dressing room and helped the team.
“We felt we needed discipline and Russell was a signing which epitomised it.
“McGinn, Hayes and Reynolds have all been terrific players for Aberdeen but at the time Russell was the one signing we needed most.
“I’m not being dramatic to suggest Derek wouldn’t have won the League Cup without Russell.
“The club needed a leader, not just on the pitch but off it as well. He brought a presence, vast experience and commanded respect.
“His influence on the team was apparent from day one.”
Brown proud of the progress made during his time at Pittodrie
Brown fell just short of delivering a top six place in his two and a half years at the helm but competing in the top six was miles away from being the challenge facing Aberdeen when he arrived from Motherwell.
To say the Dons were in a sorry state when Brown and Archie Knox took charge in December 2010 is putting it mildly.
The veteran duo took charge of an Aberdeen side propping up the Scottish Premier League with 10 points from their opening 16 games.
Following a 9-0 loss at Celtic and a 5-0 defeat to Hearts Aberdeen were deep in the mire – and Brown and Knox knew it.
The former Dons boss said: “Archie and I were the SPL doctors. If a team was struggling we were the hospital asked to find the cure.
“We went to Motherwell who had been toiling and helped them recover then were asked to do the same at Aberdeen.
“Our job was to keep the team in the league and we achieved that.”
Brown and Knox at the helm during a challenging period financially for the Dons
Two years later, Aberdeen were third in the league after 13 games but the lack of squad depth was the biggest barrier to the team staying there.
It was the same story for Brown’s final game in charge in 2013.
That was the last time Aberdeen were in the position of fighting for a top six place at this late stage of the season.
The Dons would come up just short as an injury-ravaged squad lost 1-0 out to Dundee United in stoppage time at Tannadice on the 33rd and final game before the split.
Following the announcement Brown was stepping down to take up a non-executive role on the Aberdeen board, the departing manager wanted nothing more than to say his farewell by leading Aberdeen to a top six place but injuries took their toll.
The Dons were down to the bare bones for their trip to Tannadice with incoming manager McInnes watching the team he was about to inherit.
The lack of experience in midfield hit hard, to the point striker Scott Vernon was deployed as an emergency midfielder.
Brown recalls: “We were toiling for players to the point we had to play our striker in midfield.
“It was disappointing that, having come from where we were, Archie and I didn’t the opportunity to take the team into the top six or in Europe.
“There was a feeling of disappointment that week but not overall of our time in charge.
“People talk about the pressure to be in the top six. That’s not pressure. Fighting to stay in the league is a far greater strain.”
Tough times led to loss of key players
It was a disappointment for the then Aberdeen manager who wanted to sign off on his time at Pittodrie with a top six place but it does not reflect the progress which was made in what was a difficult period for the club.
The Brown era at Pittodrie was a period where the Dons were crippled by debt.
It was before the incredible gesture by supporters William and Elaine Donald in November 2014 helped clear the near £15 million debt at the club.
Aberdeen was a club forced to live within its means and sell players to balance the books.
That meant Brown and Knox had to watch as players of the calibre of Sone Aluko, Chris Maguire, Ryan Fraser, Fraser Fyvie and Jack Grimmer and Richard Foster all moved on.
Where fees were brought in by and large they put towards servicing interest on the debt rather than being reinvested in the football team.
Brown knew the circumstances he had agreed to take on but it did not make the sight of seeing key players leave any easier to take.
He said: “Chris Maguire was a good player at this level but the one which hurt us hard was Ryan Fraser who was running riot in the SPL before he was sold to Bournemouth.
“It was a difficult period for the club and it was not a period where we could buy players.
“We sold players with fees put towards servicing the debt.
“It was a completely different set of circumstances to what Derek McInnes and Stephen Glass faced and what Jim Goodwin will be working under.
“It sounds as I’m critical but I’m not. I’ve got the highest regard for Stewart Milne.
“He was unselfish, always had the club at heart and dipped into own pocket. In my dealings with him he was a first class chairman.”
