Aberdeen first team coach Peter Leven admits his short experience working at the same club as footballing legend Diego Maradona was “crazy”.
Leven, who last coached in Russia with FC Orenburg, joined Barry Robson’s staff earlier this summer following the departure of Liam Fox.
The former Kilmarnock assistant brings a wealth of European competition experience to the Dons thanks to a two-year spell at Belarusian Premier League side Dynamo Brest, who won their domestic title in 2019.
With Marcel Licka as manager and Leven as his assistant, Dynamo Brest also reached the Uefa Champions League qualifiers.
And it was in Belarus where Leven had the chance to get to know Maradona, one of football’s all-time greats.
In 2018, Maradona signed a three-year contract to become chairman of Dynamo Brest and he received a huge fanfare when he arrived at the club in July.
But his time in Belarus was shortlived with Maradona taking over at Mexican second division side Dorados in September, only a couple of months after starting his role at Dinamo Brest
Speaking to RedTV, Leven recalled: “When I left Kilmarnock I wanted to go do something different and think outside the box, and the opportunity came up to go to Belarus through an agent.
“I loved it. We won the league for the first time in the club’s history and played in the Europa and Champions League.
“It was a great experience and I got to work with the great man Diego Maradona, which was a crazy situation.
“He become honorary chairman of the club for like three months. He was about the stadium and the training ground.
“We had a few chats and he came into training a few times, so that was a good experience.”
In a previous interview on Maradona’s brief stint in Belarus, Leven said: “He got paraded through the streets of Brest in something the size between a Hummer and a double-decker bus.
“It was crazy. The whole country was crazy, it was all about Maradona.
“People on the streets were climbing trees just to see him and get a picture of him.
“We could have sold out the stadium five times over, people came from Poland and Ukraine just to see him. It was surreal.
“He came and met everybody in the changing rooms, he met all the players and the staff and everybody got a kiss and cuddle off him, and then he disappeared. He took a job in Mexico!
“There was all this merchandise with Maradona in Brest and I think he was there for three or four days, and then he took a job in Mexico.”
Working with Robson and Agnew
Leven hopes he can put his European experience to good use at Aberdeen, who are guaranteed European football until December.
He said: “I hope I can help the manager and Aggers (Steve Agnew) with that part as well.
“People don’t realise these countries like Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan have decent quality. They have good technical players over there.
“They have very passionate fans. I was very lucky to be at a club in Belarus who were very passionate home and away.
“We had over 1,000 fans who would travel all over Belarus to watch us which was really good.”
Since joining Aberdeen, Leven says he was developed a strong working relationship with Robson – who he knew from his time at Rangers as a player and after doing their Pro Licence together – and Agnew.
He said: “What’s good about myself, Aggers and Barry is that we’ve all got an opinion and if I don’t agree with it I’ll say what I think. I’ll always be that kind of person.
“It’s a good balance and it’s worked well so far.
“You can’t cut corners in this game. You cannot stand still because every day someone is trying to get better than you as a player, as a person and as a coach.
“We have to keep pushing the boundary every day and that’s what Barry demands from the staff and the players.”
Leven is looking forward to the Dons’ league opener at Livingston this weekend having been impressed with what he saw during his first pre-season at the club.
He said: “There were signs (during 3-2 win over Charlton) that things are starting to click and hopefully we can take that and build on it in each game we play.”
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