It is hard to shake the feeling one trait was the key to manager Barry Robson following Jim Goodwin and Stephen Glass, both of whom failed to last 12 months in charge, out the door at Aberdeen.
The trait was stubbornness.
Another search for a new Dons manager is under-way, and the managerial merry-go-round has spun quicker in the last three years than at any point in the club’s history.
The last three Reds bosses are all very different characters, but what they all shared was significant backing from the Pittodrie boardroom.
Glass was a dreamer, a man who believed he could deliver “the Aberdeen way” craved by his chairman Dave Cormack.
Going forward the Dons were certainly pleasing on the eye, but defensively they were all over the place.
Enter Goodwin, a man who believed the porous defence could be fixed within a couple of weeks.
He was right, but unfortunately for him, he was watching from afar by the time the defensive correction was made.
Reds revival meant Robson was the only choice
Robson, with the wily veteran Steve Agnew alongside him, not only solved the defensive puzzle at Pittodrie, he transformed an underperforming squad from one which had lost all confidence into the third-best team in the country in the space of three short months at the end of last season.
Robson’s reward, which came before that campaign ended, was to be given the reins on a permanent basis.
But sadly the dream job has turned sour after the blueprint which led to Robson earning the position in the first place ultimately cost him it this term.
A 3-5-2 formation was behind the Dons’ revival under the then interim-manager as Robson reeled off eight wins from 10 caretaker games in charge to earn himself the job.
His desire to stick with it was understandable, but perhaps with hindsight the warning signs were there in the post-split fixtures at the end of the last campaign.
From eight wins out of 10, the Dons finished the season with one win from their last five.
The four points gained from a possible 15 were enough to secure third place ahead of Hearts, but it has been a very different story in this campaign.
Three-man defence has been Aberdeen’s Achilles heel
The personnel in the three-man defence who were so resolute under Robson last season have changed and so too has the resilience.
Too many soft goals leaked, nowhere enough clean sheets and the manager’s unwillingness to deviate from the script have all combined to create the situation Aberdeen now find themselves in.
Four clean sheets in 21 league matches, not to mention a reliance on Bojan Miovski to get the goals, has left Aberdeen floundering in eighth place in the Scottish Premiership.
As the saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
It was perhaps best illustrated when, having finally changed to a 4-2-3-1 set-up in 2024, the Dons boss reverted to his three-man backline in the hope of holding out for all three points against St Johnstone in Perth on January 24.
Despite losing two central defenders to injury in the space of a week, the same 3-5-2 approach was dusted down and reused for the visit of Dundee for what was Robson’s final game in charge in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw.
No prizes for guessing whether it worked.
A season of some highs and more lows at Pittodrie
A commendable European campaign ended with fans wondering what might have been.
The morale-shattering home defeat by PAOK, when leading 2-0, was a game from which Robson’s Reds never really recovered.
A League Cup final appearance offered hope a new era could be on its way, but a familiar end of the Dons coming up just short played out against Rangers at Hampden in December.
Then there is the league campaign.
It has not made for pleasant viewing and perhaps those European games have taken their toll domestically.
But no matter how you cut it, six league wins all season is nowhere near good enough for a Dons team harbouring dreams of competing in Europe on an annual basis.
Yes, they have played fewer games than any of their rivals, but given they have won back-to-back matches only twice all season, expecting them to take maximum points from their three matches in hand is perhaps asking a lot of even the most optimistic supporter.
When Aberdeen have been good, they’ve been really good. But, equally, when they’ve been bad, they’ve been dire.
A terrific 3-1 win at Ibrox was offset by a truly horrific 6-0 mauling at Celtic Park.
The displays against St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Hibernian both at home and on the road have been found wanting.
Killie’s 1-0 win at Pittodrie on December 6 was their first away league win of the season.
The 3-0 defeat by Saints at Pittodrie in December was the visitors’ biggest away win in the league and their first victory on the road since mid-September.
There was a brief flicker of hope the tide could turn following the 3-0 win at Ross County and a 2-0 win at Clyde in the Scottish Cup.
But the 1-1 draw with St Johnstone and he 2-0 defeat by Hearts at Tyneceastle saw the familiar feelings of dread resurface.
The laboured display in a 1-1 draw with Dundee was the final straw.
Dons board have to find their own Plan B
It’s clear the word is out – this Aberdeen team is vulnerable if you get your game plan right.
A defence lacking confidence and protection, a midfield short on resilience and creativity and – with the exception of Miovski – a lack of punch in the final third.
The fleeting glimpses of Connor Barron, arguably Aberdeen’s best midfielder this season, has left fans scratching their heads.
The dip in form of Leighton Clarkson and the cult hero Duk has been equally concerning.
Indeed, had it not been for the 18 goals of Miovski, Robson would quite likely have been put out of his misery long before now.
And so the search begins again. There is the makings of a good team in there, but it feels as if some tweaks are needed.
Defensive reinforcements are needed due to injuries, while a season-long lack of width needs to be addressed before the transfer window closes in a matter of hours.
It might not cure their ills, but at least there would be a discernible Plan B for a manager to go to.
Robson’s reluctance to have one left him, and his team, effectively boxed into a corner.
The manager could not come up with an alternative approach, so it has fallen back on the Pittodrie board of directors to find one of their own.
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