The pressure is on the Aberdeen hierarchy to deliver a stellar permanent managerial appointment for the 2024-25 season and beyond.
The damaging cycle of sacking managers every year must end by sourcing a boss who can bring sustained success.
Easier said than done after three failed attempts to find that ideal candidate, with Barry Robson, Jim Goodwin and Stephen Glass all sacked inside two years!
Veteran Neil Warnock, 75, has been drafted in as interim manager until the end of the season while Dons chiefs search for a permanent appointment.
During that time the club will also conclude a “wide-ranging review of the football operation” through the use of independent advisors.
There is effectively a four-month window from when the board axed Robson to the end of the season.
Aberdeen must deliver managerial appointment
The Dons must fully utilise that time to source a left-field, exciting manager to energise the club.
Aberdeen supporters’ patience is fast running out with the lack of managerial stability at Pittodrie.
They are unlikely to accept another appointment lasting a year or less – so the heat is on to deliver a major appointment who will stay the course and deliver success.
The buck stops with Cormack and the Football Monitoring Board.
This time chairman Cormack and the club’s hierarchy will have to pull a rabbit out of the hat with a major managerial appointment that can move the club forward.
There is an ocean of managerial candidates within world football and the hope is that Aberdeen are trawling them to their very depths.
Aberdeen must dive deep into the Mariana Trench of the managerial market to find a gem.
They must not dip their toes in the shallow waters of the Scottish managerial market and plump for a big fish from a small pond.
Aberdeen must jump off, and stay off, the monotonous Scottish managerial Merry-Go Round.
Ideally, Aberdeen will think outside of the box and land a hungry manager with a strong track record who can galvanise the club on and off the pitch.
The hope is that a lot of groundwork will have already been done when searching for a replacement to Jim Goodwin last year.
Ultimately, the resurgence last season under caretaker Robson saw him made a permanent appointment.
But the work in searching for a boss had been done.
It is now almost three years since Aberdeen sacked Derek McInnes in March 2021.
And there is still no stability, with Warnock only in the managerial post short-term until the end of the season.
Warnock is the fifth Aberdeen manager in under three years.
Aberdeen have been in regression since the plug was pulled on McInnes.
There is a dark irony that it could be McInnes who fatally scuppers the Dons’ season.
Now manager of Kilmarnock, McInnes has led the Rugby Park club to fourth in the Premiership table.
If Kilmarnock beat Aberdeen at home on Saturday, they will open a 13-point gap on the Pittodrie side, who are currently languishing eighth in the table.
That would effectively extinguish any hopes of finishing fourth.
McInnes also takes his Kilmarnock team to Pittodrie for a Scottish Cup quarter-final on Saturday, March 9.
Both games against Killie are effectively win or bust for the Dons.
McInnes can add further misery to a decline that began when he was axed.
It is down to Warnock to prevent that to keep the season alive – starting on Saturday.
Norway loan for frozen out Gueye
Hopefully a loan spell in Norway can act as a catalyst for Aberdeen to get payback from the significant six-figure investment, understood to be £500,000, in Pape Habib Gueye.
Whether that is through him returning to Pittodrie in the summer revitalised and ready to make an impact, or being sold on for a fee, only time will tell.
Unfortunately it has been a frustrating season for the former Senegalese under-20 international striker.
Gueye has started just once since a big money transfer Belgian top-flight outfit KV Kortrijk.
That sole start came in the Europa Conference League group clash against HJK Helsinki in Finland.
And he was replaced at half-time.
Gueye this week joined Norwegian Eliteserien side Kristiansund Ballklubb on loan until July.
On top of that sole start, Gueye has made six substitute appearances for Aberdeen this season, which all came under former manager Barry Robson.
Gueye has played only 132 minutes in all competitions this season.
The striker is contracted to Pittodrie until the summer of 2026.
Hopefully Gueye can secure regular starts and find his form in Norway.
He needs game time and that was not coming at Pittodrie.
With Vicente Besuijen, who cost around £400,000, on loan at Emmen in the Netherlands, that is almost £1m in talent playing for other clubs.
That is a lot of investment for little return.
Ramirez thriving at Columbus Crew
It is great to see former Aberdeen striker Christian Ramirez thriving and happy at Columbus Crew.
Ramirez suffered a tough few final months in his Pittodrie career after being the club’s top scorer in his debut season.
The 32-year-old lifted the MLS Cup in December with Columbus Crew to prove he is still at the top of his game.
With the recent birth of son Kash, life is good on and off the pitch for Ramirez.
Conversation