Former interim boss Neil Warnock issued the Aberdeen board a parting warning their summer recruitment must be “spot on” to have any chance of success.
Warnock says chairman Dave Cormack will provide the finances to a new permanent manager to rebuild the squad in the summer – but he warned there can be no more recruitment mistakes.
Aberdeen’s board bankrolled an extensive and expensive rebuild last summer with 14 new signings secured.
Yet the Dons are languishing 10th in the Premiership table and face the threat of being dragged into a relegation battle.
Striker Pape Habib Gueye, who is understood to have cost £500,000 last summer, was recently sent out on loan by Warnock to Norwegian side Kristiansund Ballklubb.
Warnock admits Aberdeen are “floundering”, but that could all turn around with a strong summer window under a new boss.
He reckons if the Pittodrie hierarchy and recruitment team get it right in the summer window, Aberdeen could go on to rival Celtic and Rangers next season.
And Warnock says it wouldn’t necessarily require Cormack to “splash fortunes” to build a squad to challenge the Old Firm.
However, before a key summer window, the Dons must first avoid the drop.
Warnock stepped down from the Pittodrie hotseat following a 3-1 Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Kilmarnock on Saturday.
The Reds are just four points above the relegation play-off spot, currently occupied by Ross County.
Warnock said: “Recruitment has to be spot on in the summer – you are only as good as your recruitment.
“With the right recruitment you can be successful.
“You can rival the top two teams without splashing fortunes if you get the right players in.
“I know Dave (Cormack, chairman) will help financially by bringing players in.”
Head of Recruitment role turnover
Aberdeen will enter the summer transfer window with their fourth head of recruitment in under three years.
Russ Richardson left the head of recruitment role in August 2021 and was replaced by Darren Mowbray.
In July 2023, Mowbray left the Dons to join Southampton.
His replacement Jordan Miles lasted just seven months before moving at the end of the recent January window to take on the head of recruitment role at Leeds United.
Miles was replaced by Chris Badlan in February, who, as the club’s new head of recruitment, will oversee a summer rebuild.
Badlan, 40, was previously sporting director at Blackpool.
Warnock recently said Aberdeen should look to the English Championship for signing targets in the summer window.
Aberdeen are set to interview candidates for the permanent managerial post this week.
Pittodrie’s hierarchy are determined to have a new permanent boss in place by the end of the upcoming international break, which runs from March 18 to 26.
Some candidates are currently under contract at other clubs and the Dons will need to seek permission to speak to them.
‘I wish I had been here a year and had two windows’
Sources close to the club say Warnock had the full backing of the Pittodrie board and squad prior to relinquishing his post.
However, he asked chairman Cormack on Thursday last week if he could step down.
Warnock insists the new permanent manager needs the remainder of the season to fully assess the squad before a major summer rebuild.
He said: “The manager needs a couple of months looking at the squad in depth to be successful.
“He really needs to look at the players in and out.
“This gives him a couple of months to assess it.
“I know which way I would go and I have told them that, but I’m not the powers that be who decides who comes in and who doesn’t.
“The hard bit has been done because the standard that has been set and they’ll keep to that.
“So I’ve probably helped the new manager coming in, making his job a little easier.
“I wish I had been here (Aberdeen) a year and had two windows and Dave supported me in them like he does.”
‘Aberdeen is a massive club that shouldn’t be floundering’
Warnock sensationally left Aberdeen having guided the club to a Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.
However, their league situation is now more precarious than when he arrived at Pittodrie.
The Dons were eighth in the Premiership when Warnock was appointed.
They are now 10th and face the threat of being dragged into a relegation battle.
Warnock says the club are too big to be “floundering” in their current predicament.
He warned players have to stand up and turn around the league campaign with the new manager.
First-team coach Peter Leven will be in interim charge until a new manager is appointed, beginning with a Premiership trip to Dundee on Wednesday.
Warnock said: “Aberdeen is a massive club that shouldn’t be floundering where it is.
“But players have to stand up and take responsibility, and they did that against Kilmarnock.
“That is the minimum requirement.
“Players will always frustrate you and managers will always get the blame.
“I just wish I could have got more points in the league.”
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