Interim boss Peter Leven says he will hold talks with Aberdeen chiefs on Monday over the club’s managerial situation – with the Dons expected to land Swede Jimmy Thelin as their next permanent gaffer.
Earlier this week, The Press and Journal revealed Aberdeen have been making strong progress in securing Elfsborg boss Thelin.
It is understood the 46-year-old will make the switch to Pittodrie in June, giving his current club, still in the early part of the Allsvenskan season, time to line up a replacement coaching team.
Leven is expected to remain in charge for Aberdeen’s six remaining Premiership matches, and for the conclusion of the Scottish Cup campaign – with the Dons playing Celtic in their semi-final at Hampden next weekend.
Though it is understood Thelin will bring his two assistants, Emir Bajrami and Christer Persson, with him to the Granite City following their Elfsborg farewell against IFK Goteborg on June 1, Leven is set to stay on as part of the new Reds coaching set-up.
However, 40-year-old Leven – in his second spell as Aberdeen interim boss since Barry Robson’s sacking in late January – is keeping his focus on tomorrow’s final pre-split fixture at home to Dundee, and said: “I’ve not had any chat with the club.
“They’ve said to me they’re going to have a chat with me on Monday.
“But I said: ‘Listen, whatever’s speculated, I don’t want to know anything about it until after this weekend. My full focus is getting three points against Dundee.'”
Leven: VAR guess revelation ‘incredible’ with lines drawn ‘on wrong person’ in SFA’s statement
Despite Aberdeen’s unbeaten run under Leven stretching to three games, last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Livingston confirmed Aberdeen will play out the Premiership post-split in the bottom six.
They would still have had a very slim chance of getting into the top half going into the Dundee game – had a late Bojan Miovski goal at Livi not been chalked off for offside against Angus MacDonald following a VAR check.
Controversy over the VAR call exploded in midweek, with the Dons releasing a statement revealing an SFA admission their officials had guessed whether MacDonald was offside after the Hawkeye system failed.
In the wake of Aberdeen’s claims, the SFA released a statement of their own, saying they had asked Hawkeye to check the offside retrospectively, releasing an image complete with calibrated lines which they claimed showed the correct decision had ultimately been reached.
However, even the placement of the lines on this after-the-fact analysis have been questioned, including by Leven, who said they “drew the lines on the wrong person”.
Leven described the officials’ initial decision to make a guess on whether MacDonald was offside as “incredible” and “really frustrating”, saying: “At the time, I said to the fourth official: ‘what are we waiting on?’ and he said: we’re waiting on an offside, but there’s a technical fault with the lines’.
“So after two minutes, the offside’s given and I’m presuming the lines are fixed – I never realised until Monday the lines were actually broken.
“The club spoke to the SFA, and they said: ‘Yeah, it was an educated guess’ – and I think that’s incredible!
“If you can’t get the lines, you’ve got to go with the onfield decision, so it’s frustrating. Really frustrating.”
He added: “People are fighting for points. Livingston are fighting for points, and obviously it’s went for them this time – but you can’t make educated guesses.”
With Aberdeen describing the current implementation of VAR in Scotland as “not fit for purpose” in their statement, Leven thinks a “better version” of the technology is needed – or the clubs are footing the bill for something which is not worth the cost.
He said: “If you look at the English Premier League, their VAR’s got more cameras and more money.
“I think we’ve got to get a better version going forward, because that’s a few games (where the technology has failed).
“I remember the game at (home to) Celtic, the first time I took charge, it never worked for the first 10 minutes.
“There’s obviously a fault somewhere because it’s not working all the time.”
‘Take the game’ to Dundee
Unlike Aberdeen, this weekend’s Pittodrie visitors Dundee are still battling for a place in the Premiership top six.
Leven expects to have a full complement to choose from, apart from Slobodan Rubezic, who “only started back full training this week” following his recovery from a knee injury.
The Dons lost 1-0 to Dundee last month in the first game after Leven was reinstalled as interim boss following Neil Warnock’s short, ill-fated spell in interim charge.
It was a dreadful performance at Dens which intensified fears Aberdeen could get relegated, but two wins and the Livi draw have eased those concerns.
Leven wants the Dons to “take the game” to Tony Docherty’s Dee, ahead of the cup semi-final meeting with Celtic next Saturday, and said: “We were a wee bit inbetween in our passing and going long. We’ve had three or four games since then, and the boys know their responsibilities to a tee now.
“We need to learn from it – what their weaknesses are and what their strengths are – and we’ve worked on that this week.
“They’ve done very well – they’ve got good players, especially in midfield.
“But we’re at home. We’ve got to take the game to them.
“We’re unbeaten in three – two wins and a draw – so we’ve just got to build that momentum and keep going.
“It’ll be a tough game.”
Conversation