Brian Irvine hopes his former Aberdeen teammate Stephen Glass will be given the time to grow as a manager at Pittodrie.
Glass has been confirmed as Derek McInnes’ successor and will make the move back to the Granite City from the United States where has been working as head coach of Atlanta United 2.
The backroom team that will support Glass has yet to be confirmed, but Celtic captain Scott Brown has been heavily linked with a move to the Reds as his player-assistant manager, while England striker coach Allan Russell could also be part of the set-up.
Irvine, who played alongside Glass at the Dons and worked with him during his time as assistant manager at Carolina RailHawks, said: “It is an interesting appointment.
“There was no clear favourite for the job.
“Stephen doesn’t have a massive amount of managerial experience, but he was a very successful player at Aberdeen and beyond.
“He has built up a lot of playing experience and he has been doing well in America since moving into coaching.
“Now the time has come for him to return to Aberdeen and I wish him all the best and hope it works out for him.
“He is a young manager at the start of his career, so who knows how it is going to work out.
“But no one knew how Alex Ferguson was going to work out.
“We have to let him get on with the job and see how he gets on.
“His backroom staff hasn’t been announced, but hopefully there will be people around him with experience.
“There are a lot of players out of contract, but other people at the club will be dealing with that.
“His job will be the football side and his football pedigree speaks for itself.”
Irvine believes Glass has shown his desire to test himself as a manager by returning to Pittodrie and is hopeful he will be able to deal with the increased scrutiny and pressure that inevitably comes with managing the Dons.
The former Dons defender feels his previous experience at the club will help ease the transition.
He said: “I played alongside Stephen when I was coming to the end of my Aberdeen career.
“We both played in the team that avoided relegation in 1995. He was a fine young player at the time.
“He had a long career and played for some very good clubs, including Newcastle United and Hibernian.
“Martin Rennie took me to Carolina and also took Stephen out there as a player.
“When Stephen finished playing, he got involved in coaching and ended up at Atlanta United where he has come under the radar of Dave Cormack.
“He is well qualified to be a manager and hopefully it goes well.
“It shows his ambition to become a top manager because he will be leaving a good job at Atlanta.
🔴 We are delighted to confirm Stephen Glass as the new manager of Aberdeen Football Club.#StandFree
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) March 23, 2021
“He is moving to a higher level.
“It looks like a natural step to take, but it is going to be a step up.
“But coaching remains the same.
“You still have to coach players whatever the standard.
“The management styles in America are in fashion at the moment.
“The American Jesse Marsch, the Red Bull Salzburg manager, was linked with Celtic recently.
“The American coaching system is highly regarded, so it won’t affect Stephen.”
