Aberdeen have the hottest league form in Britain so surely it is time to confirm Barry Robson as the club’s permanent boss.
As it stands the Pittodrie hierarchy have only confirmed Robson will be manager until the end of the season.
The uncertainty over who will be manager next season has gone on for three months since Robson’s appointment as interim boss in late January.
Surely the prolonged audition has been strong enough to land Robson the permanent role.
Under Robson’s guidance, Aberdeen have won seven successive Premiership matches: the club’s longest winning streak since 2015.
It is also the longest league winning streak in British football at the moment.
No club in the top-10 divisions across Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland have won their last seven league games.
Red-hot Aberdeen boast the strongest league form of all the 158 senior clubs in Britain.
Not even treble-chasing Manchester City can match the Dons’ league form.
Manchester City have won six of their last seven English Premier League games, having drawn with Nottingham Forest.
Five further teams have six wins and a draw from their last seven league fixtures. They are Swansea City (English Championship) and Ipswich Town (English League One), Inverness Caley Thistle (Scottish Championship), New Saints (Wales) and Glenavon (Northern Ireland).
But no club can match Aberdeen’s magnificent seven.
The Dons also boast the best current defensive league record with only one goal conceded in their seven-game winning run. And that was a penalty in a 3-1 win at Dundee United!
It is now 631 minutes since Aberdeen conceded from open play, when Liel Abada scored in the 89th minute of a 4-0 loss at Celtic.
That defeat at Parkhead raised a valid question, despite the winning run, of how Robson would fare against the Glasgow two.
He answered that emphatically by masterminding a 2-0 defeat of Rangers on Sunday to secure a first home win against the Ibrox club since 2016.
When Robson was appointed interim manager following Jim Goodwin’s sacking on January 28, the club was in deep trouble.
His immediate task was to bring stability and reverse a slide down the table which looked to be crashing into a potential relegation dogfight.
Robson has delivered way beyond his original remit.
Not only is there stability, the Dons are thriving under his guidance.
At the end of January, the Reds were in crisis and, let’s face it, a laughing stock after suffering three utterly humiliating results.
The Scottish Cup exit to sixth-tier Darvel was the worst result in the club’s 120-year history.
Losing to part-time minnows Darvel with such a pathetic display was sandwiched either side of heavy losses at and Hearts (5-0) and Hibs (6-0).
As chairman Dave Cormack addressed the press at Easter Road just minutes after axeing Goodwin, the future looked bleak.
It was a dark day amid a bleak winter of discontent for Aberdeen supporters.
Not even the most optimistic of fans could surely have predicted the transformation under Robson.
The Dons are now in pole position to finish third and potentially land group stage European action and a multi-million cash bonus.
In just three months, Robson has transformed the Dons from a laughing stock to the form team in Britain.
Surely there can be no other manager on the Pittodrie hierarchy’s radar who can trump that?
Robson deserves the job permanently and the decision should be made now.
Hayes signed up, now secure more
Veteran wing-back Jonny Hayes is the first player under the management of Barry Robson to commit his future to the Dons with a new deal.
Hayes penned a one-year contract extension tying him to the Dons until summer 2024.
One down… many more to go.
Of the starting XI who beat Rangers 2-0 on Sunday, four of the players will not be at Pittodrie next season as things stand.
Loan deals for Leighton Clarkson (Liverpool), Mattie Pollock (Watford) and Liam Scales (Celtic) all expire at the end of the campaign.
Defender Angus MacDonald’s short-term contract also runs out at the end of the campaign.
When you add in the loan deal for captain Graeme Shinnie, suspended for the Rangers match, there is much work to be done.
Shinnie’s loan deal from Championship strugglers Wigan Athletic expires at the end of the season.
The midfielder still has a year left on his contract with Wigan.
However, Wigan are willing to transfer the 31-year-old in the summer, although it would take a six-figure sum for the Dons to sign him permanently.
Shinnie has been fundamental to the Dons’ resurgence in form, as has the arrival of centre-backs Pollock and MacDonald late in the January transfer window.
With Pollock and MacDonald beside him in a back three, Scales has also excelled in recent matches.
Aberdeen should move to try to thrash out deals to secure Shinnie, Scales and MacDonald on permanent deals.
Clarkson and Pollock will both return to their parent clubs.
Both have indicated how much they enjoy life at Pittodrie and both are starting regularly.
It may be an outside hope, but the Dons could bid to get them back on fresh loan deals.
If you don’t try, you don’t get.
A third away trip to Celtic this season
Aberdeen will face Celtic away for a third time in the Premiership this season,
The Dons will play the Premiership leaders at Parkhead in the final game of the season on Saturday May 27.
To perhaps balance it up, the SPFL have announced the Reds will play St Mirren at home for the third time this term.
Aberdeen face Hibs and St Mirren at Pittodrie in the post-split fixtures.
If they win those home games in the race to finish third, it would lessen the potential hit of closing out the season at the Hoops.
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