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Aberdeen board will help Barry Robson build a squad for increased challenge of competing in Europe if Dons reach group stages

Chief executive Alan Burrows pledges new Dons boss will be backed if Aberdeen are competing in group stages of European football next season.

Aberdeen's Bojan Miovski celebrates scoring to make it 2-0 against Rangers. Image: SNS.
Aberdeen's Bojan Miovski celebrates scoring to make it 2-0 against Rangers. Image: SNS.

Barry Robson will be given the tools he needs to keep Aberdeen competitive in Europe and domestically if he leads the Dons to the group stages of European football.

The new Dons manager is on course to lead the club back to Europe after a one-year absence.

Aberdeen are five points clear of Hearts in the race for third place with five games remaining.

The team which finishes third will be guaranteed European football until Christmas if Celtic win the Scottish Cup on June 3.

An extended European campaign will bring additional demands on the Dons squad but chief executive Alan Burrows insists Robson will be supported in ensuring his playing pool can cope.

Burrows said: “I don’t think Europe will dictate Barry’s budget but it will influence it.

“There is a realisation if you are playing in Europe long-term and the fixtures are tight in regards to midweek-Sunday, there is an acceptance more provision will be required.

“That’s true at most football clubs. The better you do the more rewards there are.

“There’s nobody here making any money. There are no directors taking money out of the club. Everything made is reinvested.

“If we can achieve our aims and objectives it will allow us to invest in the football side and other areas of the club which can only be good for the short to medium term.”

Time was right to confirm Robson as Dons boss

Robson was given the chance to manage the Dons after winning over the directors in his 10 games in charge.

With five games remaining Burrows believes the time was right to confirm Robson’s role to enable him to begin planning for next season.

Aberdeen chief executive Alan Burrows. Image: Shutterstock

He said: “Anyone who follows Aberdeen knows the squad needs some work for next season.

”There are one or two out on loan and some out of contract and appointing a manager allows us to be more aggressive.

“Having someone in place and being able to tell players and agents that we have someone in place was the final part of the jigsaw in that process.

“We’re looking at a number of targets both in guys who are here but also there is a lot of work being done in identifying players who are elsewhere.

“There are certainly discussions ongoing with regards to people who are here but also externally as well.”

Group stages can bolster Aberdeen’s bid to be Uefa top 100 club

Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack has not hidden his desire to see the club break into the top 100 clubs of Uefa’s rankings.

Participation in the Europa League or Conference League next season would help the Dons, who were 173 in the last rating, move up the rankings.

Robson is looking no further than Sunday’s trip to Ibrox to face Rangers but Burrows knows European football is vital for the club.

Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack.  Image: SNS

He said: “It would be a culmination of a decade’s worth of work.

“Barry would want me to say right here and now our only focus is the Rangers game.

“It’s almost become a cliché with him and people have enjoyed the joke, but I think it talks to his mentality.

“He tells me all the time big players never see beyond the next game because they are only focused on performing at that level.

“Barry has played at the highest level in Scotland and in Europe and done well. He knows what it takes to do that.

“But speaking more broadly the club has never hidden its ambition to be a top 100 European club.

“The only way we can be that is to be in the group stages of European competition.

“It’s been a long-held view in the club and it is where I think the club should be aspiring to be.

“I see clubs in the Conference League and the Europa League to a certain extent I wouldn’t see as much greater or larger than Aberdeen.

“So it absolutely should be the ambition. In terms of the opportunities, the buzz and the hype for supporters, it would be fantastic.

“It’s something all Scottish clubs like Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs will be striving towards as these changes to European football are made in the years ahead.”

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