Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘I knew he would fit in perfectly at this club’: Barry Robson explains why he made signing Nicky Devlin his first priority as Aberdeen manager

Dons boss is delighted his decision to make Nicky Devlin his first signing has paid off.

Nicky Devlin celebrates scoring to make it 2-2 against BK Hacken in Sweden. Image: SNS.
Nicky Devlin celebrates scoring to make it 2-2 against BK Hacken in Sweden. Image: SNS.

Boss Barry Robson insists he never had any doubt summer signing Nicky Devlin would fit in perfectly at Aberdeen.

Robson’s first move when appointed permanent Dons manager in May was to sign the defender.

Former Livingston captain Devlin was Robson’s first addition of a summer squad overhaul where 13 new players were secured.

Devlin, 29, was secured on a two-year-deal having been available as a free agent following the expiration of his Livingston deal.

Robson said he always knew Devlin was “the right man” for Aberdeen.

And he is happy to be proven right with the wing-back’s impressive performances in both European and domestic action.

Aberdeen's Nicky Devlin with his arms out as Duk clings to his back
Aberdeen’s Nicky Devlin celebrates with teammates after making it 2-2 during a UEFA Europa League Play-Off. Image: SNS

Robson said: “When myself and Steve (Agnew, assistant manager) came in we knew Nicky was available and it was the first thing we did.

“I knew right away he was the right man.

“Nicky knew this league, is a good athlete and can pass the ball.

“I knew he would fit in perfectly at this club.”

Aberdeen's Nicky Devlin chasing the ball, with a ross county player beside him
Ross County’s George Harmon, right, challenges Aberdeen’s Nicky Devlin. Image: Ross Parker/SNS Group

Devlin ticks all the boxes for Robson

A pivotal part of Robson’s rebuilt team, Devlin has started all 14 of Aberdeen’s games this season in all competitions.

The defender has underlined his versatility by impressing at centre-back, right-back and right-wing back.

He suffered a setback when a mistake against Celtic led to a goal in a 3-1 Premiership loss at Pittodrie in August.

Devlin’s attempted headed pass-back fell short and Kyogo Furuhashi took full advantage to drill home a shot to put Celtic 2-1 up.

Aberdeen's Nicky Devlin with three other teammates
Aberdeen’s Nicky Devlin looks dejected after his mistake led to a Celtic goal. Image: SNS

That mistake, and goal, came just four minutes after Aberdeen had equalised against the defending league champions.

Devlin did not let that costly error affect him and produced an impressive performance for the remainder of that game.

He later netted a superb equaliser as Aberdeen fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with BK Hacken in Gothenburg.

Aberdeen lost to the Swedish champions in the second leg of the Europa League play-off 3-1 at Pittodrie.

Nicky Devlin
Aberdeen’s Nicky Devlin scores to make it 2-2 against BK Hacken in their Europa League play-off round first leg clash. Image: SNS.

Robson said: “We needed men, we needed experience and we needed people who can run.

“I think a lot of people forget that the game demands that especially in the modern day.

“Nicky fitted all that and we also knew he could play different positions.

“When you need to be tactically good and perform at different levels you need to have all those attributes.

“Nicky has got those attributes.

“That’s why we took him here and why we got him here pretty quickly.”

Aberdeen's Nicky Devlin with his arms in the air in celebration on the pitch
Nicky Devlin celebrates as Aberdeen go 1-0 up in the 3-1 defeat of Rangers at Ibrox. Image: SNS

Robson ready to rotate his squad

Devlin was again impressive in the 0-0 draw with Premiership bottom club St Johnstone at the weekend.

Missed opportunities in front of goal proved costly for the Dons.

The stalemate with St Johnstone was the second successive draw having been held 1-1 by HJK Helsinki at Pittodrie on Thursday.

Facing St Johnstone was the Dons’ sixth game in 17 days as they balance Europa Conference League action with domestic commitments.

Robson insists he will utilise his full squad depth to cope with the demands.

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson at pitch-side
Aberdeen manager Barry Robson during the Premiership clash with St Johnstone at Pittodrie. Image: SNS

He said: “At the moment we are fighting on all fronts and we enjoy that.

“We have a lot of games, we need to rotate the squad and we need to perform well.

“It is definitely where the club wants to be.”

‘You can’t start looking too far ahead’

Victory against St Johnstone would have elevated Robson’s side up the table to sit level on points with fourth-placed Hearts.

The Reds are currently eighth in the table as the Premiership enters a two week break due to international fixtures

Robson refuses to get downbeat by the Dons’ position in the bottom six – and is fully focused on winning the next fixture.

Aberdeen are next in action when hosting Dundee at Pittodrie on Saturday, October 21 (6pm).

He said: “You can’t start looking too far ahead of yourself as that’s when problems can arise.

“What we do is look at the next game and make sure we perform in that.

“Everything is concentrated on the next game.

“Don’t get carried away and keep full focus on the next game, I say that to the players and staff.

“Concentrate only on what is just in front of us.”

Conversation